Sex Workers, Tell Us How Your Job Impacts Your Dating Life

As defined by the Sex Worker Outreach Project-USA, sex work is any type of labor where the explicit goal is to produce a sexual or erotic response in the client. Sex work includes prostitution, as well as erotic dancing, pro-dom/pro-sub work, webcam work, sensual massages, adult films, phone sex, being a sugar baby, etc. There are many genres of sex work.

Though sex work is a legitimate job and can be separated from a person's private life as much as they choose, it still has the potential to pose challenges for the sex worker's personal relationships.

From jealousy to judgment, there are a number of ways being a sex worker may impact one's romantic and personal life.

Maybe things started getting really serious with a new partner, so you decided it was time to tell them about what you do for a living. You sat them down and opened up about your work, but they quickly got upset and defensive. They decided they weren't comfortable continuing the relationship.

On the other hand, perhaps you started dating someone new and told them about the videos you create. They were wildly supportive and even admitted they'd considered doing something similar. You went on to have a healthy, communicative relationship, and jealousy wasn't an issue.

Or perhaps you decided to pursue sex work while in a committed relationship, and though your partner was supportive, the two of you decided on some ground rules around testing and protection to make sure you both felt safe.

Sex workers, does your job impact your love life or any of your personal relationships? If so, how do you handle it? Share your story in the comments below, or submit anonymously using this form. Your story may be featured in a BuzzFeed Community post!