Name: My name is Lydia Lunch Box (Lunching on Lydia's box is not free)

Which sex work field are you in/were you in? For how long have you been in this field?

Working as a sex worker (full sex) in a rented private apartment shared with other sex workers.

What is your preferred job title?

sex worker however when i am doing sex worker activism and or performance i use whore.

How did you decide which type of sex work was right for you?

I have tried lots of different types and this is the one that suits me and my lifestyle right now - i may do others in the future. Sometimes i do more than one type at the same time.

How did you find your job?

I created my job i guess by getting together with other workers and renting a place, i designed an add and we bounght a phone card to share so we would have a general work number.

Briefly describe your working environment

apartment

How do most clients find you and/or book an appointment with you?

advertisements in the daily and or weekly newspapers or an on-line advert.

Tell us a bit about what your job involves.

time management, negotiation skills, sexual health knowledge, prophylactic specialist, erotic craftsperson, aerobic activity sometimes, compassion, sensuality, phone skills and technique, people skills, high level communication skills etc.

What is an 'average' appointment/session/call for you?

1/2 or 1 hour

What's your weirdest client/session/call/request?

clients that would rather have hand relief than sex because then they are not cheating on their wives.

What do you charge/get paid?

AU$150-200 for 1/2 hour or AU$250-300 for the hour - extras are additional AU$50

What do you like most about your job?

Money, freedom of work hours, role play, dressing up in great wigs and crazy ankle breaking stilletoes, experimenting with roles, recognising men as vulnerable, recognising the beauty myth is just that, understanding mens sexuality and desire in a way i dont think i would have if i didn't work, meeting amazingly strong women who have made a choice like me to enter into an industry that is outside of the norm or 'queer'.

What do you like least?

timewasters (on the phones), paying more for my advert than people advertising in other sections of the paper, the smell of semen and latex if i have forgotten to empty the bin the night before, ugly mugs/bad dates (which i see as different to clients), discrimination, internalised whore-phobia (other workers who love their job but on some level buy into the anti-sex worker and anti-sex attitudes of society), young clients on drugs........

What would you like people to know about your work?

That i enjoy my work! What i dont enjoy is people telling me what i am feeling or experiencing!
I am mystified why the society listens to the views of academic feminists like Sheila Jeffreys or Donna Hughes who perpetuate their abolitionist agendas through their empowered roles in Universities whilst silencing sex workers. Their attachment to theories like false consciousness and dissociation are little more than strategies to silence other women (in this case sex workers) and if it was a less disempowered group it would be named for what it is - discrimination.

If you could go back in time, and tell yourself one thing just as you were getting started in sex work, what would it be?

Let go of all your preconceptions and all that you think you know - understand that western society is anti-sex and that does effect most of us in how we have developed our understanding of ourselves, our sexuality and our role when having sex, as well as what sex is.

Set your own boundaries and be very clear in communicating those to clients. Consider different sex practices and different services before a client is flashing the money under your nose and know whether or not you feel comfortable experimenting with a client. Maybe talk over different sex positions and practices with another sex worker before you try them - ask for tips.

Probably the two regrets i have from when i first started working are - Not asking other sex workers what i wanted to know, and not putting my prices up to $800-$1500 for an hour (pricing myself out of the market) just to see if i got any clients at those amounts - sometimes i think some clients think they are getting something extra (or better) if they are paying more.

Lydia supports the Scarlet Alliance