Phone sex work in addition to professional role

BerryTina

Hello,

I have a well-paying professional job, and I’m also a phone sex worker who very occasionally does online cam. 

I’m not a vulnerable woman , or someone who has been trafficked into doing phone sex.

I genuinely just see it as easy.

Is it wrong to be doing this considering my circumstances?

Soot2006

Not wrong at all; do whatever you like as long as you're happy, comfortable, and declaring your income. It's legal in the UK, therefore taxable.

Brie

Depending on what your professional job is you may have a problem with your employer or professional body.  I suspect if you were a school teacher (or politician?) there may be a conflict but even a bank or other large institution might think it's at odds with their ethos.  You may need to ask them.  My employer makes it clear that any other employment needs to be declared to them.

oh_really

It's difficult to see how you can reconcile this with that of a professional, especially if regulated.

Undervalued

BerryTina said:

Hello,

I have a well-paying professional job, and I’m also a phone sex worker who very occasionally does online cam. 

I’m not a vulnerable woman , or someone who has been trafficked into doing phone sex.

I genuinely just see it as easy.

Is it wrong to be doing this considering my circumstances?

If your professional employer were to find out, perhaps because your part time activity became public knowledge in a newspaper article or on social media, you would very likely to be considered to have brought the company into disrepute. Many would treat that as gross misconduct and immediately dismiss.

That is the chance you take.

If you are in a regulated profession (e.g medicine, law, teaching etc) you may well lose your registration for similar reasons and be unable to work in that field.

To some extent it depends what you mean by "professional". 

What would one of your employer's clients / patients think if they saw this "occasional online cam" footage?

steampowered

Nothing wrong with it at all.

Obviously there is a small risk if your other employer found out about it and thought it might damage their reputation, but that must be very unlikely.

MalMonroe

Check your contract of employment - some employers require their employees to let them know when they have another job and if you've signed a contract to that effect, then you are obliged to let your main employer know. Otherwise, none of their beeswax. 

As Soot2006 says, just ensure that you declare all your income. 

To be honest I think that there's too much snobbery around the 'sex worker' profession - there's so much demand for it and yet most people get embarrassed about it and think it should be brushed under the carpet. (And in many cases it's those brushing it under the carpet who are demanding it!)

oh_really

MalMonroe said:

Check your contract of employment - some employers require their employees to let them know when they have another job and if you've signed a contract to that effect, then you are obliged to let your main employer know. Otherwise, none of their beeswax. 

As Soot2006 says, just ensure that you declare all your income. 

To be honest I think that there's too much snobbery around the 'sex worker' profession - there's so much demand for it and yet most people get embarrassed about it and think it should be brushed under the carpet. (And in many cases it's those brushing it under the carpet who are demanding it!)

Two areas where this potentially falls; Duty to maintain trust and confidence & duty of fidelity. These terms are generally accepted as implied contractual terms in employment contracts.

TBagpuss

Not wrong and not illegal, provided of course you are declaring your income for tax purposes BUT potentially professionally embarrassing. 

I would have through that phone work would be less likely to create issues than anything on camera, as the risk of someone recognizing you, or of material becoming public, is much lower. 

Things to consider:

- does your employer have any policies about employees having a second job? If so, make sure that you are complying with them. (You could probably do this without lying by keeping things vague - e.g. 'homebased work answering telephone calls' is truthful!)

- worst case scenario - if you were 'outed' would this be likely to put you in a position where your professional body would be involved? For instance, I would imagine that there might be concerns that you were bringing your profession into disrepute - if you are a lawyer, or teacher, or police officer it might well be an issue. Does your professional body have any kind of ethics hot line / professional standards section you can speak to anonymously, or guidance you can check.?

- Similarly, and again thinking of a worst case scenario where your second job became public, how would this affect your employment? Would your boss be comfortable with it? Is it likely to be seen as something the employer would want to dissociate themselves from?  Again, the type of company they are and how they present themselves publicly may affect this.  What about next time you are looking for jobs? If a potential employer googled your name and found pictures or videos of you, or information linking you to this kind of work, how will that affect you?

I assume you don't use your own name but no matter ow careful *you* are, it only takes one person to recognise you and be indiscreet for it to get out.

Of course, it may be that you can be open about it but I think in most professions and most workplaces, we are not yet at that point

Undervalued

MalMonroe said:

Check your contract of employment - some employers require their employees to let them know when they have another job and if you've signed a contract to that effect, then you are obliged to let your main employer know. Otherwise, none of their beeswax. 

As Soot2006 says, just ensure that you declare all your income. 

To be honest I think that there's too much snobbery around the 'sex worker' profession - there's so much demand for it and yet most people get embarrassed about it and think it should be brushed under the carpet. (And in many cases it's those brushing it under the carpet who are demanding it!)

Whilst I don't disagree with your final paragraph, as OhReally says there is an implied duty to let your main employer know of any part time work even if it is not specifically spelt out in your contract.

Plus, as I said earlier, if the OP works in one of the established professions (or indeed elsewhere) and their part time occupation became public knowledge, it could certainly be held to bring the employer into disrepute. 

Regardless of whether you or I think that is fair, that is how it is. 

DontBringBertie

I got paid to do dog sitting the other day for an hour. Please advise if it’s implied I MUST tell my employer about it?