Life after Covid : What to expect for 2022 ?
The intimacy involved in a lot of sex industry services was always going to be problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic . But , according to some experts , it will remain a challenge for the foreseeable future .
While some scientists forecast fall in infections and deaths , others claim we have to come to terms with Covid forever because our lives might not return to a pre-pandemic normal .
Many scientists envision flu-like seasonal surges of Covid-19 , which could lead us to mask up seasonally and get an annual vaccine as we head into the winter months .
Of course , we have heard a lot about how the pandemic has been very difficult for industries that bring people together such as pubs , restaurants and airlines . Sex work has also been severely challenged by the fact that people have not been allowed to physically interact outside their households in the UK and elsewhere during most of the pandemic .
Unlike most other industries , many sex workers have not been eligible for government support during the crisis . This is even more likely to have been the case for the many sex workers in the UK whose primary residence is abroad .
Factors such as clients ’ health concerns and limited mobility have reduced demand for sexual services during the pandemic . Reports have also noted that many sex workers turned to offering online services . Yet that does not mean that no in-person sex work has been taking place .
Though it is very difficult to produce comprehensive statistics on the volume of sexual transactions , a simple comparison between the daily number of reviews that clients left on AdultWork after receiving services in 2019 and 2020 suggests there has been no substantial decline in the number of encounters .
Sex work is one of those jobs that has never stopped being demanded and supplied , neither during wars nor famines , so it would be naïve to think otherwise in the case of a pandemic . In fact , the pandemic-induced financial pressure has reportedly made former sex workers return to the sector and many newcomers start working in the profession too .
If the level of business has stayed fairly constant in a market in which the supply has potentially gone up , it means that sex work has become more competitive during the pandemic .
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