Moms Are Turning To Phone-Sex Jobs To Pay Bills In Bad Economy

An increasing number of cash-strapped mothers are taking jobs as phone-sex operators, finding that talking dirty to strangers is an easy way to support their families. speechless but get your money mommma. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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The number of mothers with young children who have become telephone temptresses over the last 18 months has shot up about 400%, reports ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

The data comes from ratracerebellion.com, a website dedicated to helping mothers find jobs that allow them to work from home.

Chris Durst, who runs the online organization, has been tracking the working habits of mothers for more than a decade. She says the number of women who search for phone-sex work generally spikes after Labor Day, as their children return to school. But in the past two years, the level of interest in phone-sex employment has been extraordinary — and Durst blames it on the economy.

“Most sound a little embarrassed,” Durst told ABC of the job-seekers. “They say, ‘I’ve tried everything. It’s come to the point where I’m on food stamps. We can’t make the rent and are facing foreclosure. This is the fastest way for me to get back on my feet again.”

One woman who tried to do just that is a 45-year-old named Star, who is a single mother of an 8-year-old son and runs her phone-sex operation from a home office.

“I look at what I do as a business,” she said. “It happens to deal with sex.”

Running a phone-sex business gives mothers flexibility, and the advantage of choosing their own hours and staying home to be closer to their children. Still, many of the mothers who spoke to ABC said working as a PSO, short for phone-sex operator, was never what they had in mind.

“This is nothing I’d ever thought I’d be doing — ever,” said a 22-year-old mother and PSO named Aubrey.

“I’ve applied to probably 20 or 30 jobs, at like Wal-Mart or Subway or a fast-food place,” she said. “I just haven’t gotten picked up in my area.”

A shortage of employment opportunities paired with the money women can earn from phone-sex work makes the gigs hard to resist.

Most operators pull in about $10 to $50 per hour, but the take-home can be much greater.

“I make more money per hour that way than I would at another job,” said Lynn, a PSO and mother of three. “I’ve made over $1,000 in the course of a day.”

ABC surveyed women on the streets of New York City to ask how they felt about mothers of young children working in the phone-sex industry.

“I don’t know that I would want to promote that to my children,” said one woman.

“It’s probably not the most appropriate,” said another.

For others, the benefits of phone-sex work outweigh the sometimes negative reactions.

“I get to spend time with my son,” Star said. “I have to go into an office when I work, but my office is just one room away from my living room. So I take a call for half an hour and an hour, and I’m back with my son again.”

Star says her 8-year-old son is still in the dark when it comes to how she makes a living, and never overhears her conversations.

“I talk very softly,” she said. “It’s sexier.”

DN