This chapter focuses on us. It focuses on our emotional health and how our jobs impact our feelings about our lives.

Sometimes we feel compelled to minimize the exploitation that occurs in our industry so that the straight world doesn’t exclude us as much. We notice that the more we legitimize our work by focusing on the positives, the more respect we are given.

But in reality, services in exchange for money IS work. We should not have to legitimize our work by denying exploitation. Exploitation in this industry is a direct result of others looking down on us and denying our labour. It is because of this exclusion of our work as work that we feel obliged to hide the negative aspects of the industry.

We admit the hardships in this chapter. There are aspects of our work that we do not like. We are entitled to feel both good and bad about sex work. People in straight jobs hate their jobs as much as we do sometimes. (If you’ve ever had a straight job, you know it’s true.)

This chapter is not a confession of exploitation in the sex industry. It is a realistic summary of the emotional complexities of sex industry work. For those who read our words looking to justify abolitionist views, please do not use our painful moments against us.