Reporting from Phone Sex and Students. Rewritten and subbed by Nicole Froio.
As the number of students working on sex phone lines increases one says that it is an important way to help pay her tuition fees while at university.
The number of female university students working for phone sex lines has doubled in the past two years, according to a BBC commissioned investigation. The numbers continue as students struggle to make ends meet after university tuition fees increased in 2010.
The number of student sex operators has risen in parallel with the changing circumstances of higher education. Women who have opted for this alternative job say the sex phone industry is attractive because the job is easy and pays very well.
Current phone sex operator and student Charlie* has been in the business since she began her University studies three years ago. She felt the pressure of her loans as soon as she started studying, but now, as an operator, she is earning enough to pay off her debts. She also says that she is still able to maintain a regular love life and even that the job is enjoyable.
She said: “We live in a world driven by money and we also live in a world where you need a good job to become successful. To get a good job, you need a good education, which often means you need to go to University. Did you ever think that we phone sex operators are only doing this job throughout education for our own good? Why not work as a phone sex operator and pay your way through University to scale down the amount of debt you are left with at the end?”
Another possible trigger for rising numbers might have been Channel 4’s show ‘My Phone Sex Secrets’. Though this is just a speculation, owner of one of the largest phone sex companies Amanda* said that she was inundated with applications after the show was broadcasted – particularly from young female students looking for an easy way to make money.
Though there are over 2,000 phone sex companies in the UK, they are widely forbidden from advertising in mass media. Most students heard of the job opportunity from word of mouth or the internet. A survey on Students and Phone Sex revealed that only 29.9% of the participants had come into contact with an advert for such services. Despite the lack of adverts and official publicity, a report published by Durex revealed the 45% of the population have tried phone sex before, with 56% researching companies on the internet.
The forums in The Student Room and Student Beans have advice on how to be a successful operator. However, members of the website Mumsnet are strongly against students being operators – they go as far as saying that being one is essentially working within the sex industry – and also blame higher tuition fees. The websites SWAAY and WeConsent.org defend the women’s right to work as operators, posting positive stories of ex-operators and advice.
The only point the three websites find in common is that higher tuition fees are to blame.
Fellow students don’t seem to mind, as 71% of a hundred students interviewed by Phone Sex and Students (PSAS) said there is nothing wrong with it. Around 10% of interviewees know someone who is a sex operator.
Though Charlie claims the job is an easy one, PSAS discovered that the success of a phone sex operator lies in establishing yourself in the business and compiling a catalogue of reliable clients. If a newbie phone operator took 5 calls a day, they would earn £18.
With or without student sex operators, the phone sex business is thriving, as revealed by a Durex survey, that determined 45% of the population has used sex lines before.
*Names have been changed to protect their identities.
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