March 13, 2008 Is Spitzer’s call girl a victim? Play video

(NECN: Meriden, Conn.) – The scandal surrounding now former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer continues to unfold. The New York Times revealed the identity of the prostitute Spitzer is accused of hiring.

NECN’s Brian Burnell has more.

Script:

The Emperors Club VIP referred to him as "Client 9" and to her as "Kristen". We learned early this week that Client 9 was New York governor Eliot Spitzer who resigned over this on Wednesday. Now, the New York Times reveals the alleged prostitute is 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre, an aspiring singer who lives in this Chelsea high rise in Manhattan. Rents here start at $3,500 month. The Times says she came to New York at 17 from a broken home in New Jersey. On her MySpace page she reveals, "I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless."

Kristen does not say she was sexually abused as a child. Experts will tell you though, many women who were sexually abused when they were young turn to prostitution when they grow up.

Carissa Simpson is the Director of the Women and Families Center in Meriden, Connecticut, a rape crisis center.

Simpson: “What is the link between abuse as a child and prostitution later? Research does show that many individuals, many women who have experienced child sexual abuse or any kind of physical abuse in turn have turned to prostitution.”

Simpson says it has a lot to do with low self esteem even, perhaps especially, for a woman

who gets $4,000 dollars for 2-hours of her time, as Spitzer is said to have paid, and lives in a $3,500 dollar-a-month Manhattan apartment. She also believes it is possible the glamorous way Emperor’s Club VIP portrayed its women, the high price, the classy surroundings of the Mayflower hotel in Washington where the tryst is said to have happened contribute to a delusion.

Simpson: “Y'know, its $4,000 dollars, its the Mayflower hotel, the governor of New York. So I certainly... she could be justifying it in her mind that its not prostitution.”

But in the end that's just what it is.

Simpson: “Its sexual exploitation no matter how you look at it, whether you're getting $4,000 or $200.”