Meet the Male Escort Who Makes $7,000 a Night
SEX & RELATIONSHIPS
L
ondon is home to many of the priciest
things in the world. There’s a parking
space that sold for $670,000, a bottle
of champagne for $200,000, the $235 million
apartment, and if you really feel like it, you
can drop $50 for a sofa seat at a movie theater. There’s also Josh Brandon, one of the
most expensive escorts around. Reports peg
his annual earnings at $500,000. Just a single
night with him can cost almost $7,000, or almost twice the average monthly salary of a
JOSH BRANDON person in the UK.
Josh has been causing a stir in the sex-work industry lately for his push to legitimize the oldest profession in the world. It’s time to stop stigmatizing sex workers, he argues, and start treating them as the productive members of society they are. I spoke with him to find out more and, in the
process, discovered he’s busy building himself an empire.
OK, so let’s get this out of the way. It’s been
reported you clear $500,000 a year being an
escort. Is that true? You went there already!
Well, my end of year return is due soon, and I
don’t fancy filing it early. Let’s say I’m not going to pop up on the Forbes rich list anytime
soon, but I’m not going broke anytime soon
either.
How do you earn so much? Are you doing
something other escorts aren’t? It’s easier to
make a lot of money if you love what you do.
I think anyone who enjoys their job is going
to make more than those who think, Damn,
I gotta work again. Plus, it’s about being creative. I have VIP cards—kind of like Starbucks.
So it’s just being creative and using regular
good business practices, and the money follows from that.
Where do you draw the line with extreme
requests from clients? Or is it just a case of,
“That’ll cost you another grand”? Things
like bodily fluids and bondage on the receiving end are a no-no. Being in control is very
important. Anything unsafe is off the menu,
regardless of price.
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You prefer the term “escort” to “sex worker.”
You also think the term “prostitution” is outdated. Why? “Prostitution” is so last century.
The business has changed since the advent of
the internet. The term “escort” covers more areas. For example, sex happens, but sex doesn’t
always happen. I have disabled clients who can
only cuddle or chat; I have clients who want
companionship in non-sexual ways. And a lot
of escorts now are true entrepreneurs. If someone disagrees with that, I would say, “Why?
This is a capitalist country after all. Everything
is OK to sell except for sex and companionship? That’s just bizarre.”
Do you feel society stigmatizes you, as a
male escort, less than it does your female
counterparts? Oh, trust me, I still take flak—
and occasional death threats. But it’s much
easier for males in my line of work. But among
the bisexual guys I’ve dated, many have said
they would never date a woman who did what
I do, yet they’ll date me. When they explain, it
comes to down to general sexism.
Where I’m from, in America, there are a lot
of Christian fundamentalists who would label you “bizarre” for being an escort. What
would you say to the people who make those
kinds of moral judgments about you? I am
very spiritual, believe it or not. But I don’t buy
the dogma. I keep it simple. The universe has
laws. It’s always expanding, growing; everything is in a constant state of change. It must
love all things equally if it created everything
and creation is done out of love. I don’t think
you can create from hate.
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