Sex worker reveals what it’s really like in the industry

IT might sound fun to Tony Abbott, but what’s it really like for the women who work in the sex industry? A sex worker tells all. ;-)

IT WAS the wink that made waves around the world.

Yesterday as the Prime Minister was on the trail to sell his tough budget he was confronted by “Gloria,” a 67-year-old pensioner who said she was forced to work a phone-sex line to make ends meet.

MORE: Tony Abbott caught winking on camera at co-host

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His reaction — a sly wink at co-host Jon Faine — was caught on camera and he was slammed as a “total creep” by Greens Senator Sarah-Hanson Young, while the story went around the world with headlines like “Does this video prove that Tony Abbott is kind of an a-hole?

The look that made headlines around the world.

Gloria called the Prime Minister a silly, sleazy and “stupid man” and said the global exposure did little to boost her income.

“It didn’t improve my call rate, I only got one call and it only lasted four minutes, I made $2 bucks last night. I thought it might improve my call rate but it didn’t.”

But Sydney sex worker Opi, 34, told news.com.au she was angry the “winkcident” made sex work seem like a last resort.

“I don’t think it’s very empowering, it’s portraying sex workers as women who are so destitute they have to sell their sex. For me it’s not like that. It pays for my education [and] a life off welfare.”

Opi said while she knows sex work can be “traumatic” for others when it’s not what they want to do, she doesn’t like to say it’s a last resort.

“It makes it seems amoral and it’s the last of the options a woman has available to her. Any woman in Australia has a choice to be a sex worker. If a woman is on low income and she has a choice to be a sex worker that’s great but if she doesn’t then that’s great too.”

Opi has worked in massage parlours and brothels for five years and said the work has allowed her to move country, pay down debt and provide the financial freedom to mean she's not “scraping the bottom of the barrel”.

She works two nights a week and can earn anything from $200 to $1000 a night. She spends the rest of her time studying a diploma in counselling and a post-graduate certificate in harm reduction.

Opi said she can earn anywhere between $200 and $1000 per night.

“If you mention sex workers people expect lingerie. I go to my job I come home, I’m just like you.”

“While it’s caused a lot of friction in my family, none of my friends care, nobody raises an eyebrow. By being open and honest it takes away that shock value. If anything, I find people are really curious, we all have sexual relationships so people are curious, it’s not a deviant curiosity, it’s just a natural curiosity.”

She said uncertainty over the Budget meant business had taken a massive hit in recent weeks. Figures released yesterday reveal consumer confidence is at its lowest level since August 2011.

“In the last two weeks it’s been the quietest I’ve ever recalled. I think people are being mindful about where they’re spending money. With all this budget scaremongering stuff it’s had an impact on spending. I’m no different, I’ve cut back on lots of things.”

“It always gets quiet during school holidays. If anything people have this idea that sex workers are rolling in baths of money, driving expensive cars. It’s really hard when nobody comes through that door, nobody goes home with any money. That’s from street workers to high-end independent workers.”

Opi said despite the perception, being a sex worker is just like any other job.

While she knows the sex industry isn’t for everyone, Opi said focussing on the notorious wink detracts from the real issue.

“I think it just goes to show we live in a heterosexist world where men do leer at women. If we didn’t have that climate maybe sex wouldn’t sell.”

“It’s not I don’t feel for the woman. Obviously she’s suffering financially and feeling the pinch of the economic climate and perhaps is someone who wouldn’t have sought out phone sex work in the past. Does that mean that there’s anything wrong with it?

“No one is ringing up saying ‘look at me I had to resort to being a trolley girl’.”

She said ultimately it showed people would try to find work that pays the most - the same reason she chose sex work in the first place.

“This is what the whole Budget thing is about, it’s all about money. It doesn’t matter what we do to make money. We all need money to survive.”

What do you think of Prime Minister Abbott’s wink? Continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ

Originally published as Sex worker reveals what it’s really like in the industry