scarlet-collar

English

Etymology

From the color traditionally associated with adultery, combined with the word collar in imitation of similar constructs such as blue-collar and white-collar.

Adjective

scarlet-collar (not comparable)

Of or pertaining to female entrepreneurs in the Internet sex industry.
- 1995, Nadine Strossen, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex and the Fight for Women's Rights, Scribner (1995), p. 190,
  Given the relatively high pay, many 'scarlet collar workers' make an economically rational choice to enter the sex industry rather than to pursue more socially acceptable, but less remunerative, work.
- 2000 August 13, Now, cybersex industry, in The Tribune, Chandigarh, India, The Tribune House (2000), editorial page,
  The new 'Scarlet collar' worker is typically a 25 to 35-year-old former prostitute or lap dancer with young children and a desire to better her income while working from home.
- 2002, Dànielle De Voss, Women's Porn Sites—Spaces of Fissure and Eruption or "I'm a Little Bit of Everything", in Sexuality & Culture Vol. 6 No. 3, Transaction Publishers (2002), pp. 75–94,
  'Scarlet collar' workers are the feminists of the modern age, say psychologists, free from coercion and the dangers of the traditional, male dominated business.