Sex workers in France have asked the government for a handout to compensate them for lost income because social distancing is making it impossible for them to do their job.
Anais, who has been working in sex services for nine years, is running out of money and said last week: "I don’t know when I will have to resume working. I don’t want to return to work, I am afraid, given the sanitary situation."
But a small minority of sex workers are noticing an upturn in trade as stressed out CEOs, public sector executives and even politicians are turning to them for relief.
Goddess Haven, a dominatrix in the United States, said: "The’yre spending more (than normal). A lot of high-profile clients are working from home now. I also seem to be getting new clients that now have time to discover they even had such fetishes. Now is the perfect time for them to explore and of course I’ve never been more grateful to work from home."
Haven, who is 26, charges US$1,000 for a session lasting between one and two hours.
She specialises in a number of kinky fetishes - public humiliation and abuse, small penis humiliation, financial domination, JOI (j***-off instruction) and CBT (c*** and b*** torture).
In normal times Haven charges for flights and hotels too but at the moment her clientele is strictly online only and she is not doing face-to-face sessions.
Haven said the coronavirus crisis had definitely increased the pressure on a lot of people at the top of industry and they enjoyed the release she gave them.
“It’s always been an escape, a safe space for most. A lot of my clients have been confiding in me about the current situation,” she said.
The United States has recorded 587,173 cases of coronavirus and 23,644 deaths, with almost half of them being in New York state.
While Haven herself is safe, working from home, she is worried about her family in New York: "My aunt is showing symptoms and I am hoping for the best outcome."
The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.