A Mother's Motivation to do Sex Work
For many, a good mother is defined by her want to provide for her children and spend time with them which makes the misconception that prostitution makes for a bad mother is clearly coming from a place of ignorance. The motivation for many single moms whose jobs are in the sex industry is exactly for that reason: it is to provide a better life for their children. Often times, a woman choosing to spend her time as a sex worker is motivated by laziness, or lack of effort to find another, more “typical” job.On the contrary, for single mothers it not only gives them a higher income but Many sex workers, “choose sex work for many reasons. Obviously making a decent income is one major factor, as is the flexibility… in the hours that suit me” [2]. This flexibility in hours is a motivation for single mothers as it gives them time to spend with their children. These hours gives them the opportunity to spend time at home rather than turning to childcare, that they also perhaps cannot afford [3].
The life of a prostitute mother is anything other than lazy. Prostitute mothers share many of the same anxieties of any working mothers, with the additional anxieties stemming from the criminal nature of prostitution. It is for themselves, as this job makes them happy, as it gives them a way to make their own money as well as provide for their children in other ways that may not be possible in other jobs. Bonnie, (the sex worker seen in the attached photos), is a single mother of 3 who lives her normal life, working a job similarly to other parents, but she also gets to pick her hours and therefore devote her time to picking her kids up from school, cooking for them and being a committed mother who spends time with her children [1]
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(All captions) Frank, P. (2014, October 30). Meet Bonnie, A Loving Mother And A Sex Worker Living In Denmark (NSFW). Huffington Post. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/marie-hald-_n_6071530.html
- Anonymous. "My Two Faces," Web blogpost. becausei'mawhore.. Because I'm A Whore. 19 Oct. 2011. Web 13 May 2016. https://becauseimawhore.com/2011/10/19/my-two-faces/
- Edin, Kathryn, and Laura Lein. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997.