For so many people across the country, COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on their livelihoods.
Due to the nation-wide lockdown, industries like retail, hospitality, and travel have all been hit hard, with thousands of people losing their jobs, and many others having their income slashed after being placed on furlough.
However, after months of lockdown and ongoing social distancing rules, very few people have considered the impact the pandemic has had on sex workers.
Now, a professional escort has spoken to VT about the impact COVID-19 has had on sex workers, what has been her most unusual requests in the bedroom, and what needs to change for the stigma around the industry to finally be removed.
India Rose, an escort and camgirl from England, has been left unable to see her regular clients for months.
"Officially, I started doing sex work about two-and-a-half years ago. I started off as a camgirl and you naturally build up relationships with regular clients and that led to meeting them, " she explained.
Prior to working as a camgirl, India Rose started seeing sugar daddies at the age of 18. Explaining that she was about to go traveling at the time, she said she purely got into the job after a friend said it was an easy way to make money.
However, after returning home and starting a Monday-Friday, 9-5 job, India Rose soon started to miss the excitement of her former life. Then, after seen an ad on Instagram, she decided to join a webcam agency.
While working as a camgirl, India Rose started to speak to regular clients on a daily basis. She explained to VT how this soon developed into her meeting one of them for sex:
"I had been talking to [a guy] for about three-to-six months, so quite a while. And then he said, 'Look, I'm in London, do you want to do something?' And I thought, 'Do you know what, yeah!'"
And despite what many people may think, India Rose has never been in a situation where she has felt unsafe - making sure to research each client before she meets them.
In fact, she points out that "it is no different to meeting a guy on Tinder or at a bar on a night out." But for extra precaution, India Rose does allow her close friends to track her phone.
When I asked how her friends responded to her career choice, India Rose said they have been 100% supportive, and they have said that "as long as your safe, then you're fine."
I then asked if her family knew about her life as a sex worker, to which India Rose told me:
"I've never fully said to [my family] that I do this. But I'm pretty sure that they've put two and two together [...] I don't know what they think I do otherwise because I've never had a proper job and I'm always in designer clothes.
"We've never openly spoken about it. Over lockdown, I went to stay with them for a bit. So I came to their house with a suitcase full of props and wigs and all sorts for webcamming - which I'm pretty sure they came across, but they've not said anything."
And when it comes to dating, India Rose told me that she has recently started talking to a guy, but is yet to come up with the best possible way to tell him about her life as an escort.
When I asked India Rose to talk me through a normal working week, she revealed that she will usually work as a camgirl from Monday to Friday - of which her clients pay per minute in either group or one-on-one chats.
Once a month, she will set a weekend aside for her escort work - booking out an Airbnb where she meets her clients.
Talking me through the process, India Rose reveals that she does not do random meets, and makes sure she has built a relationship with the client beforehand.
Prior to meeting, they will discuss any specific requirements, what they are expecting, anything in particular they like, or what they would like her to wear.
She then takes the money on arrival and ensures that they take a shower - joining them if they would like.
"I'll get ready - if they've brought me a toy or a costume to put on. Then yeah, then we just get on with it and do it."
Sometimes the clients then suggest going for a meal - continuing to pay for India Rose's time.
Asking how much each session costs, India Rose revealed that she charges £350 ($460) per hour, and will see roughly for regulars over a weekend in two-to-three-hour slots.
With her webcam work included, she told me she can earn anywhere between £5,000-£6,000 ($6,590 - $7,910) per month.
However, India Rose did explain that her decision to see all of her clients over one weekend per month is down to two reasons; the fact that "it is quite draining, emotionally" and that she is admittedly "lazy".
When asked if she would encourage somebody else to become a sex worker, India Rose said "for sure", but offered the following advice:
"Just trust your gut and have a bit of common sense. Whether it is with a safety situation or you're truly thinking 'I want to do this/I don't want to do this' - don't do it for the wrong reasons. You have to do it because you enjoy it.
"Of course you're going to have days where you think, 'Oh, what a day!' But you get that with every job.
"It is hard work - especially with social media and advertising and photography - you have to wear a lot of hats. Don't think you can just jump on and do it. It is hard work. But I do think it is worth it.
"And I think if you're thick-skinned enough and I think if you really don't care and enjoy it, then go for it."
India Rose then stressed that you cannot survive in the business if you are "constantly anxious and constantly worried".
"So many girls get into it for the wrong reasons. Obviously the money is amazing, but you do need to enjoy it, she explained, adding: "Don't do it and always be looking over your shoulder. Don't drain yourself over it."
The 21-year-old then explained that even the webcamming comes with its risks: "You do have to be prepared, even on camera. Some [people] do want to be nasty and troll you for no reason - just because they can. And I just think, 'You're paying for this?!'
"But some girls get so upset over it - it sets them back weeks. It's just your mindset."
I then became curious enough to ask India Rose what her strangest request had been from a client, to which she gave me two answers which were poles apart:
"I always find the ones that are quite - not boring - but, mediocre the strangest. Because, in a way, I can see why the fetishes and why the odd requests... why you'd pay for it. Because it is a service at the end of the day, and it is something that you can't ask your girlfriend because you're embarrassed.
"So when guys just want to... I had one session before that was an hour and half, that was just kissing. I found that a bit odd."
"But also I've had weird ones before. One guy - there's this thing called sploshing - which is food fights and getting really messy with food. And it was a mixture between that and a foot fetish.
"So, he was basically pouring custard and squishing cake into my toes for about an hour. And that was a bit odd - but, again, easy to do."
However, like so many of us, India Rose's livelihood was left with a question mark over it when the UK was placed in lockdown back in March.
Unable to meet up with clients, India Rose told me she was able to concentrate more on webcamming and her content sites.
With more people at home, I assumed that her webcam work would have increased, to which she responded:
"Yes and no" - there was fewer men online during the day, because their wives and families were home. So most of the late night and early in the morning were busier. But throughout the day, not so much.
"Lunchtimes were busy, when people were on their lunch breaks - working from home."
Yes, people are logging on to cam sites in their lunch breaks - who'd have thought it??
But as the UK's lockdown measures began to ease, it still took India Rose a while before she started meeting clients in the flesh.
"Personally, I didn't do any [meets] - just for personal preference, I didn't want to risk it," she explained, telling me that she had only her first client since lockdown at the end of July.
"I'm not sure I want to be meeting random people all the time - and even in hotels - it's all a lot harder. You never know what they've been doing or what they've been up to," she told me.
However, with many of her regulars out of the country, she admits that she still cannot "fully get back into it", even if she wants to.
And with so many people being out of work and cashstrapped, I asked India Rose if she'd seen more people turning to sex work, to which she replied:
"There has been a massive influx of girls working - it has jumped up dramatically. A crazy number of girls have signed up.
"I don't know if that's because they're out of work so they're more desperate for money, or they're at home and have more time on their hands, or if it is because it is more spoken about in the media and word of mouth. People are a lot more open about it."
When I asked her feelings on more women working in the business, she told me: "It is a bit more competition - but at the same time, it creates more conversation about it and makes it more open in society."
India Rose is currently a brand ambassador for the escort site Ennvy.com - a new website that she describes as "easy" and "user-friendly".
"It's made by workers for sex workers," she explained, adding that the company also works to support charities that are striving to change society's attitudes toward the industry.
Discussing what needs to be done to help remove the stigma around sex workers, India Rose told me: It is 100% about education - just sex in general.
"There's such a shame around it and embarrassment - but when you think about it, it's one of the oldest industries in the book, but it's always had a stigma around it.
"I think you need better education, starting in schools. But also for adults to be more open about it - not discuss fetishes more, because that'll put us out of a job [laughs] - but to be more knowledgable on it. There's so many girls and women who still don't talk or discuss it.
"[Sex] education is not just about: 'You get your period, guys have wet dreams, you have sex, and here's how to put a condom on. Don't get a disease.'
"You need to talk about different relationships. You need to talk about LGBT sex. You need to talk about a much broader range of what is out there - because everybody is going to experience it."
However, despite the stigma surrounding the industry spanning generations, India Rose is confident that the conversation around sex work is growing, thanks to celebrities like Cardi B and Bella Thorne joining platforms like OnlyFans.
"I think with sites like OnlyFans - where it is so much more accessible and you've got influencers and celebrities doing it - it's all a form of sex work," India Rose explained, "so it does open up the conversation more and it is slowly being drip-fed into society."
India Rose also highlighted that there is also a generational gap when it comes to attitudes toward sex workers. She said:
"There's a lot of older women who will look down on girls for going out wearing a short skirt or low cut top - and then we get into blame culture.
"But in 20 years' time, I think it will be completely different yet again. With the internet and with everything being so accessible - [the industry] does just continue to grow."
Featured image credit: Supplied/India Rose
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