A friend recently messaged Melissa Todd: 'I've decided to give sex work a go!' Her chest sagged, knowing she'd be bombarded with questions from someone who imagined her job was easy, quick money, and limitless rewards. That can be true with the right mindset, Todd says. But soon the friend qualified: 'Obviously, I can't show my face, because of my other work. And my boyfriend, my mum, the kids…' Well, obviously. 'And I don't want to actually meet men, because, as a woman, I'm worried about my safety.' Quite so. About 41 to 61% of sex workers experience workplace violence, according to studies. 'And I don't really want to degrade myself by showing other body parts either, the private bits. But I understand I can make money just by selling pictures of feet?'
The Saturated Market of Feet Content
You can, Todd confirms. But millions of women in the same predicament are trying that very trick. Feet content is already the highest revenue generator year on year for porn site Clips4Sale, with countless creators raising prices by 56% for boot worship and 36% for dirty feet. The market is already saturated. 'Then you saunter into the scene, waving your newly pedicured trotters vaguely near your phone, feeling thrilled by your own daring, and expect to be a millionaire by sunset? Sister, dream on,' Todd writes.
The Reality of Building a Clientele
Sometimes the kinkier ones ask to sit in on Todd's own sessions, perhaps give a feeble blow to a gentle regular's kidney, then expect gratitude and a slice of the fee. 'Give a girl a client, she'll eat for a day; teach a girl to net a client, she'll eat for life,' Todd says. She tries to guide them: advertise, market yourself, get your own clients, practise walloping a pillow. But no. They prefer to turn up at her house and simper at how easy she makes it seem. They want the money she earns without running any risks, doing any work, or spending decades building contacts and a reputation. 'Kinksters are slow to trust, reasonably: their lives are in your hands.'
The Hidden Judgement and Class Privilege
Underneath her friends' pleas for help, Todd hears: 'Obviously, I'm far too valuable and important to degrade myself with any of the disgusting risky muck you undertake, but I really want all the money you have, and this irresolvable conundrum is now your problem, so tell me how to fix it.' Todd admits she was lucky to begin sex work so young, when she had nothing to lose—no proper job, no kids, no boyfriend—and to come from such a low social class she suffered no parental expectations. 'My family were never respectable, thank goodness. How the dreadful strain of respectability wears a decent girl down.'
The Trade-Offs and Painful Beginnings
Being bold and admitting who you are can earn grudging respect from the respectable world. It even scored Todd a column in Metro and a place on the reality show Nobody's Fool. 'You must decide what you want more than anything. If it's money, and you're a woman, sex work isn't a bad option: but it does involve closing off a lot of other options. For me, it is money, and I regret nothing.' Still, becoming a sex worker reminds her of the Little Mermaid who chose to walk, every step agony. 'You must completely surrender any hope of a normal life. It will be painful, and in the first few months, it won't feel worth it; you'll make almost no money at all. Even with my help: you'll be just another lonely lady screaming into the abyss, begging the abyss to scream back at you.'
