At a really basic level, everyone is insecure about sex. We aren't raised to feel good about our 

sexual selves – there's something shameful and embarrassing about it, even if you have the good 

fortune to grow up with very open-minded parents like I did. All the bad sex education we get as 

children sticks with us - as adults we worry about how we look naked, or about our performance in 

the sack. Men often worry that they haven't had 'enough' experience and women often worry that 

having 'too much' experience makes them a bad person. 

Insecurity with sex makes up a huge part of men's general insecurity around their own masculinity. 

It seems to be expected that a man will instinctively know how to fuck, like it's some sort of primal 

genetic memory rather than a learned skill. I don't think this has gotten much better despite the 

sexual revolution – things have just changed. There has been shift away from male gratification so 

that men's assessment of their own performance in bed is more about female pleasure. This attitude 

has two big problems: 

1. It's still about the guy bolstering up his insecurity around sex (it doesn't fix the problem) 

2. Because pleasure is subjective, there tends to be a fixation on the female orgasm as some 

sort of score-card ("I gave her eight!") 

This need to 'score big' by making girls cum really throws a spanner in the works when it comes to 

sex work. Clients pay workers for their time and intimacy, but their sense of masculinity still needs 

a bit of TLC. Because sex is such an emotional activity, it's hard to reconcile the fact that they are

paying for sex with their need for genuine feedback. 

Sometimes it's all too hard and my client abandons the idea of satisfying me entirely. This is okay, 

as long as they are being respectful, but I feel like they're missing out on a lot of the intimacy that 

comes from exchanging sexual favours with your partner. 

Some guys go completely the other way - they are continually asking for reassurance that my 

response is genuine. They might ask "do you fake your orgasms?" or "do you really like that, or are 

you just pretending?" If this questioning interrupts the natural flow of the encounter, it gets in the

way of me actually enjoying myself. I feel like I'm under pressure to over-act just so that my client 

feels like I'm being genuine. And I HATE faking orgasms! It feels like I'm starring in a low-budget 

porn movie. I refuse to do it. 

I think it's totally fine to need some validation of your sexual performance. It's okay to need to feel 

appreciated. Sex work is not just about sex – it also involves making someone feel sexy and 

wanted. HOWEVER: If you want your partner to be truly genuine, then you need to be open to risk 

and give her space to express herself. She may praise you, or not. She may offer some valuable 

constructive criticism (something that's very hard to come by in the bedroom). You can't have your 

cake and eat it too! If you want honest enjoyment, you need to be open to whatever experience 

comes (pardon the pun). 

If the idea of being open to failure makes you break out in a cold sweat, there is some good news. 

Firstly, male and female pleasure are not mutually exclusive; you can have a great time and she can 

have a great time without either of you having to sacrifice your enjoyment. I also believe that 

responsibility for good sex is shared – it's not all about you being a hero in the bedroom. Sex is 

about two people interacting; we work together. Accepting shared responsibility leaves more room 

for being ourselves.

If you leave your expectations open, encounters that do go really well are incredibly satisfying. I 

love not having to ask if someone is having a good time – when it's obvious in their eyes and the 

way their body moves, that's much more powerful and it makes me feel like a million bucks.