Old Job New Tricks

To the women who work in it, the sex industry is no longer about shady street corners and pimps – it’s about autonomy, empowerment and building a brand. But is the new sex work economy a fresh form of female liberation or just exploitation with an Instagram account?

- Alexandra Carlton

The one-bedroom apartment near Sydney’s Barangaroo development is remarkable in its ordinariness, with the clean, grey anonymity of a mid-range hotel room. There’s a modular couch accented with red cushions, a small galley kitchen and an empty Juliet balcony used as storage for a mop and bucket. The only real sign of life is the colourful flotsam in the bathroom – shower gel, perfumes and toothbrush – at least until you meet the sparkling female occupant. She’s slim and energetic, with a broad smile and a mermaid cascade of blonde hair. Dressed in a pretty cotton dress and bare feet, she greets visitors with a warm hug. Her name is Jessica, and this is the apartment she uses for her work. She is a private escort.

“Like a lot of girls, I was really into ‘Belle de Jour’,” says Jessica, 27, referencing a popular blog written by a London call girl in the late 2000s, of her reason for getting into sex work three years ago. “I also watched this documentary from the US, where there was this beautiful girl who said, ‘You have to keep your pics up to date, you have to be gorgeous and friendly, but you meet so many great guys, you hang out, you might sing or play guitar with them and it’s awesome’.” Jessica was hooked. She loved sex anyway, she thought, so why not let it buy her the life she wanted?

Jessica runs her business by herself. She has her own website – filled with reviews from fawning clients – and 17,000 Twitter followers. She uploads new photos regularly to Instagram to keep the men who visit her interested, and they text her phone to book.

Jessica is part of the new sex work economy, where girls are both bodies and businesswomen and who see the work – at least some of them do, some of the time – as no different from any other in the growing freelance economy.