Sex sales slump during cost of living crisis

Published

2 years ago

August 16, 2023

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Sex sells, but does it when the price of almost everything has gone up?

Sex worker Jenna Love is a Sydney, Australia-based escort, and shes currently watching her industry adapt to these strained financial times.

When you are a sex worker, you are relying on people having a disposable income, so Ms. Love saw the cost of living crisis coming from a mile away.

We feel the pinch with this stuff quite early on, she said.

Theres no denying that plenty of people are financially strapped at the moment.

The US also continues to grapple with inflation, with the rate currently at nearly 3%.

People are cutting back on expenses, with a recent CNBC and Morning Consult Poll finding that 92% of US consumers are spending less.

So where does that leave sex workers?

If people cant justify mince, can they justify paying for intimacy? The answer is complicated.

Ms. Loves unique job gives her insight into the general vibe of wealth in Australia. For instance, she flagged when the building industry was drying up way before anyone was writing about construction companies collapsing.

She simply noticed she was booking less appointments with tradies paying in cash.

She also flagged early the trend of Gen Z staying at home longer after chatting with her younger clients.

People in their twenties, they dont see how they could move out.

Given Ms Love makes a living by dealing with people and often people at their most vulnerable shes very aware of how the cost of living is impacting her clients, and therefore her and the sex industry in Australia.

Across the broader sex industry, Ms Love knows from speaking with other sex workers that times are tough, and people arent making the money they used to.

People are pretty worried.

If you have regulars, you will get through, but if you arent established, its a real struggle, she told news.com.au.

The nature of sex work is to make yourself seem desirable and in-demand.

Its basic marketing, but it means you are never going to see an escort reveal shes having trouble getting enough private bookings to make rent, and that means even when things are tough, the sex industry looks misleadingly glamorous.

Lots of people in my industry are struggling at the moment, I speak to women who are getting only one booking a month, she said.

You arent going to put on your marketing that you are doing really poorly. We have got to put out this image that we are really successful.

For every OnlyFans success story, Ms Love knows plenty of sex workers who are currently barely making rent.

A spokesman from Scarlet Alliance, the Australian Sex Workers Association Sex workers, confirmed that sex workers are feeling the pinch during the cost of living crisis.

We face the same inflationary pressures as all other workers including increasing costs for food, mortgages or rents, electricity, and so on.

The spokesman said sex workers are in a more vulnerable position than other Aussie workers.

Due to stigma, discrimination, and criminalization in some states and territories, sex workers may find it harder to access government and other supports. We saw this during the COVID-19 response, and we encourage any sex worker doing it tough to get in touch with their local sex worker organization for support and appropriate referrals.

Ms Love explains shes in a lucky position in the industry because shes an established sex worker and has regulars, but even shes noticed a shift in her demand and bookings.

Yes, she has her regulars, but some have cut back from coming once a week to once a month or fortnight.

Theres been a reduction, she tells news.com.au.

I used to be heavily booked and have a waitlist, and Im not in that position these days. But I do still have enough bookings.

A single hour spent with Ms Love will set you back $600 ($420 USD), but shes not planning to lower her rates.

Remember the price of tomatoes?

While she understands if clients cant afford to keep visiting her, shes not prepared to lower her costs at a time when all her personal bills are going up.

She does offer a cuddles and chat option, which is only $250 ($165 USD) per hour, but that service involves no sex.

It was an idea that stemmed from the pandemic when she realised how many people were just starved of touch, and something shes kept on as the cost of living pressures increase.

It was also in my mind because things were starting to get tough for us all, well, most of us besides the 1 per cent.

So does she think sex work is drying up? Well, no.

Ms Love thinks there will always be a demand for intimacy and human connection, but the bigger question is will Aussies keep being able to pay for it?

Sex sells, but you have to be able to afford it.

Politics

Why Boris’s best mate is off to Reform

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

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👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       

Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.

Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?

US

Donald Trump praises Liberian president’s English – the country’s official language

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

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Donald Trump praises Liberian president's English - the country's official language

Donald Trump has praised the Liberian president’s command of English – the West African country’s official language.

The US president reacted with visible surprise to Joseph Boakai’s English-speaking skills during a White House meeting with leaders from the region on Wednesday.

After the Liberian president finished his brief remarks, Mr Trump told him he speaks “such good English” and asked: “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

Mr Trump seemed surprised when Mr Boakai laughed and responded he learned in Liberia.

The US president said: “It’s beautiful English.

“I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

Mr Boakai did not tell Mr Trump that English is the official language of Liberia.

The country was founded in 1822 with the aim of relocating freed African slaves and freeborn black citizens from the US.

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Mr Trump promised the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau a pivot from aid to trade at the surprise meeting.

He described the countries as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people”.

Later asked by a reporter if he’ll visit the continent, Mr Trump said, “At some point, I would like to go to Africa.”

But he added that he’d “have to see what the schedule looks like”.

Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, promised to go to Africa in 2023, but only fulfilled the commitment by visiting Angola in December 2024, just weeks before he left office.

US

Gaza permanent ceasefire ‘questionable’, says Israeli government

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2025

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Gaza permanent ceasefire 'questionable', says Israeli government

The Israeli government believes the chances of achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza are “questionable”.

The pessimistic assessment, in a top-level Israeli government briefing given to Sky News, comes as the Israeli Prime Minister prepares to leave Washington DC after a four-day visit which had begun with the expectation of a ceasefire announcement.

Benjamin Netanyahu will leave the US later today with the prospect of even a temporary 60-day ceasefire looking extremely unlikely this week.

Within “a week, two weeks – not a day” is how it was framed in the background briefing late on Wednesday.

Crucially, though, on the chances of the ceasefire lasting beyond 60 days, the framing from the briefing was even less optimistic: “We will begin negotiations on a permanent settlement. But we achieve it? It’s questionable, but Hamas will not be there.”

Sky News has spoken to several Israeli officials at the top level of the government. None will be drawn on any of the details of the negotiations over concerns that public disclosure could jeopardise their chances of success.

But I have been given a very clear understanding of Mr Netanyahu’s thinking.

The Israeli position is that a permanent ceasefire (beyond the initial 60 days, which itself is yet to be agreed) is only possible if Hamas lays down its arms. “If they don’t, we’ll proceed [with the war],” said a source.

The major sticking point in the talks between Hamas and Israel is the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

The latest Israeli proposal, passed to Hamas last week, included a map showing the proposed IDF presence inside Gaza during the ceasefire.

This was rejected by Hamas and by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who reportedly told the Israelis that the redeployment map “looks like a Smotrich plan”, a reference to the extreme-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.

My briefing of Mr Netanyahu’s position is that he has not shifted in terms of Israel’s central stated war aims. The return of the hostages and eliminating Hamas are the key objectives.

But in a hint of how hard it will be to reconcile the differences, it was clear from my briefing that no permanent ceasefire is possible in the Israeli government’s view without the complete removal of Hamas as a political and military entity.

Hamas is not likely to negotiate its way to oblivion.

On the status of the Israeli military inside Gaza, a senior Israeli official told Sky News: “We would want IDF in every square metre of Gaza, and then hand it over to someone.”

It was clear to me that Mr Netanyahu wants his stated position to be that his government has no territorial ambition for Gaza.

One quote to come from my briefing, which I am only able to attribute to a senior Israeli official, says: “[We] don’t want to govern Gaza… don’t want to govern, but the first thing is, you have to defeat Hamas.”

Another clear indication of Mr Netanyahu’s position – a quote from the briefing, attributable only to a senior Israeli official: “You cannot have victory if you don’t clear out all the fighting forces.

“You have to go into every square inch unless you are not serious about victory. I am. We are going to defeat them. Those who do not disarm will die. Those who disarm will have a life.”

On the future of Gaza, it’s clear from my briefings that Mr Netanyahu continues to rule out the possibility of a two-state solution “for the foreseeable future”.

The Israeli government assessment is that the Palestinians are not going to have a state “as long as they cling to that idea of destroying our state”.

On the most controversial aspect of the Gaza conflict – the movement of the population – the briefing revealed that Mr Netanyahu’s view is that 60% of Palestinians would “choose to leave” but that Israel would allow them to return once Hamas had been eliminated.

“It’s not forcible eviction, it’s not permanent eviction,” a senior Israeli official said.

Critics of Israel’s war in Gaza say that any removal of Palestinians from Gaza, even if given the appearance of being “voluntary”, is in fact anything but, because the strip has been so comprehensively flattened.

Reacting to Israeli Defence Minister Katz’s recent statement revealing a plan to move Palestinians into a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, and not let them out of that area, the official wouldn’t be drawn, except to say: “As a permanent arrangement? Of course not.”