Blog Assignment #6 - Responding to a piece of literary journalism

Tara Burns is a career sex worker and her magical ability is stated as the: "willingness to get naked and smile at people."  In her article "That Time I Tried Topless House Cleaning", Tara recounts her entertaining side hustle of her side hustle, "scrubbing while bending over a counter in six-inch heels." The story I expected was one of sorry lament; a guilt ridden event necessitated by a desperate situation - turned out to be refreshingly unabashed. Tara understands her customer, she plays with them and coyly does what only a career hustler can do - the classic bait and switch. 

It's easy, you advertise a juicy morsel - Topless housecleaning and a lap dance $100/hr, seems like a good deal, to the untrained horny eye. But for someone like Tara the $100 was just a warm up, a fee to walk in the door - she scrubbed the dishes and talked her freelance appointment out of $800 in under an hour. I had to admit, I was impressed; really you can't deny the ROI on her fishnets and heels is incredible. Yes, what Tara does is considered taboo but she does something nice in her article, she humanized herself. She didn't bother to justify her actions, she didn't bother caring whether you approved of her or not, she told a story of a day where she was able to make the $3 in her pocket to $800.

What piqued my interest in Tara was a telling line that I thought was so good, "Sex work is my trust fund." Never before had I heard it told that way, and while I am opposed to the objectification and over-sexualization of women in general, it gave me a strange feeling of pride to see a woman turn a taboo around and have it serve her purposes, as Tara. 

I enjoyed this piece, it was honest and forthright. Tara told her story and opened her life to those that would laugh with her and to those that will judge her. She does not apologize for her work in fact at the end of the topless cleaning hour, holding eight one-hundred dollar bills her partner agreed, "Holy Shit, he says, I do believe I wish I had a vagina too!" Tara may have just found a loop hole, no pun intended.