Are you okay with police knocking on your parents' door at 4 am, demanding to search your place (sans warrant) for drugs, calling you by your "stage" name? 'Cause that's what happened to a college friend of mine the very same day she started working as a stripper to pay for school. There are some nice girls doing sex work, who are not involved in drugs, etc., but try telling the police that. Me, I prefer to give the police as few reasons to look closely at my life as possible.

Great advice. A library degree is a great option that will allow for teaching, bibliographic instruction, patron outreach, and a steady job. There are also research jobs that require a library degree.

As for Ph.D. funding, it's getting harder to find full funding. Endowments are down, thanks to the economy, but that's probably not such a bad thing because the job market is not the best either. Oh, and in some states, tuition waivers aren't allowed. Schools that offer "tuition waivers" often provide scholarships (not actual waivers) that cover tuition. It's a pseudo-waiver. But it's becoming less common because of the endowment/funding issue.

Also, "teaching" is changing as well. Most likely as a new faculty member, you will either be standing in front of 300+ students, trying to keep them entertained for 50 minutes, or teaching online. There are other changes happening in the academy--I would recommend that you make sure you know what is going on before you jump into a Ph.D., especially if your only ambition is to teach and have a "real career." By the way, a Ph.D. is really an endurance test, more than anything else. If you can endure years of belittling, faculty stealing your papers and then publishing them under their names, and countless hours researching topics that have little meaning to people outside of your profession, then go for it. But if you just want to teach, then the Ph.D. is not for you. You have to be committed to getting the degree, for its inherent worth, with no promises of a decent job afterward. You might make a lot of money in the sciences, but if you are working for a university, you will be dependent on funding from corporations that have a strong investment in the outcome of your research. So be prepared to ditch your ethics as well. Oh wait, you are considering work in the sex industry. I guess that won't be a problem for you.

....or a book conservator. Thanks for sharing your perspective and enthusiasm, LovelyLibrarian!

[I got nothing when it comes to fetish videos, sorry... I never even realized there's a market for selling skivvies to skeevies, so maybe higher education would help me find my way in this crazy world.]

As others have stated: what 25 y.o. works 50 hrs per week, partially supports a family member AND has a huge mortgage and car payment all on $20k a year...and is looking to get a PhD? What's the PhD in, creative writing? Add in the fetish model thing and you have to be kidding me.

Plus a loser wannabe rockstar boyfriend, and you have a Lifetime Movie of the Week. Creative writing indeed.

If you're going to get into sex work, it shouldn't be for the money, and I'll tell you why:

The field is being flooded right now with twentysomethings who do it as a hobby, dabble in it for spare cash, think porn money is the ticket to riches, or need a job with flexible hours they can work a college schedule around. In any profession with low barriers to entry, pay is only high when demand outstrips supply.

The supply has exploded.

Sex work is becoming more and more accepted - trendy in some circles - almost a sex-positive feminist rite of passage. It's easier to get into and easier to find information about. Sex worker fellows and role models are more accessible than ever.

With all this information at your fingertips what's your excuse for being naive enough to sell your panties to a stranger in person? As an academic I know you know how to research. Don't let your financial situation override your common sense. (The previous advice about cutting down your personal finances is good; cutting expenses can quell a lot of money panic.)

Sex work requires guts, caution, and pervert savvy. It also requires knowing your personal boundaries and being able to stick to them even under duress. It's sex workers that compromise their boundaries who have the most problems later on. It's not for everyone and if you feel this uneasy about it, then it's probably not for you. That doesn't make you a lesser person, just someone with different boundaries.

That's fine. You've got nothing to prove. It's just a gig.

This is high-intensity work; don't be mistaken. If you'd shy away from nursing, counseling, or police work then you might want to think again. Sex work is rewarding, and not only financially, but it is demanding. It's emotionally draining, financially uncertain, socially unacceptable, and very hard to explain to your friends, family, and significant others. Don't fall into it if your heart's not in it. It won't be worth it for you.

If the money's the only reward for you then it won't be enough to compensate. If money's not the only reward for you then all those hurdles might not be enough to hold you back.

You're basically looking at fetish modelling as a temp job for temp money. Why not get a mainstream temp job? You'll be able to put it on your resume, and you probably won't feel weird about it. If you can type that's all you need for data entry. It's boring and unglamorous work but it's steady money and that's more than you can say for fetish work.

I'm a sex worker and it's where I'm happiest; for me this is the career I chose over programming. However it's not an easy path even when you choose it freely. Don't go into this with your back against a wall.

Whatever you do, do it because you want to. Make sure it's the right choice for you. Don't make any major life decisions out of desperation if you can avoid it.