413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Demand, Clients, and Establishing Dates
Demand for sex work online was high. By virtue of the fact that online dates are scheduled in advance—as
opposed to street work that may occur within minutes of a sex worker-john encounter—participants noted
that organizing online dates can be a lengthy process. A respondent from Washington DC, who conducted
both street and online work, explained that soliciting sex work online involved “more of a long process—
an initiation process” than street work (L7).
In addition, the anonymity of online solicitations means that those selling sex work must discern between
potential clients that will pay for the services provided and those that may not. As one respondent noted,
“When you go online, you don’t know what you’re going to get. [There’s] a lot of misrepresentation” (L3).
This has prompted online users to develop strategies to engage potential clients. A 48-year-old sex worker
from Denver, who had been trading sex since the 1990s, described her tactics when using the site
Livelinks.com:
You would go and pick and choose through the calls … They [the potential client] had a
little intro. If you felt like connecting, you pressed one. So you have [the potential clients]
describe what they look like, you describe what you look like…There were kids playing
around—18 and 19 year olds. You have to weed through the ones that want to pay. You
would say, “I’m looking for a man who wants to be generous…” That was the main term,
$200 or $300 was the standard, that was them being generous (J11).
Participants described how dates were established on various websites. The same woman from Denver
described how the site, Livelinks.com, is used:
A lot of times, they [other sex workers] use Livelinks.com. I’ve been on there before, right
before I caught this case. You just call Livelinks, you just say my name is X, looking for a
good time, anyone who wants to get together and party … and that goes online. So it [the
website] will say, there are 78 men online who want a date. … [Dates took place] in [the
clients’] house mostly; they would pay for a cab. (J11)
A 43-year-old individual from Dallas described another site, SugarDaddie.com, that facilitates encounters
between sex workers and clients:
They got this thing now, it’s called SugarDaddie.com … And they pay the women to go out
with them and buy ‘em gifts. There’s a lot of married men … Somebody was telling me
about them. I'm like, how are y’all getting all this money without hoeing (M4)
Others described virtual dates. One woman from Atlanta used a site called LiveJasmin.com to conduct her
work through video cameras. She explained,
I have done some web stuff, some web flicks. They [the clients] put money on your card.
There’s a webcam on your computer, and you sign up for an account. All you need to do is
set up a portfolio, [and] take a little video first. It’s not illegal either. You’re just on your
computer; you do what you do. They [the clients] can request stuff. It’s up to you though;
you can X them out. You do what you feel like doing, unless you feel like doing what they
request. They [the clients] post money on there. (N1)
Fees, Pricing, and Competition
An extensive pricing and fee structure dictates the online sex market and, according to those who worked
online, Internet-solicited sex work can be quite profitable. Some sites, like Eros.com,
TheEroticReview.com, Backpage.com, and AdultSearch.com, require individuals to pay membership and
posting fees. One respondent explained that she paid $150 a month for an Eros.com membership. When
asked about fees for posting, an individual from Atlanta explained, “Eros.com was $160, [but it] could go
from $140 on up, depending. AdultSearch.com was $15 [per ad]. Backpage.com was $10 [per ad]” (N6).
On some sites like Backpage.com, sex workers list their prices in terms of roses or donations rather than
dollar amounts. This strategy is used to reduce the risk that law enforcement would use ads as evidence to
prove that sex work was solicited.
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