Overheard on the Set [Sex Worker Rant]

Posted at 4:44 PM Aug 07, 2008

Image from TheNaughtyAmerican's Flickr stream

Sex Worker Rant runs on Wednesdays (but is a day late this week!) and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

In my business, you hear a lot of strange things, but I have to say, some of the funniest things, or conversely, some of the most grimly amusing things I've heard have been uttered on the generally modest (ahem) or barren sets of low budget gonzo pornography. Now granted, I have a very, very strange sense of humor, but I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite utterances that have escaped the lips of people on such locations. I will not lay claim to or deny my involvement in any of these gems…

"Fuck, that stings! Hold still, let me fling some in your eyes!"

"Poison Oak? Thank god, I thought it might be herpes!"

"Dude, my ass is burning, could you hold that light a little lower?"

"Please stand by for erectional difficulties…"

"Umm, I'm going to need more lube for that…a lot more."

"Platform heels run less risk of causing open flesh wounds."

"Can you hold that position? I really need to pee!"

"Okay, so this leg goes here, and this one here, and my head is like this…where is his cock going again?"

(amid frustrated cursing) "What do you mean the fucking camera died before the pop?"

"If I'm going to be licking this floor in twenty minutes, I'm going to be mopping it now."

And my all time favorite?

"You know, this stuff really does actually work as hair gel?"

And who says we don't live interesting lives? The one I personally like to say the most however is… "You're willing to pay me that? For that? Well then, let's do some business!"

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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A Day (er, Night) in the Life of an Outcall Stripper [Sex Worker Rant]

Posted at 8:40 PM Jul 30, 2008

Photo by Charise Isis from her American Stripper series

Sex Worker Rant runs on Wednesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

Five thirty pm calls for the shower and shave, make up, and that lotion that smells really good.

In the car by six-fifteen!

First show, one of three, forty miles away in another state. Frat boys. Loud, drunk, Hip-hop, harmless…not great tippers, but they don't suck.

Count the cash, on to the next gig. In the historical District of Columbia. Business types, bachelor party, rented out private bar, the bachelor's belt buckle says "pimp". Old school classic rock, six-inch heels on tile floor, a few questions about my tattoos. Good money, fun guys, that outfit, the red one. I wonder what the ladies are doing? I wonder if they wonder what the guys are doing?

It's ten pm, on the way to the last gig when the boss lady calls with a new last gig. Can I be to Arlington at midnight? Yeah, I suppose I can, even though my feet hurt and I'd kill for a cheeseburger. Have to get through this one first. Mixed crowd, men and women, topless only. Everyone seems really nervous. I grin, smile, make jokes to get me through it as much as to get them through it. Tips suck. I can't wait to get out of there!

On the road again. Can I make it sixty miles in sixty minutes? Probably not, but we'll give it a-go. Hey, only ten minutes late. Aussies. Alternative. Last minute gig. Lots of booze in their bellies, spirits high, I wonder how the other guests in the hotel haven't complained yet. Football toasts I don't understand, but it doesn't much matter. They're having fun, keeping their hands off, and tipping handsomely. More handsomely than I could have hoped.

One fifteen am, on the road home again. I figure I can be in my shower by two, in bed by two fifteen. My wallet is way fatter, and my favorite heeled boots survived another night. Tomorrow, well, tomorrow is Saturday, and I'll do it all over again…this time, maybe the strappy heels and the blue outfits.

All in a nights work!

I just wish the boss paid for gas. I wonder if I could write that off for tax purposes?

All things to ponder when Monday comes and my busy nights are over.

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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Looking the Part: Dressing for Success in the Sex Industry

Posted at 3:57 PM Jul 09, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Wednesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

Though on occasion I find it tedious, one of my favorite things to do when preparing for work, be it stripping, a porn shoot, a bit of professional domination, whatever, is selecting my wardrobe, make up, and hairstyle. True enough, I don't always have a lot of leeway in this; with porn, often the director has very specific ideas about what he or she wants, from seven inch heeled fuck me boots, a shredded tank top and barely-there g-string to soccer mom shorts, sandals, and a Paisley blouse, and often times with domination, the costuming is important to the client as part of his or her fetish: leather or latex, rubber or metal, fishnet and flesh. Even in stripping, there are requests: cop, cowgirl, cheerleader, Goth gal. However, often, the decision is entirely up to me, and I find that, the choosing of wardrobe, hair, and make up, the ritual of assembling those things, to in and of itself be erotic.

Sure, when I'm working, I'm me, but I always find it a bit fun to decide which side of me whomever is going to get to see. Which part of myself am I going to reveal before I even start shedding clothes? Are they going to get to meet the tough, tattooed me with the affection for huge, hard platform heeled boots, stark black eye makeup and a top-knot ponytail trapped in a spiked band, or will they get the mellow, easy-going gal in the standard plastic stripper shoes, bright pink boy shorts and loose and free mane? Am I feeling the vamp, the tease, the goddess, or the control freak? Fun or Fantasy or a little bit of both? What part of me do they get to see? Even though my clothes will soon enough end up on the floor, what first impression do I feel like making?

And I enjoy the ritual of looking the part. Applying the make up, light and natural, stark and severe, barely there or hot and whorish, doing the hair, pulled back tight, loose and free, ironed and forced into position, and putting on whatever bit of gear I've decided to wear. Sliding the g-string on so it frames my ass just right, lacing up the corset, adjusting the bra so it both lifts and shapes in the desired manner, pulling on the boots or slipping into the heels, attaching garters if needs be, giving myself whatever last smile, smirk, pout or stare is necessary in the mirror before I go do my thing. The ritual of looking the part in and of itself often puts me in the mood to sell whatever fantasy of sexuality I've been hired to perform.

Sometimes, even when not wearing much, the clothes really do make the woman!

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

[Photo by Flickr user smokegirl rebekah]

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Tags: dominatrix, fashion, make up, performance, porn star, stripper

Stripper Tunes: Booty Shakin', But Not to Hip Hop

Posted at 3:19 PM Jun 17, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

Hip-hop music. I get the impression a whole lot of folk like it, and that's fine. I'm sure my musical tastes are in question by a great many people, and there even are various hip-hop songs I enjoy, but overall, not a fan.

And for a stripper, that makes things rough. See, I'm old y'all. I cut my heels (as it were) in the clubs back in the day when hair metal was the default. I reveled in the era where White Zombie and Nine Inch Nails ("Closer", to be specific) seemed to be ultra cool in a lot of club settings. And yes, even now, if you bribe the DJ, you can still generally manage to dance to few songs you like. Thank the deities of naked display for that. Because otherwise, it seems to be all hip-hop, all the time. And while sure, one can gyrate and drop their g-string to anything with a beat, I've always preferred dancing to music that I not only know, but music that I like. See, I actually think that stripping does involve dancing, and my hip-hop proficiency? Utterly lacking.

And in house work is no different. Working solo, I can take my own music, and tips prove, why yes, it is possible to be sexy and shed clothing to Korn and KMFDM (ah yes, my tastes run to industrial and NuMetal), and I've found you cannot go wrong with Aerosmith and Lenny Kravitz…because a clue here is…often the men paying you? If they are over, oh, 30 and white guys? They don't much like hip-hop either! However, when working a two girl show…once again, the return of the hip-hop. Almost all the other girls dance to it, listen to it, know it, go to clubs that play it, and freak if they don't get to use their music. Failure to do so often results in drama, and I dislike drama more than I dislike hip-hop. You can even point into a room full of 30-40 year old dudes and say "It's likely they prefer Kravitz to 50 Cent", even ask the guys if they prefer Kravitz to 50 Cent, get an affirmative answer that they prefer Kravitz to 50 Cent…and still get stuck with 50 Cent. And why yes, this does affects ones tips! And if you're working three two-girl shows with the same girl, it can affect your tips (and temper) three times in one night! You'd think people would be willing to take one for the team (and the money) and strip down to Filter every once in awhile, or even be somewhat democratic about it, using their music for one show, and yours for another, but no…at least not without drama.

Hip-hop…one of the many reasons I so often prefer to work alone, and have no qualms about bribing DJ's.

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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Too Alt to be Mainstream, too Mainstream to be Alt

Posted at 4:28 PM Jun 10, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

It's interesting that I was pondering this topic a bit, then I come on over here and see Ms. Dacia and others are already all over it! I've talked about Alt vs. Mainstream with regards to the Suicide Girls before, and it seems to be a subject that a lot of people are all over; and yet the question remains: What the hell is an alt girl? Is she a goth rockabilly girl whose lack of implants, addition of other body mods, and a hair color other than blonde make her different, though in body, she is not so different at all? Is it a trans woman who looks like a Super Model? Is it a plus size model whom, if not for her size, would be tearing up a runway in Milan or on the cover of "Maxim"? Is it someone like Viktoria, who is slim and petite yet also a person with a disability? Is it all about a face that with enough or the right make up is still not that far from what we see everywhere else, or a body that is pretty much the same?

I don't know. I think of Morrigan Hel as an alt model, even though she is conventionally attractive and has implants. I do so because of the type of porn and erotica she's in, and because, well…she is a bit older than the average Suicide Girl. I remember I was quite taken with the women in Blue Blood (Magazine back in the day) the first time I saw them, because they did look different than the women in Penthouse…but looking back on it, ink, metal, and hairstyles aside, they really weren't.

I just know for as long as I've been involved in erotic modeling, stripping, porn, what have you, I've heard the following more than a few times: "You're too alt to be mainstream, and too mainstream to be alt."

Grrrr…

And it's true in some ways- I'm a light-eyed, cis woman, no physical disabilities, and well, on the thin side. I've never, even with make up, had the China Doll white goth skin, my chest is man made, I'm waxed, and I'm a…little…on the athletic side. Yet, looking at it the other way, I'm 5'2" and all shoulders, my hair is naturally black, and I have a fair amount of ink (and none of that roses, dolphins and butterflies crap either). I've been called exotic before, unusual, "buff" and different, but it seems it is my destiny to be trapped somewhere between the realms of fitness fetish, alt, and mainstream…

And I'm not sure what the hell that means either. All I know is it's damn frustrating! And no way I'll ever bleach my hair again. But it does beg the question, as others are asking…what the fuck does Alt mean anyway? Has it come down to being a catch all for anyone who isn't < ahref="http://clubjenna.com/">Jenna Jameson, a label for any sort of "look" or fetish?

It sort of seems like it, no?

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Tags: alt porn, beauty standards, models, porn

Just Shut Up and Fuck

Posted at 2:12 PM Jun 03, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

Now, I'm sure this will come as a shock to no one, but I shall state the obvious as a launching point here:

There are a whole lot of people out there, men and women, who assume if you are a sex worker, you are brain dead. You could have a PhD, earned Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, but if you get naked and/or fuck for a living, people are going to assume you are stupid, and not only stupid, but interested in not much beyond the state of your pedicure.

This was demonstrated clearly for me once again recently when, amid those annoying normal people with straight jobs, a discussion of politics was embarked upon. The hot topic was the US Presidential race. Should Hillary throw in the towel? Is Obama really all he's cracked up to be? Will the strife amid the Democratic Party allow McCain to walk away with the election? Will there ever really be a viable third party in the US? Who is voting what way, and why?

I find this stuff interesting, so I was listening while the normal types debated the issue…then, I dared to speak and offer an opinion!

I think the world stopped for a moment. And some scab in the group had the balls to say something along the lines of "Oh, how cute, a whore with an opinion on politics!" Followed by bit of female tee-heeing.

I shant repeat what I said in return, but to me the message was clear: There are people out there who firmly believe sex workers have no brains, no opinions, and only one mission in life: to shut up and fuck. Ah, stereotypes!

I also wonder why that particular gem of modern thought is so perpetuated? I'm sure several people would scream "see how misogynistic it all is?" but I, grimly amused sort that I am, well - I think it's often about fear. Fear of women who are sexual, and intelligent, and yes, do have opinions and the spine to back them up. Pretty scary thing to a lot of folk, I reckon. It seems it's okay for a woman to be sexual, or good looking, or smart, or versed in current events- it's fine for her to be any one of those things, but if she is two or more of them? That bitch is fucking dangerous. So what can one do to such a creature? Well, tear them down, of course! Mock and belittle them! Put them in a nice little box that keeps them nice and safe in some little corner.

Well, I don't like corners, or boxes, so I will say it brings a smile to my face to see so many sex workers writing and talking and being political. It's good to see a response to "just shut up and fuck". It's good to see dangerous women saying, "No, you shut up and listen."

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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What use are sex worker stereotypes?

Posted at 2:08 PM May 27, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

Over at the sex workers blog, Bound, Not Gagged, there has been some interesting (and heated) conversation on The Image of Sex Workers and how sex workers rights organizations do- or do not- address the needs of all sex workers. It is my humble belief that sex workers rights organizations need to take sex workers of all stripes into consideration when formulating policy or organizing outreach and activism, and it is also my humble opinion that the needs of those in less fortunate conditions should hold some precedence over- yet not eclipse the needs of- those who are content…yet for me, a question lingers…

Why does there have to be "an image"? A stereotype? A caricature that is "sex worker"? Why is it that people have the need to paint sex workers as the optionless, impoverished, uneducated, drug addicted person with no other choice, or the trafficking victim, or the over the edge, over the hill, drugged out party girl gone wrong, or the happy, selfish, devil may care dilettante, or the cut throat by any means necessary amoral sexual warlord? The victim, the unicorn, the puppet, the soul-dead?

Why must there be an effigy that people can gaze upon in some Ozymandian fashion: "Look upon Sex Workers, ye mighty, and despair! Nothing besides remains."

I understand that for a variety of people, using the stereotypes is beneficial. I realize that the stereotypes are based in reality, and because of that, they are excellent for feeding agendas. The anti-sex work side needs its forced victims in order to have a cause. The moral crusaders need their wanton, devious sluts in order to have a cause. The pro-sex work side needs their independent, autonomous business people to have a leg to stand on. The world in general needs someone to blame, question, use as a monster and punching bag. Sex workers, or at least the stereotypes they are pushed into, fit the bill.

Yet another thing that rarely happens to accountants.

But considering how many different types of people engage in different types of sex work for different types of reasons and in different types of conditions under different sets of circumstances I am left wondering why sex workers, especially amid ourselves, feel the need to get into the stereotype game at all, except to combat it on all fronts. Because each and every one of us is a person, not a cartoon, and we all have thoughts, ideas, hopes, motivations, and histories which differ from the way those who need to would like to paint us. We all have something to say, without our words going through anyone's filter.

It's vast and not monolithic out there, and it is populated by all kinds of people, none of them one-dimensional walking stereotypes. So why the need, especially amid ourselves, to pretend otherwise?

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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The Hardest Thing About Being a Sex Worker (hint: it's not cock-related)

Posted at 3:24 PM May 20, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

If you're a sex worker of almost any type, and you're out about it, you soon learn that you will get asked a whole lot of weird questions. You will get asked things accountants, tech people, and waitresses do not get asked. People who hardly know you will ask things that your momma, partner, and shrink wouldn't ask outright. You will get asked flat out if you've been molested or raped, or if you are on drugs, or a drop out, and yep, you will get asked "how much for a blow job?" I mean really, would people ask their dentist these things? I am betting no. Yet, as a sex worker, you soon find that in the minds and realms of "normal people," you are alien. Boundaries of common sense, decorum and privacy seemingly no longer apply to you, at least in the minds of normal people.

I've been asked some weird shit in my day: Do fear going to Hell? Am I into chicks? Can I lick my own clit? How many cocks can I take at once? Have I ever cried on a porn set? Ever been raped on the job? And, the two questions that always come: What do my loved ones think of my career and why do I do it?

I've started making up really creative and outrageous answers, especially when virtual strangers ask these questions.

Another one I hear a lot is "What's the hardest part of your job?"

Well, I can say this truthfully and with authority. It's not the weird hours. It's not the seven-inch heels. It's not the fasting and enemas before an anal scene. It's not the rough fucking, or the getting groped by drunk guys, or body upkeep, or getting throat-fucked. It's not the hustle, it's not the strangers, it's not the getting naked, it's not the physical work. It's not the waxing, it's not the tit job, it's not the scrubbing cum out of my hair. It's not the names, it's not STD testing, it's not the crawling on all fours to pick up tip money off the floor.

It's the objectification. From normal people. With their normal lives and abnormal questions. That is the hardest part, and it's not even a hard part that feels good. I like my job, I have bad days, but mostly I love what I do, and I take pride in my work. The hardest part is normal people not getting that, then asking me how old was I when I first took it in the ass, how many guys have I fucked, and do I know where they could score some blow? It's being made someone's argument against my industry. It's being not quite human to a whole lot of people. Normal people. Who I find myself liking less and less each day.

That, true believers, is the hardest part.

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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Sex Workers: Take Back the Media!

Posted at 12:04 PM May 15, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays (late this week, sorry) and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

You know, it's tough to be a sex worker of any sort. When you become one, you know going in: there will be stigma. People will stereotype you as everything from creepy to utterly broken without ever knowing you, and why yes, they will use you for whatever agenda suits them at the time. Sex sells, right? That being the case, I think we're all owed a big fat check from mainstream media. What with everything from Bill O'Reilly eviscerating advocates like Amanda Brooks on his "news" programs to dead hooker of the week on Law & Order Special Victims Unit, these people are making a ton of money off sex workers, and at the same time, doing nothing to help us, at all.

Spitzer? Palfrey, the DC Madam? Her suicide? Great for ratings! Yet, do you ever see much of actual sex workers on TV? Other than what "Dateline" or "20/20" tell you? Edited and filtered through their lens of course. When was the last time you ever saw big media coverage of a Sex Workers Rights Rally, or a piece on a happy porn star, or time given to those speaking on the decriminalization or legalization platform?

Let me guess, never. Which is why when sex workers say, we need our own media, no filter, no cutting room floor, no agenda other than our own, I agree.

Oh hell yeah. Blogs, books, radio shows, conferences? Bring it on.

Because frankly, don't you think sex workers get stereotyped and used enough?

FOX, NBC, Washington Post, NY Times?

Let me guess, the check is in the mail?

And on that note, I'd like to leave you with this: A little video I made about sex workers, sex workers rights, those who use us, and how it is long past due that we start speaking for ourselves. Everyone from Diane Sawyer to Melissa Farley has used sex workers to sell themselves, so yeah, it's about time that credit is given where its due: The Sex Workers themselves.

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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Tags: mainstream media, media, media criticism, resistance, sex workers

The Other Professionals: Men and Transwomen in Sex Work

Posted at 7:17 PM May 06, 2008

Sex Worker Rant runs on Tuesdays and is written by Renegade Evolution, a sex worker, sexual mercenary, and all around fan of “The Sexy” living somewhere near our nation’s capital. Quirky might as well be her middle name.

I find it interesting when looking around at information pertaining to sex workers: blogs, books, outreach organizations, prohibition groups, you name it, the focus is, without fail, on the cisgendered women. [editor's note: "cisgender" is a term that applies to people whose gender presentation matches their biological sex; it is used to destabilize the idea of "normal" gender/sex presentation and diffuse the idea of transgender as the opposite of "normal"] They are forever and always the focus of any and every debate about sex work.

And I find myself wondering why. After all, there are other people involved in any and every aspect of the biz. Porn, stripping, prostitution, professional BDSM? Sure enough, the performers and workers in these industries are not all women. There are men and transwomen involved too, yet we rarely ever hear about them. We really only hear of men as consumers or directors, strip club owners and pimps. What about the other men in the biz we never hear about? At least not in a big media way. What about the transwomen? No "Dateline" specials on them. Which surprises me. I mean, aren't they sex workers too? Don't they require advocacy, support, exit strategies if wanted, aren't they worthy of attention too?

Transwomen are likely to face violence in life, let alone in sex work. Male sex workers more or less face many of the same slings and arrows that their female counterparts do. From stereotyping to STD's to, why yes, rape - I figure as a sex worker and a sex workers rights advocate, it's about time some attention is paid to the other professionals. They are, after all, my sisters and brothers via career and all. They are, like me, sex workers.

One doesn't need to look far to see the chaos faced by transwomen in the sex business. In fact, it's my humble opinion that of marginalized people in an already marginalized profession, transwomen are the most marginalized and discounted. And men? Well no one ever seems to spend too much time or effort on or show concern for the men. Most people assume that the average dude would love to get naked and fuck for money. Only, as Ernest Greene, a long time vet of the porn industry explains, it's not really like that. Not at all.

So I suppose that it is my feeling that if one is going to claim to be interested in sex work, sex workers, and what goes on with them, if they want to claim to be an ally or an advocate, they need to start looking at the lives, words, trials and tribulations of sex workers, and not just the ciswomen ones. Transwomen and men are sex workers too, and they deserve some attention. They are out there, they are talking, and the first and most important thing we can do? We can listen.

Please do.

Read Renegade Evolution's blog here.

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