HOOK: E-zine By, For, and About Men in the Sex Industry

HOOK: Thank you. That's very sweet of you to say. Flattering coming from a guy like you.

AS: It's not that sweet. Because it is just something you are born with. It's not sweet because there are sinister motives behind it.

HOOK: Well, are there?

AS: I'm going to try and get a kiss off you, of course.

HOOK: Do you think people are born beautiful, because a lot of people are working really hard to be beautiful.

AS: My boyfriend says you either have it or haven't. He says, "Even on a bad day, you look good, so just shut up."

HOOK: Has it been like that your whole life?

AS: I don't know. I suppose people say I'm good looking, but I see photographs from time to time and think, "Fuck, who's that handsome devil?"

HOOK: (laugh) But did people always tell you that you were pretty?

AS: No. I'm one of those people who gets better looking as they get older. You know how some people do. I think some people get better as they get older. (Aiden's friend/fellow band member Marcus joins us)

HOOK: We were just talking about being pretty – you're very attractive. (Marcus laughs) Wait a minute, what is that response for?

AS: He's a good judge. When he met me in college, I wasn't as good looking. I've gotten better with age, haven't I Marky? (Marcus nods)

HOOK: How long have you known each other?

HOOK: How long you two been playing music together?

AS: 4 or 5 years. We were visual artists, weren't we mate? (Marcus nods)

HOOK: What does visual artists mean to you?

AS: We were on an expressive arts course. For performance, we both did dance. Visual art, we were everything. I was pretty much photography and use them with dance stuff. We were integrating dance with images.

HOOK: What side were you interested in?

AS: I was into the film side of it. I left my school course and transferred to film and television. Photography. Film. Television. Video. And I have found the writing seems to work better for me. I like writing better now. It has taken over.

HOOK: So, you spend a lot of time writing now?

AS: Yeah. I'll work on an eight-hour stretch at times.

HOOK: Is it fiction, non-fiction? Is it creative, biographical?

AS: All different things. Write now I am writing a sequel to Boundaries. My editor just called me yesterday that he is finished editing an autobiographical piece that comes out next year called Ungloved.

HOOK: You have been interviewed a lot lately. What is the one piece of you that everyone is trying to get?

AS: (thinks) Because of the society that we live in. It's whatever will sell their magazine better.

HOOK: What does Aiden Shaw think Aiden Shaw has to sell?

AS: I've got a lot to sell. I've got a whole catalog of funny things now. I want a word in the dictionary like “Shaw-ness”. To be able to do what the fuck you want to do with your life. Your career. Hopefully, crossing boundaries. Even in the realms of pornography or illegality or proper society.

HOOK: What fascinates you?

HOOK: No, really. What fascinates you?

AS: Bumholes. (laughs) No, everything.

HOOK: When you are at a party and someone says, "Hi, my name is Bob, and you are?" What do you say?

AS: People usually know who I am.

HOOK: In what capacity?

AS: Fuck knows. Everything. Here's what I am. If you are in Hicktown, America, then it is probably pornography. If you are in New York, London – I was in a swimming pool in Miami at Christmas, and I said I was Aiden and this guy says, "Like Aiden Shaw?" and I said, "Yeah, a lot like that." (laugh) I said, "How did you know about Aiden Shaw?" He said, "I kept reading about him and his writing things." So, it depends on who you talk to.

HOOK: How do you want to be introduced?

AS: Just say hello. If I could be summed up by one introduction, I would be failing.

HOOK: Is that what you mean by boundaries: being able to be summed up.

AS: That's part of it. I would love to be boundless, but that is an aspiration a little god-like.

HOOK: So, what are the boundaries you most want to move past?

AS: The ones I want to break are the societal ones I can't bear. Like morality. Or what I am supposed to be. As I get pointed at as a writer or as a man. I don't like the rules I am within because I was brought up Catholic with ideas about right and wrong. About sex. I like to break a lot of those.

HOOK: There are a population of sexworkers that are artists. They supplement their art with work in the sex industry or make their sexwork part of their art. Do you think that is move toward pushing those boundaries?

AS: You've made the question complex. Yes, I think they are pushing boundaries. I do the same thing. So, ask another question.

HOOK: You mentioned earlier that your opinions on prostitution aren't conventional.

AS: Again, it depends on who are talking to or about. As an intelligent prostitute, people might expect you to have a certain viewpoint. If you are a prostitute with HIV, you are expected to have a view. If you are on the street, same story. Ideally, I think it would be best in the world if nobody ever did work they didn't like doing.

HOOK: Were you -- and are you happy as a prostitute?

AS: I think happiness is a far-reaching term. It is a meaningless term. And I think my work in the sex industry has deep effects on me, and I don't know what effects it has had on me yet. I was a kid, really. Would I want my child to do it that way? I would hope to god he could find his answers in other ways.

HOOK: Do you think there were positive and negative elements to it?

AS: Like everything, there is good and bad. There are great times -- and awful times.

HOOK: A lot of people who have been in the business, and I know with myself, that a lot of people don't remember those experiences. I was completely sober. But what sort of things stick out for you? Have any experiences come back to you?

AS: You mean haunt. No. Nothing, really. I was quite desperate.

HOOK: How did you make the transition into porn?

AS: Punters thought I should do it. And I met a guy in England in a drag club. He suggested I go with him to LA. I did it. There was basically no change. I did my last prostitution Christmas of last year. What kind of change would you expect?

HOOK: Do you enjoy it?

AS: I think I don't dislike it as much as digging a ditch or working in the lobby of the hotel here.

HOOK: Are there things you do enjoy?

AS: About prostitution. I used to really like being in a city I didn't know like LA or New York and jumping in a cab and on the way back to the airport I was on top of the world. Pocketful of money. I was very independent. I was doing life.

HOOK: What were your friends like?

AS: I have had friends that came and left, as well as close ones.

HOOK: Did they know you were in the business?

AS: Never been any lies. You can lie to your parents or your boyfriend, but not your friends.

HOOK: Do you think your friends were a big help for you?

AS: I think my friends are great. I have friends that have always been there for me. After an accident last year, they were there when my eyes opened.

HOOK: Have they been supportive of your art?

AS: They are supportive of me. But they were not always supportive of the prostitution. Some friends think different things. All very complex. (asks Marcus who says it wasn't good for me)

HOOK: What do you want?

AS: What do I want? Whichever comes first, a lobotomy. I want to get rid of my HIV but that will happen anyway in a couple years. Happiness and all that. But I may do more extreme things to get there than others will.