In the movies, prostitution is usually portrayed in one of two ways: super glamorous à la "Pretty Woman," or super depressing à la "Taxi Driver."
Not shown: Sex work is a job like any other, and it involves both earning and spending money. Reddit user EscortByTheNumbers, a "low-volume provider" who works part-time as an escort, detailed her finances online.
And not only does she earn a ton, even part-time — she also has to spend a fair amount just to do her job.
In the last three months, EscortByTheNumbers earned a total of $7,350 — an average of $2,450 PER MONTH.
But look closer: She also spent $2,044 during those three months; her net take-home pay was just $1,768 a month — not chump change by any stretch of the imagination, but still nearly 30% less than what she was taking in.
She had 15 appointments total between April and June (high-volume providers have a LOT more). She got paid an average $569 for each outcall appointment, and $323 for each incall; which is an overall average of about $500 per job/night that she works
"Outcall" appointments are ones in which she would go to the client (including at a hotel); incalls are ones in which the client would come to her.
EscortByTheNumbers itemized her major expenses. At the top of the list were hotel and advertising costs, followed by clothing and transportation.
(Yes, she does buy special clothing in order to do this kind of work.)
Then she broke out her advertising costs further: She advertises on four different sex-work websites and forums, and notes how many clients she gets from each. It's not cheap!
"I don't want anyone reading this to think [sex work is] easy money — it's really not," EscortByTheNumbers writes, "but it sure beats my other alternatives for working a second job in the evenings."
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
