Working In A Brothel
Interesting article on brothel life, courtesy of the Ratty’s Ghost archives. There’s something for everyone in there, including frustrated economists:
Most brothels have completely unacceptable pricing structures, which one is expected to follow. Prices vary according to the location and quality of the individual brothel, but most of the time, whatever the asking price is, it’s insulting when you consider the cost of living and the price of other services in the area. Escort services are even worse–some of them charge as little as $200/hour, and you’re expected to give half of that to the house, and another $10-$20 to your driver, leaving you with eighty dollars, for which you’re expected to let the client fuck you. (Right. That’ll happen.)
Needless to say, it’s not a good idea to go along with that kind of stupidity. You can get $80/hour doing an ordinary job, for Christ’s sake. There’s no point in doing something which may or may not even be legal in your area if you aren’t going to be well-compensated.
Thanks to Daze for the link.
Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=687
Please point me to the ordinary job a prostitute can do that pays $80/hr.
Lots of professional jobs pay in that range. What, you think prostitutes are different from the rest of us? Go read Belle De Jour. Plenty of folks in that line of work because it’s big fairly easy money. The profession is not closed to smart educated people, even if the rest of us might marvel at the values that let them take up that profession.
Really, $160K a year? Lots of professional jobs, huh? Ordinary jobs?
I think perhaps she may have overstated her case. I doubt she’s turning a trick an hour. More like $80 every few hours.
“Plenty of folks in that line of work because it’s big fairly easy money.”
That’s exactly my point. That’s the only way they can get that kind of money. Otherwise, they’d be doing something else.
Wow, trolling much?
“Easier” does not really mean “can’t earn it any other way”. It’s all about choice. While she may very well have been able to choose another career that paid that much, at the time she chose not to. Simple as that.
Not everyone can understand why she’d make that choice, but to dismiss any possibility of it being true because the alternative is unfathomable – well, that’s just hiding the proverbial head in the sand.
Assuming that sex workers choose their profession because they’re too stupid to make that kind of money anywhere else is not just insulting in all cases, it’s untrue in many cases.
As well, not all prostitutes stand on a corner and hawk it for the lowest price (kind of her point, if you read the article). High-end escorts can make very good money simply because they’re classy, educated, and intelligent. They’re paid handsomely for their company and time, not just for the number of positions they can twist their body into. Up to and over $1000 dollars a night, not from multiple tricks, but from just one gentleman willing to pay to be in her company. And her case is certainly not unique – plenty of high-end escorts out there, both men and women.
Thanks, Vikki. I didn’t have the energy, and I would have been repeating myself.
I must say, I find it wildly amusing that people (or maybe it’s just one person commenting under different names on different sites) are so concerned with precisely what one can earn in an ordinary job, and how that compares to the skin trade.
First off, although it didn’t say so in that particular entry, I was referring to Canadian dollars, at the exchange rate used when I was in the business (~1.5).
Secondly, medicine, law, and other professional jobs ARE ordinary jobs. Thousands of people have them. What on earth did you think I was talking about, McDonald’s? In my current employment, I can make more for a fifteen-minute ink drawing ($50-$75 USD) than I could earn for one trick as an $80CDN/hour escort.
(Honestly, though, what’s the big fuss? In the very first paragraph, I pointed out that the whole article–which isn’t even an article, per se, but an entry in my personal journal–is really quite flippant and tongue-in-cheek. I get the impression some people felt compelled to comment after reading only the two-paragraph blurb on this site.)