413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

new venue to solicit sex work. A more extensive discussion of the supply, demand, and pricing structures
of the street-based and Internet-based sex market is provided in a subsequent section of this chapter and
further explores how these two markets differ.
Clients Over Time
It has been well documented that the demand for sex work has persisted over time and that buyers of sex
work come from a broad array of backgrounds (Malarek 2009). Sex workers interviewed for this study
explained that their clientele remained relatively similar throughout their careers and that they preferred
clients who were white, wealthy, and older. However, they reported that over the course of the 2000s, it
became harder to solicit sex work with clients of this particular background; as a result, sex workers noted
becoming willing to engage in sex work with a broader clientele.
Average Number of Clients Seen and Regular Clients
Respondents were asked about the number of clients they saw per day. Responses varied greatly, ranging
from an average of two clients to upwards of fifty in a single day. Individuals also noted that weekends
typically brought more dates. One from Seattle explained that she saw 20–30 clients in a typical weekend
(K1), while another from Denver saw 10–15 on a given weekend (J8).
Nineteen (53 percent) of the 36 respondents stated that they had regular clients. Fourteen of the nineteen
had 2–5 regulars, one had 6–9 regulars, three had 10–12 regulars, one had 20, and one had 70 regulars.
Respondents traded sex with some of their clients over the course of long periods of time. These clients
were dependable sources of income and other necessities and wants. A 41-year-old sex worker from
Seattle described her regular clients in the 2000s:
I had some regulars and guys that paid even more back then—about 12 of them. I saw
them every week [at the] same time, same place. Some of them were willing to pay more,
up to $160. I didn’t have to spend the whole night with that guy; just had to have him
cum twice. (K1)
Some clients became regulars after seeking out particular sex workers on a constant basis. This was true
for a respondent who traded sex in Denver in the late 1990s and 2000s. She noted, “There would be
regulars that would come down and see me. About five regulars—some that would be every week, [and]
the rest when they came into town. It wasn’t difficult for them to find me. Everyone knew” (J3).
Many sex workers developed close rapports with their clients. One individual from Washington, DC
described a relationship with one of her regular clients: “I dated a regular for six years. He only wanted to
see me in red shoes. He would buy me red shoes. He would masturbate seeing me in red shoes” (L5).
Regular clients provided money, drugs, or other necessities when needed or desired. A 30-year-old sex
worker from Washington, DC, who began trading sex in the late 1990s at age 15, described: “I built up a
regular clientele. Three to four guys on average. These were guys I could call if I needed money or drugs.
This went on for years” (L8). Another respondent from Seattle described the central role that some clients
played in her life. In the following exchange, she explained that clients helped her meet her basic needs:
Interviewer: Did [clients] give you other things at any point, or were they always cash.
Did they ever pay with different things
Respondent: There was a few that would take me to get food and buy cigarettes and
take me to little convenience stores … or take me to purchase chicken and get some
bucket of chicken, so that I could take home for the kids … I had one that … actually took
my kids one time to buy clothes. So, they were actually pretty nice people. I don’t know. I
mean, if I think, what they did wasn’t so nice … There was, at that point in time, if it
wasn’t for those certain people, I don’t think I would have made it … They helped me buy
clothes for my kids. They put food on my table and paid my bills. (M3)
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