Their responses were were very honest and revealing. Here’s what they had to say:
1.
“The absolute worst part of being a sex worker is clients with bad hygiene.”
2.
“Do you know all the memes about how horrible customer service jobs are? Now imagine you gotta have sex with all those idiots.”
4.
“The fantasy bookers. They inquire for the thrill. They attempt to sext, ask for additional information, and send nudes all with no intention of actually moving forward.”
—None
7.
“The worst part is the men and women who don’t understand how much your time is worth and don’t see you as an actual human. They always have a sense of entitlement.”
8.
“The cheapskates trying to get a free lay. ‘Hey, I have no money, but I’m hung. Can I come?'”
9.
“The disgusting guys who try to get laid without protection. They say, ‘I’ll buy you PrEP. Can we do it without a condom?'”
10.
“For me, the flakiness is the worst. When a client RSVPs two weeks in advance, you have to plan around that, and then a few hours before, they will cancel. Or I have to travel an hour plus out somewhere only for the client to ghost me.”
11.
“The number of trauma vultures who think it’s fine to ask things like ‘What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you?’ ‘What’s the most messed-up thing you’ve been asked to do?’ You wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) ask other service providers that, why us?”
12.
“The worst part about being a sex worker is that if you get assaulted or if someone doesn’t pay you, people just think ‘Well, that’s what you get for being a sex worker.'”
13.
“When all they wanna do is talk about politics. Like, did you just pay me to listen to you ramble about why Trump is ‘misunderstood?’ (This happens more than you think).”
14.
“I’m a former SWer. The worst part of it for me was the fear of being blindsided, tricked, or caught by law enforcement. I never did, but I’m pretty sure I actually had conversations with law enforcement multiple times, I just never directly incriminated myself, and they couldn’t do anything. I’d ghost at the first hint of something being amiss. But that little twinge of uncontrollable fear of the what-if was the worst for me.”
15.
“No union, benefits, insurance, and little to no due process. It’s a high-risk industry with a potential for fast growth, but like any sex industry job, there aren’t any protections for people who have been harmed in the process. Not for the sex workers.”
16.
“I’ve never had a client that kisses right. always feel like they’re trying to eat my whole head.”
17.
“The backlash you might get from family and friends. Even if you love your job, people still try to tell you you should focus on something else.”
18.
“Marketing yourself and keeping up with social media. It’s a full-time job which can consume you if you don’t take an occasional break.”
19.
“Balancing mental health. It’s an everyday struggle as you constantly compare yourself to other gorgeous women who have had plastic surgery, are blessed with genetics, are younger than you, or a combination of all the above.”
20.
“Maintaining a meaningful relationship either with family, friends or a romantic partner who’s not in the industry.”
21.
“Constant travel for conventions, shooting, or making content. I spend more time in hotels and on planes than in my own bed.”
22.
“Definitely just that the randomness of the people that pay for your services inevitably means that while you meet some really nice people, you’re also going to meet some truly awful, nasty, and difficult people.”
23.
And finally, “I’d say it’s the way that we are treated by society and the stigma against us. People constantly speak over us with misguided and uneducated opinions, thinking they know what is best for us when they have absolutely no skin in the game. So many refuse to listen to us or take us seriously. These things contribute to a foundation for the puritanical laws surrounding our work, which create dangerous working conditions and put us in precarious situations.”
If you are or were a sex worker, what’s been the worst part of the job? Share in the comments or use the anonymous form below: