Kinkonomics: Is Freelance Fetish Work A Good Way To Earn Extra Cash?

In a crappy economy, some women are picking up some freelance work: Fetish and dominatrix gigs.

These kind of jobs don’t usually involve actual sex, writes Tracy Quan (a former call girl) for The Daily Beast. “The sector is poised for expansion as more unemployed and underemployed women begin looking for extra cash.” And it doesn’t matter if you’re not really “into” the scene. Writes Quan:

Because many of these freelance pro-dommes are just supplementing their incomes and don’t plan on staying in sex work forever, they may not be as erotically hardcore in their outside lives. “I wasn’t really that interested” in S&M, says Chloe. “I got involved because it was easy money. The strap-on? I’m OK with it, but it’s not really a personal interest of mine.”

Maybe you’re thinking, why spank a businessman or let some dude suck your toes if you’re not even into it? But the same could be said of answering phones, making a latte or cleaning someone’s house. (In Mumbai, profesional men are finding that sex work on the side helps them earn a decent living.)

On the other hand, unlike being a receptionist or a barista, working in the sex industry is an occupation some women might be reluctant to talk to friends and family about. Chloe, the art student Quan interviewed for her piece, says her mother “would probably cry” and be “very upset” about her fetish gigs, although Quan speculates: “some parents would be secretly proud of a daughter resourceful enough to hack the increasingly rigid class system that permeates New York life.”

Still: Do you believe a job is a job? Do you believe extra money is extra money? If there’s no kissing, no sex, just spanking or foot worship, is there any harm in freelance fetish work? Quan puts it this way: “Even if you’re bossing your client around in a pair of thigh-high boots, you’re still working in a service industry. And after an hour, your feet hurt.”

Kinkonomics [The Daily Beast]
Male Professionals Double As Sex Workers For Extra Income [Hindustan Times]