Women are bitches by nature and being a woman I've had many an experience to back that statement up because whenever I've had negative vibes regarding my work it has always been a woman who normally complains that I quote 'think I'm something special' my advice would be don't tell anyone who is already negative in other ways.

I've had lots of people be extremely supportive as well but every one negative has always been female.

Bit of a generalisation, this?

Women aren't bitches by nature.  We're told we are from day one, though. "women are so complicated, men are simple!" "men are straightforward, not like those bitches!" So it's no surprise that some women may be on the defensive, expecting every other woman to be out to get us.

My experience is pretty much the same as Mirror's, although I tend to stick to a fairly small group of friends so it's not a massive sample group (I don't keep my job a secret full stop so of the people in my town who would recognise me even in passing, it's unlikely they wouldn't know).

I've never had a bad reaction but it's worth remembering that most people are curious and will ask what might seem like rude or inappropriate questions. It's not intended to be crass, but it can be annoying as it is for the same reasons as anybody else who gets quizzed about their work when they're not doing it (doctors, for example ).

I think some of us are in positions with less to lose than others.

Some of us may be very concerned about family finding out or have other deep relationships, perhaps geographically close, that would be vulnerable to this sort of thing.

I am "open" with people in the city where I work. I don't like to be an attention-seeker so I tell some people and rely on gossip to fill others in. However, in the village where my children live, I wouldn't like to be known. That's one reason I wear a wig as a disguise when working. It's not fool-proof but it creates a bit of distance. I would be very unhappy if my children were bullied.

I don't much care if people I don't know well think I'm a terrible person but there have been times I've been stung by an unexpected judgement. I have been barred from a pub because some people got the idea that I was "working" there. (No. I was pulling - or attempting to - just like any other person in their free time.) Some people may seem to be cool with what you do but then you will run across odd little pockets of things that reveal they have a distorted view of who you are. Most commonly, they usually cannot understand what prostitution is like to those of us who have that orientation. So they may assume that you are a horny beast always up for sex or they may assume that your interest in them is mercenary. It can be a bit of a shock to hit one of those little pockets of turbulence.