Sex work in stories

[TheRedChamber]

A couple of things prompted this thread. First I published a short story in Romance about a proposal in a strip-club last week that got a negative comment basically saying 'never marry a stripper.' and a one-bombing around the same time. Secondly, I've been going through my draft stories folder trying to tidying things away for the end of the year and looking at my ideas list to plan for next year and for some reason I've seem to have just finished, be actively working on, or like the idea of a lot of different stories involving various women involved in some kind of sex work - cam-girls, centerfold models, strippers, street-walkers, high-class call-girls, porn-stars, and professional dominatrices feature, as do innocent young girls who have somehow found themselves behind the counter of the UK's largest sex shop (not strictly sex work I know, but adjacent enough to include). This was a bit of a surprise because although a couple of my stories have featured some kind of sex work, mostly my heroines previously have worked in bookshops and bakeries, been primary school teachers or nurses, or just plain old young students

(and before anyone says anything I have a few stories/story ideas featuring male sex workers)

Now, to be clear, the sex work is never the story in itself. 'Man pays for sexual service' is not particularly good drama on its own. The female characters tend to have lives of their own of which the sexual work, like any job, is a large part but not the sole part of and their work may inform how they meet the other characters or create its own drama, but isn't the sole focus of the character. My position on sex work is largely positive - there are dangers and downsides to it, but I don't protray it as bad or something that needs to be given up the moment the character meets their one true love.

There are obvious advantages to including sex work in short erotic stories - it allows you to get to the eroticism a lot quicker than if your heroine works in accounting. The promise of money for the worker and the obvious temptation for the client can get them doing things they wouldn't normally do a lot easier.

So I'm creating this thread as a discussion place to see how people write (or maybe don't write) sex work into their stories. What kinds of sex work has features and what kinds of adventures have your characters gotten up to? How have these been recieved? Do you have any particular do's and dont's for including sex work in your stories?

 

[filipinamaria]

A couple of things prompted this thread. First I published a short story in Romance about a proposal in a strip-club last week that got a negative comment basically saying 'never marry a stripper.' and a one-bombing around the same time. Secondly, I've been going through my draft stories folder trying to tidying things away for the end of the year and looking at my ideas list to plan for next year and for some reason I've seem to have just finished, be actively working on, or like the idea of a lot of different stories involving various women involved in some kind of sex work - cam-girls, centerfold models, strippers, street-walkers, high-class call-girls, porn-stars, and professional dominatrices feature, as do innocent young girls who have somehow found themselves behind the counter of the UK's largest sex shop (not strictly sex work I know, but adjacent enough to include). This was a bit of a surprise because although a couple of my stories have featured some kind of sex work, mostly my heroines previously have worked in bookshops and bakeries, been primary school teachers or nurses, or just plain old young students

(and before anyone says anything I have a few stories/story ideas featuring male sex workers)

Now, to be clear, the sex work is never the story in itself. 'Man pays for sexual service' is not particularly good drama on its own. The female characters tend to have lives of their own of which the sexual work, like any job, is a large part but not the sole part of and their work may inform how they meet the other characters or create its own drama, but isn't the sole focus of the character. My position on sex work is largely positive - there are dangers and downsides to it, but I don't protray it as bad or something that needs to be given up the moment the character meets their one true love.

There are obvious advantages to including sex work in short erotic stories - it allows you to get to the eroticism a lot quicker than if your heroine works in accounting. The promise of money for the worker and the obvious temptation for the client can get them doing things they wouldn't normally do a lot easier.

So I'm creating this thread as a discussion place to see how people write (or maybe don't write) sex work into their stories. What kinds of sex work has features and what kinds of adventures have your characters gotten up to? How have these been recieved? Do you have any particular do's and dont's for including sex work in your stories?

I was a sex worker. I escorted while at university in Manila

 

[TheRedChamber]

I was a sex worker. I escorted while at university in Manila

So how do you view the ways in which it is sometimes portrayed in Literotica stories?

 

[Voboy]

I set a loose chain of stories in a brothel. The main story has not done well here, probably because of the depravity of the FMC's acts (which I describe mockingly, since they're not the point of the story). I dug into my subconscious and sought outrageous acts, which I duly wrote... and, since I started the story with once such act, I assume it caused some readers to nope out on page one.

But my publisher liked the story enough that I developed the idea into a short commercial series, which sold quite well. So.

In these latter days, I've got an asstaurant (like a breastaurant, but the other end) at which some of my seedier characters work. Several of them are implied to do sex work as well. Now that I think about it, most of the stuff I've done that features sex work does so in a fairly unsavory environment.

Except that I do have a male stripper who gets involved in somewhat more fulfilling arrangements. So, there's that. And my Leinyere story took place in a place where prostitution was normal and destigmatized.

I think, when writing about such settings, I have a hard time avoiding caricature.

 

[filipinamaria]

So how do you view the ways in which it is sometimes portrayed in Literotica stories?

Well it’s not as glamorous as it’s written though some of the sex was good.

 

[KeithD]

A majority of my stories include rent-boys, male escorts, brothels, strip clubs, etc. I establish a world in which this is the norm and there's no "gestalting" about it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

So I'm creating this thread as a discussion place to see how people write (or maybe don't write) sex work into their stories. What kinds of sex work has features and what kinds of adventures have your characters gotten up to? How have these been recieved? Do you have any particular do's and dont's for including sex work in your stories?

It's a major part of "Anjali's Red Scarf": Sarah is a friend and mentor to Anjali, Anjali decides to try escorting ("sugar baby") to pay her way through university, and Sarah ends up hiring her herself. Part of the idea there was to play with that ambiguity where they effectively have two different kinds of relationship running at the same time, and to look at what happens to the friendship when the sugar relationship ends.

In terms of reader reaction, I think that kind of monogamous setup is very much at the comfortable end of sex work. Sarah is Anjali's first and probably last client, so there's room for readers to tell themselves the escorting angle is just a cute excuse for a romance... up to the point where Anjali ends the commercial relationship without a Pretty Woman "and then they fell in love and lived happily ever after" resolution. I made a point of tagging it as sex work because I wanted it to be clear that it is, and some of the later chapters deal a little bit with the implications of that when Anjali's at risk of blackmail.

(Happy to say that around the time I finished it, laws changed here, and the situation for RL Anjalis is a bit safer than it was.)

Although I was playing it safe in some ways, I still wanted to avoid some of the two-dimensional tropes that come up a lot in SW stories - the sex worker as damaged goods and victim who needs to be Saved. I tried to present Anjali as an adult navigating a difficult situation where that arrangement was better than her other options; ultimately she moves on but without regrets. I'm not starry-eyed about the industry, but I know enough SWs to understand that there's as much diversity of experiences as any other profession that people enter in order to put bread on the table, and it irritates me when people lean on sex work simply as a lazy author's way to establish that a character is Messed Up and needs a Saviour.

Most readers didn't seem to find that aspect of the story very challenging; I got a few "I don't think of this as sex work because they genuinely care for one another" and I hope that planted the seed of the idea that there's room for nuance there.

I did try to do a decent amount of background research first; I usually do when writing about something outside my own experience, but I think it's more important when dealing with marginalised groups where there's a risk of spreading harmful stereotypes etc.

 

[MrPixel]

One of the FMCs in my ongoing series is a former prostitute. She hit the streets after being kicked out of her parents' house when she turned 18, eventually landing a job as a waitress/party girl at a sex club, where she built a moneyed clientele outside of the club. She was smart about it and kept her "cute girl next door" look and persona realizing that it was in high demand, and quickly learned to steer clear of the pimps and street drugs.

The MMC in the series, a financial wiz, took her under his wing after she attended one of his investment seminars, realizing her intelligence and potential. He and his wife cared about "this really smart girl" as a person, doing the best she could under difficult circumstances. Living modestly and with the MMC's guidance, she parlayed her significant earnings into a small fortune and made a new life for herself far, far away, having - to his surprise - fallen in love with the MMC.

The fairy tale/fantasy outcome to all of this is she was inducted into the MMC's eventual harem as the resident sex expert, having "seen it all" or nearly so in her time as a sex worker. She became VP of Marketing in his company given her innate ability to know what people wanted and would pay good money for.

=====

I get very few comments on this story series in general, and none about this character or her role. The MMC knew her as a sex worker and there was a bit of a "save her" aspect to it, but more focused on her intelligence and his assistance in the eventual pulling herself up by her bootstraps.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've written a few stories about women who have cam sites or online pages like OnlyFans. I'm working on several stories that involve prostitution or escorting.

My stories pretty consistently present sex, even "marginalized" sex, as a positive experience. I don't play to themes of sex workers as messed up or exploited. If anything I tend to play the opposite side of the field, presenting it as something positive and affirming, and the risk there is sugarcoating an experience that to this day has certain risks and downsides. In general, I'm OK with that, because my stories tend to have a positive fantasy feel to them and I don't feel bound to present all the nitty gritty stuff. I have done some research in the form of posing questions to and getting answers from some women who have online sites, and I'm trying to incorporate the information I've received to make the stories more plausible, and also more interesting.

The OnlyFans paradigm seems to really be changing things, in the sense that a woman can have almost total control over the production and delivery process, eliminating the need to work for seedy porn production companies or sketchy photographers. The online escorting industry, too, eliminates the need to work with pimps. That's not to say that the seedy or exploitative side of the industry doesn't exist, but it's far more plausible now than before to present a woman's exploration of sex work as a positive and affirming experience, and I find it an interesting and erotic area to explore.

 

[RejectReality]

I've written quite a few camgirl/only fans type stories, and they've done pretty well. They're typically not the POV character, though. That's usually somebody else. I did get a comment on the last one complaining that there were too many never-ending only fans stories on the site, though. Fortunately, it was a one shot, but still There's at least one person out there sick of these, so there could be more.

I've got a nine chapter Sci-Fi&Fantasy story about to go into post production that's from the POV of a prostitute/madame and primarily populated with prostitutes, their bully boys, and customers. Clinical, transactional sex is actually an interesting change of pace for me, though it remains to be seen if the readership will enjoy it. I did, so screw it. LOL Story is already in the can, so it's going up. The readership in the category isn't particularly interested in the naughty bits anyway. They expect them, but they can live without them. There are a few detailed scenes sprinkled throughout the story for those who need their pickle tickled. To me, it's primarily about the turf war between Betty and Josephine, and how insanely far Josephine is wiling and able to take it.

I don't write the cynical, beaten down by the world variety, and I haven't really done a rescue them from the life they lead story either. The cam/only fans girls are the type who know it's rare when it can be a primary source of income, and have the bills basically covered in other ways. Not having to depend upon the capricious nature of the biz is what keeps them from going down a dark path, so they get to indulge their exhibitionist streaks without worrying about paying rent. I write happy hookers and whores with a heart of gold.

 

[Djmac1031]

My main character Jenna in The Jenna Arrangement didn't start out as a sex worker. But she's a young college girl in need of money and over the course of the series has started an Only Fans page. While that's factored in, it's not the main thrust of the series.

I'm currently writing another story where the young lady creates Only Fans content for the same reason: to pay for college. In this story yes, it's a central plot point.

I'm an ally. I've used the services of sex workers, both online and yes, in real life. And I'm not the least bit ashamed of it.

And I believe sex workers themselves should not be shamed. Whatever their motives.

I prefer to write them in a positive light, not as whores or drug addicts or victims of abuse. Of course I understand that happens.

My characters come from normal backgrounds, have a healthy attitude about sex, aren't ashamed of their sexuality, and, well yes, need the money.

For them it's a job, yes. But for the most part they enjoy it.

 

[Seadog777]

I "dated" a stripper back in my younger days. I can say that in MY personal experience (not painting everyone with the same brush), they were all seriously damaged.
Molested, Raped, Mental Illnesses, Unfaithful, Addicted to drugs, etc, etc.

I'm sure that there are some strippers and sex workers that are lovely people, I just didn't meet any in my travels and younger days.

I AM currently working on a story that involves that particular area of employment.

 

[KeithD]

One of the marvelous things about fiction is that, as the writer, you can create the world of your story yourself. You can dictate what goes into that world. You don't have to get yourself hung up on the clinical or the horrific. The goal of erotica is sexual arousal, not documentary.

 

[HordHolm]

Is James Bond or Kingsmen a faithful representation of work within the espionage industry? Clearly not. It is a fantasy, and we are largely dealing with fantasy when we look at erotica. I currently have a long-term project on the go, which I come back to intermittently (and which I will probably finish some time in 2029), in which the MFC is engaging in a Belle du Jour type exploration of herself, and even within the dialogue there I try to make it clear that the reality of sex work is overwhelmingly one of drug addiction, trafficking, physical and mental abuse, and historic child abuse/exploitation. However... I am writing a fantasy, not an essay, and I am not writing a 'mainstream' work of fiction either. If I were, then there is no feasible way that I could make it anything other than a heap of voluminous misery, because to do otherwise would be unbelievable. However, with erotica and fantasy the possibility to create the unbelievable and have the reader suspend disbelief is such that a positive, unreal depiction of sex work is within the realms of possibility.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I did a 750-word story about a female stripper on women's night, Women watching Womanwhich I'd like to flesh out into more of a story. The stripper has a job in the chorus of a West End musical but strips for more money - and for fun on women's night, because women are crap at paying for lots of private dances.

I have an established character who describes losing his virginity to a prostitute with a couple friends, like in the Bon Jovi song, "we each threw in a ten; she took us to this cheap motel, and turned us into men", but also relates a bad experience years later when he was lonely and drunk, ended up in Soho ushered upstairs to pick a girl from a ring binder, she cried on him, he punched the pump, and got thrown physically out. It's all part of the guy's history, involving drugs and lots of booze, and fits.

I've known a fair few sex workers - one had a mainstream business which sometimes needed extra cash. She insisted that a few hours doing specialised kinky sex was less humiliating and degrading than dealing with Barclays Bank or HSBC to get anything, and having done the latter, she had a point! Yes, sex workers often have backgrounds of abuse, rape, etc - but then often so do other women - it's just the sex workers are more likely to talk about it.

Obviously there's still a lot of unpleasant pimps and traffickers in the industry. It did look like websites were going well at helping customers find non-forced sex workers (is there a better phrase?), but I don't know if the average guy wanting an average fuck gives a shit. It's probably less of an issue for kinky stuff where you need to know what you're doing, and can charge a lot more.

But certainly there's some very normal stable people who happen to do sex work - like the Prostitute of the Year I spent a couple hours chatting to at the Sex Maniacs' Ball. Lovely woman in her 50s, has specialised in helping disabled people have sex, but cheerfully assured me she'll shag anyone respectful who has a thing for grey hair! I suppose no-one would suspect respectable me of working at the SMB, either.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

In my first story posted here, the young wife of the MC purchases a gift certificate to a strip club for her husband. Not for him to attend the club, but for her to take dance lessons that she can then come home and treat him to.

In a sequel to this story, we learn that the wife and her sister-in-law purchased this same strip club and turned it into a couples venue where men and women could come and learn how to "entertain" their significant other. The club still had strippers of both sexes, but their primary business were the classes geared towards educating couples. There are classes where the amateur women would all go into a room together and get instruction from professional strippers. They would use these instructions to compete against each other to see who mastered the particular technique best. They competed in a private room with only the the female classmates and the instructors present. The club also hosted a weekly amateur night where students who felt confident enough with what they had learned could perform for the general audience, and could do so incognito if they desired.

I was surprised at the number of comments opposed to wives and girlfriends stripping in front of strangers, simply to hone their skills for their partner. There was no sex involved, just titillation.

 

[oggbashan]

A sex worker is the lead female character in my story Hotel Whore. As is an elderly cantiniere in my story Fort Whore.

Sex workers are mentioned in my stories Beach Rescue, Winchester Geese, and Whorehouse Chapel.

But in none of them is it seen as a glamourous profession.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I write fantasy stories with strongly dark leanings, and enjoy letting my characters flaws drive them.

I play on the happy hooker stereotype with my most recent historical main character. She had a violent and deprived upbringing which left her quite callous and found both sex and prostitution to be an escape from poverty. It was liberating, and no more dangerous than other aspects of her life. She had very little control over her life, and sex was both a strength and her weakness.

Describing sex work as simply selling someone's time and services only goes so far. Its psychology is so much more than that, the stigma alone can shatter even the most robust self esteem, that's before poverty addiction and criminality come into play, and the fact that it alienates you from people with socially acceptable jobs. Reducing it down to the same as casual sex on tap doesn't do it justice in my opinion. There will be real life people that thrive in it as well as our fantasy characters do but they are in a minority.

 

[filipinamaria]

I write fantasy stories with strongly dark leanings, and enjoy letting my characters flaws drive them.

I play on the happy hooker stereotype with my most recent historical main character. She had a violent and deprived upbringing which left her quite callous and found both sex and prostitution to be an escape from poverty. It was liberating, and no more dangerous than other aspects of her life. She had very little control over her life, and sex was both a strength and her weakness.

Describing sex work as simply selling someone's time and services only goes so far. Its psychology is so much more than that, the stigma alone can shatter even the most robust self esteem, that's before poverty addiction and criminality come into play, and the fact that it alienates you from people with socially acceptable jobs. Reducing it down to the same as casual sex on tap doesn't do it justice in my opinion. There will be real life people that thrive in it as well as our fantasy characters do but they are in a minority.

I was a sex worker while at university in Manila. It’s not glamorous

 

[MelissaBaby]

I have written about sex workers several times, based in part on my own experiences as a dancer, and on stories I've heard from other women in the field.

I wrote The Gold Dollar Girls, specifically to try to present a realistic but entertaining look at life as a stripper. I did not seek to glamorize nor pathologize the women or the occupation.

Each of the four main characters represents some aspects of the life, positive and negative. To Roxanne, it's a well paying job that she basically enjoys, but it is an impediment in her personal life, both romantically and with her family. Clover began stripping out of economic necessity. Her attitude toward it is that a job is a job. But because of what she does, she is treated unfairly by the social services system. Kayla sees stripping as a glamorous lifestyle and herself as a star, but learns that she is the exploited, not the exploiter. Misty, like many women I worked with, is a college student. She's paying her way through school, and when she's achieved her goal, she's done. She represents a younger generation that approaches such work with a more sex positive attitude.

The women I worked with, as a group, were no more or less damaged than any other sample of women. It's just that the damage they've suffered is more sensationalized.

That being said, I'm not on any sort of a crusade about it. I get that most of what is written here is unrealistic fantasy.
But, I think my position is best summed up in a conversation between Clover (Charlene) and the attorney in her child custody case:

"You don't have a very good opinion of sex workers, do you?" Charlene asked.

"Well, my job would be easier if you were a waitress or a secretary," Bridget said.

"I get that. But you, personally. I kind of feel like you look down on me."

Bridget shook her head. "Honestly, I don't. You do what you have to do. But in a general sense, yes, I have a problem with women selling their bodies for money."

"Uh huh. Well, you know what? My Dad worked his whole life down at the old stamping plant. Eight hours a day, punching holes in sheets of metal. I remember, when I was just a little girl, asking him why he only had eight fingers. So, you know, maybe we have different ideas of what it means for a person to sell their bodies."

 

[lovecraft68]

The main reason I came to erotic literature was so that I wouldn't have to consume porn. Years ago I used to watch so-called amateur videos until I realized that everything was staged. Cam girls working from the safety of their house is the most I'm willing to put up with.

I recently discovered that many of my co-writers suffer from serious self-esteem issues. For them, writing is not a form of therapy but more of an obsession for external approval.

Three out of four sex workers were victims of childhood sexual abuse. Their occupation is a direct continuation of their trauma. Most of the street workers are drug addicts.
I find no interest or fascination in the sex industry.
If I ever write a story about a sex worker, it will be a very sad one.

Tell me you're from the 1960's without showing a birth certificate. Your take was more legit some time ago, but is seriously out dated. Many of today's escorts aren't runaways, victims of abuse, or drug addicts. Their attitude towards sex is they have what guys want and charge them for it.

Now sex workers also include only fans and women on porn hub who are shooting vids with their husband/partner and they're all making bank from their homes. The sex trafficking industry on the other hand is a different story, but also 100% non consensual and criminal and that's not what's being discussed here.

I love the passive aggressive way you take shots at others here, while projecting your own issues so obviously in your opinions.

I'm willing to bet you have a thing for sex workers and would love to hire one, but your weird self loathing stops you so you then talk down about it. Oh, and I love the trick of trying to act like its so sad and tragic to humanize yourself.

One more tip from a student of human nature, if you're writing stories for public consumption, you too are seeking some form of approval or validation. We all are, or else our stories would stay on our computer or just shown to partners or friends. Even if ist simply "wonder if I'm any good at this" its still looking for something.

Lucy charged .05 for her psychological advice, but with inflation you need to pony up a buck, but keep it towards that escort you've been eying on the site you have bookmarked that you look at all the time, but can't pull the trigger.

BTW its considered poor ethics even among trolls to constantly denigrate others writing and them as people, but keep doing it, you're painting a nice picture of yourself.

Jealousy is an ugly emotion, especially when masked with self delusion.

That concludes today's session Teapot, feel free to schedule another appointment.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I was a sex worker while at university in Manila. It’s not glamorous

Absolutely.

If you don't mind, can I ask what made you stop?

 

[Voboy]

I have the right to declare that the key to misogyny (perhaps misanthropy) is a troubled childhood, wounds that never fully heal, and mommy issues.
...
It's easy to speak positively about sex workers as long as it's not your wife, sisters, or daughters (And I didn't forget my brothers in the gay sex industry).
You can lie to yourself, but I know you will destroy the universe before you let the ones you love fall into prostitution.

There are at least two people posting in this thread who actually WERE sex workers. I gather that neither of them thinks they "fell into" anything, and they've already made contributions here that cast your opinions (which are not facts) into question.

Sorry, but they've got 100% more credibility than you do on this topic. So "declare" all you like.

 

[Mnkinkcpl]

I have never seen the bad side of sex work, then again I have never looked into it deeply either.

The only real experience I have with it is a few female swingers who have done it for the experience and fun.

They either worked for a escort service or at a legal brothel.

 

[MelissaBaby]

There are at least two people posting in this thread who actually WERE sex workers. I gather that neither of them thinks they "fell into" anything, and they've already made contributions here that cast your opinions (which are not facts) into question.

Sorry, but they've got 100% more credibility than you do on this topic. So "declare" all you like.

When I became a stripper, I did not "fall into it", I pulled myself up. One week I was couch surfing with my friends, the next week I was pulling in two hundred dollars a night.

The only time in my life when I had complete autonomy, when I was not, at least in part, dependent on my mother or a boyfriend or my husband, was when I was dancing.

You can't understand sex work if you do not understand it as an economic issue. Women (mostly) who have no other means of providing for themselves or their families can earn money that would otherwise be out of their reach.

Yes, a lot of them are doing it for drug money. Hell, I was one of them. What is their alternative? Frankly, for many it's just a more subtle form of sex work; staying in a crappy relationship just to keep a roof over her head.

But more of them, in my experience, come from a working poor background. They live in dying mill towns or ghetto neighborhoods where economic opportunities are limited or non-existent. They've got kids to feed with no help from deadbeat dads. They take the job they can get.