Folks enter the sex industry for many reasons, but a common theme among those who choose to do this work is that it offers flexibility and autonomy beyond that of conventional employment.
There are plenty of podcasts that cover the reasons we turn to sex work, the labor conditions of our industry, the politics that impact our lives, and our history. What is different about When We’re Not Hustling is that it explores the lives of sex workers beyond the job asking: What does the flexibility of sex work allow us to do? Who does it allow us to be?
When We’re Not Hustling is a weekly podcast that explores the lives and identities of sex workers outside our personas. Each episode features a long-form interview with a sex worker, where we talk about everything but work: personal philosophies, ambitions, family, relationships, passions, hobbies, mental and physical health, identity, spirituality, meaning-making, and more.
The show is grounded in these core beliefs:
- Sex work is a job among jobs; that is to say, it is only one role among many that sex workers inhabit.
- And yet, sex work is often treated as a master identity—one that (because of the work’s stigma) overshadows everything else about the workers.
- Sex workers are whole human beings who cannot be reduced to their jobs.
- Seeing sex workers as full people outside of their work is an essential step forward humanizing and destigmatizing the profession and those who work within it.
On this show, we learn who sex workers are outside of the work they are known for. When We’re Not Hustling is an exploration of the people behind the fantasies.