Career: Sex Work

Stories either about sex work, or that include subplots about it. Beware, some of these notes are SPOILERS

fiflydramalover Jan 27, 2022
71 Titles Loves
0% Watched
Report
Sort By: Author's Order
fiflydramalover's Rating
Your Rating
  • Sakuran

    1. Sakuran

    Japanese Movie - 2007

    8.0

    takes place in a brothel  and basically almost every character is a sex worker or sleeping with one

  • 7.5

    giggilos at a brothel  

  • Happy of the End

    3. Happy of the End

    Japanese Drama - 2024, 8 episodes

    7.5

    Some of the characters, including one of the protagonists (Keito), are in-story referred to as "Scouts." I think they basically work as pimps? But the ways its described is they find people to become sex workers and hostesses. Keito's mother is a sex worker and there are several other sex workers who are given names with speaking roles. Keito also did sex work when he was a child. Chihiro's ex also casually mentions having gone to a brothel. There are also several other non-speaking characters who are implied to be sex workers kept against their will, and some sex workers in the very beginning who are given names and short dialogue but have no other role than to set the scene.

  • Call Boy

    4. Call Boy

    Japanese Movie - 2018

    6.5

    about a gigolo

  • Extracurricular

    5. Extracurricular

    Korean Drama - 2020, 10 episodes

    9.0

    this is about sex work

  • Mosaic Japan

    6. Mosaic Japan

    Japanese Drama - 2014, 5 episodes

    8.0

    adult video industry. some people were being arrested on prostitution charges

  • Happy Together

    7. Happy Together

    Hong Kong Movie - 1997

    7.5

    one  of the guys is a sex worker, cruising style

  • Call Me Chihiro

    8. Call Me Chihiro

    Japanese Movie - 2023

    9.5

    This focuses on Chihiro, who used to be a sex worker. Very good slice of life.

  • Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo

    9. Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo

    Japanese Drama - 2022, 12 episodes

    8.0

    this is about transactional relationships. It covers rental girlfriends, sex work, and host bars.

  • The Bride of Rip Van Winkle

    10. The Bride of Rip Van Winkle

    Japanese Drama - 2016, 6 episodes

    9.0

    Two characters work/ed in porn.

  • Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu

    11. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu

    Japanese Drama - 2020, 12 episodes

    8.0

    one of the main characters is in love with a sex worker and we also get to know her colleague

  • Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2

    12. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 2

    Japanese Drama - 2021, 8 episodes

    9.0
  • RaiRaiRaise Demo Chanto Shimasu

    13. RaiRaiRaise Demo Chanto Shimasu

    Japanese Drama - 2021, 3 episodes

    8.0
  • Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu SP

    14. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu SP

    Japanese Special - 2021, 1 episode

    8.5
  • Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 3

    15. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu Season 3

    Japanese Drama - 2022, 12 episodes

    10
  • Ikebukuro West Gate Park

    16. Ikebukuro West Gate Park

    Japanese Drama - 2000, 11 episodes

    8.5

    A supporting character is a sex worker. She also has a love story with a minor character. There's also another character who has a private client into various play scenarios. And lastly, Makoto gets picked up for sex work when he is working in a host bar.

  • Ooku: The Inner Chamber

    17. Ooku: The Inner Chamber

    Japanese Drama - 2012, 10 episodes

    8.5

    In episode 4 we meet Sutezo, who is a sex worker. He is quickly abducted for the Ooku. He does not seem to mind being a sex worker, and even enjoys it. This show takes place before Ooku (2010) and before The Castle of Crossed Destinies

  • The Castle of Crossed Destinies

    18. The Castle of Crossed Destinies

    Japanese Movie - 2012

    7.0

    Emonnosuke was a sex worker for noble ladies before he moved into the Ooku. He mentions that he considers himself like a rat and feels dirty because of the sex work. He didn't choose to be a sex worker. Instead, he did it to support his family, though we get a sense he somewhat resents them for it. This film takes place between Ooku (2010) and Ooku: The Inner Chamber.

  • A Journey to Love

    19. A Journey to Love

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 40 episodes

    7.0

    FL used to be a baiqi, which I guess is a prostitute. I didn't fully understand, but I believe her father sold her to a the spy network who raised her in a brothel. It was there that she was trained to perform baiqi services as a spy and assassin. Her sex work isn't diminished in the show, and is brought up a few times throughout her romancing with the ML. Though in the first episode the story is set up so that she will be doing sex work, her plan is interrupted and after that she doesn't do so. Her history as a sex worker influences her characterization and how she develops as a character.

  • Dong Lan Xue

    20. Dong Lan Xue

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 30 episodes

    10

    the protagonist was forced into a brothel before she was employed as a maid. There's also a minor character who is a gigolo at a brothel. She continues to use her flirtatious skills in order to seduce men for information while working as a guard/teacher to her prince. He, however, does not approve out of jealousy.

  • A Familiar Stranger

    21. A Familiar Stranger

    Chinese Drama - 2022, 18 episodes

    8.5

    Several supporting characters work at a brothel. Also the FL's sister worked in one as well. 

  • A Watcher in the Attic

    22. A Watcher in the Attic

    Japanese Movie - 1994

    6.0

    The protagonist is a sex worker. She seems to do this for her own pleasure but she's also tortured by her sexuality? At least that's what I think I got from this. There's also a minor character who is implied to have been a sex worker and/or harassed by a previous employer with money in exchange for sexual favors. And then there's another minor character who is more clearly a sex worker in a red light district who gets pissed at her client and tells him to scram. The two leads end up being serial killers. 

  • 1122 Ii Fuufu

    23. 1122 Ii Fuufu

    Japanese Drama - 2024, 7 episodes

    8.0

    Ichiko's friend mentions a massage parlor that has a special kind of session (for sex work). In the second episode, Ichiko goes to the massage parlor to meet a massage therapist/gigilo named Rei. The parlor is designed specifically for women I believe? And is made up of male massage therapists. While one of Ichiko's friends finds all of this very exciting, her husband is very uncomfortable with Ichiko seeing a giglo. When Rei stops working as a giglo, he keeps up a friendship with Ichiko, but Ichiko admits that she hasn't really felt comfortable getting to know Rei on a personal level. It seems like he is more of a fantasy to her than a real person, but Rei seems to want to overcome that distance between them. Rei ends up falling for Ichiko pretty hard, but she's determined to stay with her husband. 

  • The Summer of Whales

    24. The Summer of Whales

    Japanese Movie - 2014

    7.5

    The guys go to a brothel trying to meet up with an ex-girlfriend

  • Love Between Fairy and Devil

    25. Love Between Fairy and Devil

    Chinese Drama - 2022, 36 episodes

    7.5

    during the human arch, one of the central characters (not the main) is a sex worker. Or as it's phrased she works at a pleasure house? Idk they phrased it in a way that I wasn't actually sure what she did with her customers.

  • 37 Seconds

    26. 37 Seconds

    Japanese Movie - 2019

    9.0

    Yuma tries to have sex with a sex worker. He's kind of rude. 

  • The Story of Ming Lan

    27. The Story of Ming Lan

    Chinese Drama - 2018, 78 episodes

    10

    One story arch centers around an off-screen sex worker and her brothel. The story starts around episode 24. Some time around episode 60, not sure exactly when, Gu Tingye visits a brothel again several times and especially talks with the head of the brothel. Despite the overall dissent towards sex workers throughout the show, Gu Tingye seems to at least view them as people.

  • The Legend of Anle

    28. The Legend of Anle

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 39 episodes

    7.5

    In episode 3 we meet Linlang, a debuting courtesan at Lingxiang Pleasure House.

  • The Double

    29. The Double

    Chinese Drama - 2024, 40 episodes

    7.0

    In episode 15 we meet a sex worker. It's implied that she ended up in the work because of her family's debts. Her love was the FL's brother. 

    We also meet Wulan, who appears to be a sex worker that has also studied martial arts and is a spy. 

    The two work at the same brothel. 

    The FL gets jealous when she see's the ML there and he then tries to explain in a few ways that he was not a patron there. 

  • Mystery to Iunakare

    30. Mystery to Iunakare

    Japanese Drama - 2022, 12 episodes

    10

    A minor character and several characters without speaking roles are sex workers who are murdered by serial killers

  • 3 Will Be Free

    31. 3 Will Be Free

    Thai Drama - 2019, 10 episodes

    7.5

    I believe it starts off at a strip bar where some of the strippers are also sex workers

  • Lost You Forever

    32. Lost You Forever

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 39 episodes

    8.5

    A minor character used to work at a brothel until she married the FL's brother. She ends up working at the health clinic and training under the FL to become a physician as well. This character disappears from the story after the first arch ends

  • Lost You Forever Season 2

    33. Lost You Forever Season 2

    Chinese Drama - 2024, 23 episodes

    9.5

    In the second season, she comes back for an episode when the FL is forced to visit her hometown (iirc). 

  • My Demon

    34. My Demon

    Korean Drama - 2023, 16 episodes

    The protagonist was a government consort in her past life who specialized in double-sword dancing

  • From Bottom of the Vortex

    35. From Bottom of the Vortex

    Japanese Movie - 2017

    5.0

    one of the minor characters is a sex worker, or maybe it was the main character's neighbor sleeps with sex workers? i cant remember

  • Tiger & Dragon

    36. Tiger & Dragon

    Japanese Drama - 2005, 11 episodes

    7.5

    The tenth Rakugo story is the "Shinagawa double suicide," which is about a geisha in the red light district who decides to kill herself after her old clients don't lend her money.

  • My Journey to You

    37. My Journey to You

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 24 episodes

    7.5

    The ML is known to frequent brothels, but not to have sex. He just enjoys the company and music. I feel like this is a minor trope and I kind of want to track where I've seen it now....

  • Watashi no Shite Kurenai Pheromone Kareshi

    38. Watashi no Shite Kurenai Pheromone Kareshi

    Japanese Drama - 2022, 9 episodes

    6.5

    One or two of the episodes takes place in I guess its a brothel for giggilos. It's about the FL trying to have sex outside of her relationship, which she ends up choosing not to 

  • Joy of Life

    39. Joy of Life

    Chinese Drama - 2019, 46 episodes

    Fan Xian uses the brothels as an alibi and meets several high class workers

  • A Flower for Three Lifetimes

    40. A Flower for Three Lifetimes

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 12 episodes

    8.0

    One of the FLs is a courtesan, but based on the dialogue she might not be a sex worker.

  • Tokyo Rampage

    41. Tokyo Rampage

    Japanese Movie - 1998

    6.0

    There are a few sex workers throughout. 

  • Moneyboys

    42. Moneyboys

    Taiwanese Movie - 2021

  • A Crimson Star

    43. A Crimson Star

    Japanese Movie - 2018

  • Midnight Motel

    44. Midnight Motel

    Thai Drama - 2022, 6 episodes

  • The Goddess

    45. The Goddess

    Chinese Movie - 1934

  • The Bacchus Lady

    46. The Bacchus Lady

    Korean Movie - 2016

  • Mamu; and a Mother Too

    47. Mamu; and a Mother Too

    Filipino Movie - 2018

  • Brothel 8

    48. Brothel 8

    Japanese Movie - 1974

  • The Life of Oharu

    49. The Life of Oharu

    Japanese Movie - 1952

  • Women of the Night

    50. Women of the Night

    Japanese Movie - 1948

  • The Sea Is Watching

    51. The Sea Is Watching

    Japanese Movie - 2002

  • 52. Cuddle Weather

    Filipino Movie - 2019

  • 53. Playboyy

    Thai Drama - 2023, 14 episodes

  • Cicada

    54. Cicada

    Korean Movie - 2021

  • Kathoey

    55. Kathoey

    Filipino Movie - 2020

  • Sing in Love

    56. Sing in Love

    Japanese Movie - 2022

  • Flowers of Shanghai

    57. Flowers of Shanghai

    Taiwanese Movie - 1998

  • Bangkok Blossom

    58. Bangkok Blossom

    Thai Drama - 2024, 8 episodes

  • Tokyo Hinkon Joshi.

    59. Tokyo Hinkon Joshi.

    Japanese Drama - 2023, 6 episodes

  • Sakura Hime

    60. Sakura Hime

    Japanese Movie - 2013

  • Kinki

    61. Kinki

    Japanese Movie - 2014

  • Woman of Tokyo

    62. Woman of Tokyo

    Japanese Movie - 1933

  • Apart from You

    63. Apart from You

    Japanese Movie - 1933

  • Bangkok Nites

    64. Bangkok Nites

    Japanese Movie - 2017

  • Shinjuku Yasen Byoin

    65. Shinjuku Yasen Byoin

    Japanese Drama - 2024, 11 episodes

  • 66. Heavens x Candy

    Japanese Movie - 2024

    AV Worker

  • Crystal Boys

    67. Crystal Boys

    Taiwanese Drama - 2003, 20 episodes

  • Light

    68. Light

    Taiwanese Movie - 2021

  • A Touch of Fever

    69. A Touch of Fever

    Japanese Movie - 1993

  • Miss Andy

    70. Miss Andy

    Taiwanese Movie - 2020

  • A Courtesan with Flowered Skin

    71. A Courtesan with Flowered Skin

    Japanese Movie - 2014

Trending