Tag Archives: sex work

The Secret Lives Of Male Prostitutes

If you haven’t heard, HBO has a new dramedy, “Hung,” that’s about — well, the title should tell you something. The series focuses on a divorced father in Detroit who loses his wife, his kids (custody, that is), and his manhood. Also? He has a big penis. In order to get by, he decides to become a male prostitute. I know, I know. That happens all the time. But the show begs the question: What are the real lives of male prostitutes like? Keep reading »

Would You Sell Your Body To Make Ends Meet?

If times were tough — I mean, really tough — would you sell your body for money? In her Salon column “Pinched,” Tracy Clark-Flory reports that more women are entering the sex industry due the recession, including Marie, a 30-year-old former white-collar professional with a degree, who now operates out of hotel room and has “been paid more times than she can count, or cares to count, for sex, blow jobs, hand jobs and sensual massage.”

We already knew that sex still sells during a recession — sex toy sales are up, lingerie sales are booming, and sex workers — from prostitutes to strippers — aren’t being as adversely effected by the economic downturn as other businesses. But otherwise professional women who never considered a career in sex work suddenly taking it all off to make ends meet? Is this really a trend? Keep reading »

The World’s Tiniest Brothel

Leanne Eisen is a Toronto-based artist who creates dollhouse scenes that depict the human condition. One of her most intriguing photo-based series is “Play,” for which Eisen built miniature replicas of brothel interiors. While most dollhouses contain scenes of perfect domesticity, Eisen’s rooms allow viewers a downsized peek inside the mostly hidden world of prostitution. I asked the artist about her mini-sex work project; her response is after the jump. Keep reading »

From Strip Clubs To Hotel Beds: The Lay Of Sex Laws

You can take our dignity but not our porn! New York’s Governor Paterson is pitching new taxes to help the state’s $14 billion budget deficit. Among them: a $10 tax for strip club patrons and tax on Internet downloads for web porn. Similarly, Texas pols want to place a $5 “pole tax” which was struck down as unconstitutional by a state judge. Oh yeah, the forgotten “right to bare boobs.” Most of these skin taxes have stalled because of conflicts with the First Amendment. No porno, no peace! After the jump, other laws striving to cash in on sex… Keep reading »

Spiraling Economy Spawns Freelance Dominatrixes

As the economy goes soft, some women are seeking to earn extra cash as freelance sex workers. As it turns out, there’s a market for powerful career gals who can dominate a man’s world — literally. According to Tracy Quan’s “Kinkonomics,” recently laid off ladies are freelancing as professional dominatrixes. Although sex workers generally consider pro-domme work the most difficult sex work, these well-educated, middle-class working girls have decided to try their hand at the kinky version of the world’s oldest profession. It’s another type of economic stimulus package; this one includes bondage, verbal humiliation, and foot worship. [The Daily Beast]

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Second Life: Virtual Reality Hooker

With over 16 million members, Second Life is the largest user created, 3-D online game world that features everything from malls to vampire castles, plus all the amenities of a faux-universe to play out your fantasies. It’s no surprise then that the sex market is strong and hi-tech hookers are cashing in — well, kind of. Sex is cheap! And nowhere is it cheaper than Second Life. For about the price of a drink, you can get your rocks off all night with a 20-something gal like “Palela Alderson.”

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Ashley Alexandra Dupre To Tell All To Diane Sawyer

This Friday, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the call girl whose hotel trist with then-New York governor Eliot Spitzer led to the sex scandal of the year, will appear on ABC’s “20/20” for a sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer. If Spitzergate went down six months ago, why is Dupre talking now? Last week, the state of New York declared it wouldn’t be pressing charges against the Love Gov, meaning it’s unlikely Dupre will be charged for her part in the scandal, which frees the former escort to make her case to the public. On the same day, a lengthy profile of Dupre will appear in People. In excerpts from the interviews posted online, it sounds like the 23-year-old is looking to make apologies and mend her ways. Keep reading »

As The Stock Market Tumbles, Call Girls Reap The Rewards

Six months after a sex scandal ousted Eliot Spitzer from office, the New York governor turned “lov gov” is working in real estate, still with his wife Silda, and wondering how it all went so wrong. Meanwhile, call girls are back in the spotlight — and working harder than ever as Wall Street takes another tumble. Keep reading »

Interview With A Call Girl Blogger

Frisky favorite Refinery29 has an interview with Frisky friend and call girl blogger Debauchette. These days, call girls are the new black. From the Spitzer scandal to “Sex and the City” creator Darren Star’s call girl HBO show in the making, America can’t get enough when it comes to the secret lives of 21st century courtesans. And Debauchette is one of our favorites. Smart, sexy, and savvy, she exposes the complexities of high-end sex work with unprecedented candor. In the interview, she recounts her journey from a Northern California childhood to graduate school to fetish model to erotic provider. So, what’s a courtesan? Keep reading »

In India, Some Women Are Sacred Prostitutes

A new essay in the New Yorker takes a look at India’s “sacred sex workers.” In “Serving the Goddess,” author William Dalrymple spends time with the country’s devadasis. What’s a devadasi? An ancient Hindu practice in which women are “dedicated” to a god or goddess, some of those women become prostitutes. “The nature of that service and the name given to it have wide regional variations and have changed through time; only recently have most devadasis come to be working in the sex trade,” he writes. It’s an interesting read about a country in which “sacred” and “sex work” have become strange bedfellows. Keep reading »