Ugh, it looks like it's the same in the UK as it is in the US. One of the big SD/SB sites was how I got into sex work, it was probably around 2011...I had a friend who used the site to find a guy to pay her rent and figured why not give it a try as a broke early 20-something. I arranged to meet this much older man who was divorced, short, fat and obsessed with himself. It's really weird b/c they don't want you to talk about money or what you need out of the "relationship" or "date" but they clearly expect you to be all over them and do everything they want, because I guess it's ok to ask for sex but not to ask for money?!? Anyway I was young and stupid but not a complete idiot, and before we slept together I made sure to ask him for "something that would show me he was serious and not taking advantage of me." He assured me he'd give me what I deserved, we had horrible sex, he fingered me with claws, then I remember him barely moving on top of me with his fat belly crushing my lungs and then asking me to tell him when I came, like he just expected me to orgasm from the sheer magnitude of his presence. Afterwards he gave me $50 which was basically enough for a cab ride back uptown, and I walked to the subway in the pouring rain without an umbrella crying, feeling completely violated and used. He called me the next day and I blew him off and he was like "what's the matter, didn't I make you feel good?" Gross. I remember thinking, how this man got a woman to marry him and knocked her up twice is beyond me!
These sites are a waste of time for anyone who is used to sex work. You have to beat around the bush, often they want to meet you for a free date BEFORE they agree to pay anything- which is shit since they should be paying for your time- and every man I met on an SD site was in utter denial of the transactional nature of our relationship. Most of them would agree on $300 for "a visit" but you can't say "per hour" without them thinking it's too prostitute-y, so they'd try to stay for like half the day for $300. I guess a lot of young girls will go for that because it's scary declaring yourself as a sex worker, but if you're being paid to fuck someone you're a prostitute and if you're paying for it you're a client. I'd rather just call it like it is and have all the boundaries that come with it. All the men I met were much cheaper than my true escorting clients, were always trying to get freebies, and assumed our "relationship" would progress to the point where he was still getting fucked by a hot younger woman all he wanted but i wasn't getting any money. NO THANK YOU. As for my friend, she ended up getting $2200 per month for her rent in exchange for having to be exclusive with the guy, him having a key to her place, spending weekends with him, texting constantly...I mean really we could make that in a day or two and then walk away and live our lives! Not worth it.
