If you’re a trans man or transmasculine non-binary person and a sex worker (or want to be a sex worker) then most resources aren’t going to be built with you in mind. The few resources that make an effort to be inclusive will have you as an afterthought and only minimal amounts of advice will apply. I decided to create this as a resource for transmasculine people specifically, without a need to wade through a lot of information that won’t help you.
My advice will vary greatly depending on your current personal situation, and so some of the information offered will only be applicable for trans men and transmasculine non-binary people in certain situations and will be labelled to make it skippable. I will speak about both online content creation and selling sex in-person, and I will make it clear which I am speaking about.
If you are not yet medically transitioning, or do not intend to, and either you do not yet do sex work or you currently work under a female alias:
Delay coming out as trans within your sex work persona for as long as possible. If you do not already sell online content, or have not sold escorting services before, you will make far more money doing either if you pretend to be a cis woman. If you do not intend to medically transition, you can do this for as long as you like (unless or until you can no longer tolerate it). Weigh up whether it is worth it for you, in terms of selling sex or porn with a female persona, noting the money you earn versus the severity of dysphoria it may cause you.
For online sex workers in this situation, when coming out: Create content in bulk prior to any medical transition milestones, so that you can keep posting it even when you are further along on T or have had top surgery. Once you do decide to come out as trans to your audience, you should have videos and pictures already filmed that you have not posted, while you were still using those created prior to medically transitioning. Post some of these images in coming out posts across your social media and release a couple of videos at the same time. These videos should ideally be showing off new features since medical transition, like bottom growth if you’re on T and experience that, or roleplay videos with a premise about coming out to a partner or having sex early in transition and being affirming. Set the new tone.
For those selling sex in-person: Inform regular clients personally, when you come out. Do not rely on them checking your ads or social media and getting nasty surprises. You can tell them in person or over the phone, or simply cut them off and stop seeing them once you come out if you think they are likely to be unsupportive or angry. If you are unsure, prior to coming out publicly on your escorting ads and profiles you can drop hints that you’re thinking about it or ask their opinions. Be prepared that you will lose regulars over this, or that many of those who stick around will only do so for a little while until you transition more and may discourage you against it or still refer to you with very feminine terms. You can decide if it’s worth tolerating for you.
Regardless of which sector of sex work you’re involved in, it is a good idea to keep a hold of all pre-transition nudes and/or videos that you have. I always recommend that escorts sell porn on the side for some extra income, especially because sites like Adultwork have functionality for you to sell videos on their site and having videos there makes people more likely to book you after watching them if you’re trans and they’re unsure about how masculine you are just from pictures and want video footage in sexual situations. Either way, keeping older content is a good idea to be used at a later date. Usually, after a total rebrand, we eventually retire old content. You’ll remove pre-transition images from your escorting profile or pre-transition videos from your Onlyfans or ManyVids or IWantClips or whatever sites you use. You can then, later, with new clients who never saw you pre-transition, sell these kinds of clips or images at a much higher rate to clients who are chasers or who are curious as to what you looked like “before”. You can suggest it’s embarrassing for you (some of them are into the idea that you’re humiliated by it) and thus you have a high price.
For those who do not yet do sex work and are already medically transitioning, or who already do sex work openly as a transmasculine person whether transitioning medically or not (worth reading for those who intend to come out eventually in the course of their work!):
Make your ads extremely clear with regards to your identity. Clients often have very little knowledge about trans people, even when they are chasers. Even if you think it is obvious, I promise you, you can stand to be more obvious! Especially given the hypervisibility of trans women in sex work, if you have “trans” in your profile – even if you have “trans man” – you may be assumed to be a trans woman regardless of how you look or present.
With online work, I would suggest considering having at least a couple of entirely nude pictures which you make freely available. This clears up any confusion regarding genitals or your chest, whether you’ve had any kind of surgery or not. Particularly regarding bottom growth, there will be a lot of clients who want to see it and many who are curious but attached to a “straight” identity who want to see your genitals before they’ll be willing to subscribe to a site like onlyfans or directly buy your videos.
To make escorting ads clear, you want to have multiple levels of explanation for people at various levels of familiarity. For example, consider putting “FTM” in your username (even if you’re non-binary, if you’re on T or have top surgery). Your tag line on an escorting site, as well as your bio, should contain phrases like “FTM trans man with a pussy” or “FTM trans man with B-cup tits” etc. Name body parts you have or that have been altered by surgery. If you’re comfortable taking off your binder and/or with clients touching your chest, list cup size so it’s clear you haven’t had top surgery. Ideally, have pictures of yourself wearing a binder and also not wearing one if you wear one generally, and include a private gallery of nudes (which you can charge for on many escorting sites).
For any transmasculine person, regardless of whether they’re already doing sex work, who intends to do sex work:
It is vital that you work out where to advertise what, and that you don’t rely on where cis people have their success. Ask other transmasculine people where they have success in advertising, even if it is in completely different places. Advertise on a wide range of platforms at first and then narrow it down.
For myself, prior to transitioning I had a lot of success getting in-person clients on AdultWork and getting online clients for my porn on MyFreeCams (I did camming) and Reddit and Twitter. I rarely used any other platforms. Since transitioning, this has changed a lot. In terms of escorting, I find that SleepyBoy has been a good site for me to find clients. I still use AdultWork, but being listed under “male” means I get far less clients than I did before transitioning and I get very few inquiries from there. I also use Tryst, but I don’t get much interest through the site itself and instead I find that it’s most useful to use it by attaching it to other social media (like having a pinned tweet with the Tryst link that mentions meets).
On sites like Twitter, follow other transmasculine people who make online pornographic content and look at how and where they advertise. You can still use Reddit to advertise, by having links to your porn on your main profile and then posting nudes or lewds in various subreddits. You cannot mention on the post itself that you’re selling porn! But, if a picture does well, people will click on your profile and some of them will subscribe. I recommend finding different porn subreddits that focus on certain traits. There’s r/boypussy which has a lot of cis men on it, for example, but does allow trans men too, and it specifically for gay men posting asshole photos. There’s also r/FTMPorn, r/EnbyLewds, r/bois. Take a look for yourself at which places you fit into. You can also post in non-porn subreddits where people post selfies with SFW images in the hopes that people will click on your profile.
Depending on the level of visibility you’re willing to tolerate, and the amount of hateful targeting, you can use outrage about trans issues to your advantage. Make sure you have a few tweets with links to your content or escorting ads, even if you have zero followers, and a pinned tweet with all of your links. THEN, start posting in reply to things! If there’s outrage about some sort of trans issue, reply to the tweet. Interact not only with other people in porn, but also in general discourse. Make sure you mark your profile as 18+ and that you have that in your bio, as well as making it so that your images are marked as sensitive content, so that no-one will accidentally see porn without deciding to if they click on your profile.
When speaking to medical professionals:
Do not tell your gender therapist about your involvement in sex work. Leave it out, if you’re seeing a gender therapist to get a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, when you are asked questions about your attractions or sex life. Some would be fine about it and supportive, but it isn’t worth the risk that your involvement in sex work will be seen as evidence that you are not truly dysphoric or that you’re too unstable to be approved for things like HRT or surgery.
When getting STD tests, especially if you sell sex in person, I recommend going to specifically trans clinics. There is such an overlap between trans people and sex workers that most clinics set up to cater to trans people which also do STD tests will be supportive about your involvement. You can request that the information you give them is not shared with your GP, so even if they were to be judgmental it won’t impact your healthcare in the long-term. Check with places near you. I would personally recommend both TransPlus and 56 Dean Street, if you live in the UK and you can get to London. Otherwise, do your research for trans clinics near you that offer STI screenings.
If you’re selling sex directly, or are using the front hole a lot in general for videos, keep an eye on whether you’re experiencing vaginal atrophy or dryness. In a case where you are, talk to a doctor about it. Topical estrogen that’s localized can work to fix it without changing your overall hormone levels.
Also important if you’re selling sex in-person – get on PrEP if it makes sense for you, and keep in mind that if you’re having front hole sex then you need to take it every day and it only starts working after 7 days of taking it. The rules are different depending on the type of sex you’re having!
Working while recovering from top surgery:
Plan in advance as much as possible!
If you sell sex, expect not to be able to see clients for a minimum of 2 months after surgery. Any regular clients should be informed of this in advance if possible. You can use the upcoming surgery, and the fact you will be unavailable for a while, to push people to book you whilst you’re still available. Particularly, clients who like the fact you have breasts are likely to book you before that happens. Depending on your branding and popularity, you may be able to raise your rates in the months leading up to surgery, if you are openly trans.
Regarding online content, bulk-film prior to surgery so that you can keep posting content whilst you recover. You will be unable to film for the first couple of weeks, because you’re recovering and still replenishing blood and will be very fatigued and unable to lift your arms. If you’re not cleared for strenuous activity, masturbation and sex definitely count! After a few weeks, you may be able to film slow-paced content. I would recommend that if you do film during this time, because you couldn’t create enough before surgery and need to post to keep interest, that you make videos like “first time getting off post-surgery” which go slowly and aren’t strenuous. Viewers will understand, you get to make some very niche content, and the intrigue will keep them subscribed or keep them buying videos as they wait for you to fully recover.
How to handle chasers:
You need to make a decision early on about how you’re going to handle clients who are chasers. If you’re selling porn, many of your viewers will be chasers and there will be nothing you can do about it. You can block people who post chaser-y and fetishizing comments on your posts on social media, but that’s the most you can do to keep them away, and in doing so you will lose business. If you sell sex in person, you have a little more wiggle-room, but chasers will still make up a huge chunk of your clients and cannot be entirely filtered out.
Decide your boundaries and stick to them, then reassess after some time has passed. If, for example, you have not had top surgery and don’t want to take off your binder for porn videos or when having sex with clients, you can set that as a boundary. You will not make as much money, but you can set a firm rule about it and then later assess whether it’s something you need/want to let go so that you can earn more. If misgendering of any kind is a hard line for you, you can put that on your profile and tell clients outright if it happens, blocking people from your subscription porn services if they do it or leaving bookings in person if it occurs and you feel safe to do so. Have a plan in place for each type of disrespect or for each physical boundary you have.
Some chasers may be willing to contribute money for things like surgery or hormone therapy. Others may be willing to buy you certain toys or equipment, like a strap-on or an stp (stand-to-pee device). You can take advantage of this by making mention of things you want, and even saying how you would use these things in a sexual context. If you want a packer, use rolled-up socks in your boxers and mention that you want a better one. Create a wishlist of transition-related things you want and then let clients know about it.
Interacting with other sex workers:
A lot of sex worker spaces will not be made with you in mind. They will be created for cis women first and foremost, and trans people of all kinds will be an afterthought. Be aware of this and don’t assume that because sex worker organizers have generally progressive views that they will all be supportive of trans people. If you do not pass, you are likely to be lumped in with women, and if you do pass then people are likely to distrust you (even when you tell them you’re trans).
Find community with other trans sex workers first and foremost. Do not only association yourself with other transmasculine people, but also with trans women and transfeminine people, and non-binary people who don’t have an affinity for any direction. Other trans people are the most likely to know where you can find the resources and support you need, and also to understand you and your gender. Pay attention to the trans women around you, and what places are hostile to them… then have solidarity, even if those places claim to support you. We are stronger together. A transmisogynistic group which claims to support you when you do not pass or as a transmasculine person who is not (yet) transitioning will turn on you too, as soon as you pass or assert that you’re not a woman a little too strongly for their liking.
All of that being said, there are many groups which are predominantly cis women that are genuinely accepting of trans people and it is vital that you work with them and talk to the people in them. Sex workers are a vast community. Gender will impact our experiences, but we have so many in common. Seek out groups that are predominantly cis gay men in sex work, too – there are journalists and researchers who write about gay male experiences in sex work and there are trans men among them.
Above all, keep in mind that you’re not alone. It’s hard to find trans men or transmasculine non-binary people talking about our experiences selling sex, even though there are many of us, because we’re thrown into other groups. We aren’t hypervisible the way that trans women are in sex work, which means we’re not targeted for violence in the same ways but also means that it’s hard to find people discussing it. Either we’re lumped in with gay men in sex work when we pass and are dismissed, or are lumped in with cis women in sex work when we do not.
So many of us aren’t speaking. You’re under no obligation to be one of those who does, but you should also keep in mind that your experience is valuable to hear about.
(If you’re interested in reading about the spectrum of experiences that transmasculine sex workers have, rather than just my own, please check out my current project Working Guys: A Transmasculine Sex Worker Anthology!)
Jack Talks About Sex Work 