# Are there really that many girls turning tricks around here?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 23, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346 "2007-04-23T19:08:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/1 "2007-04-23T19:08:25Z")
I was advertising some stuff for sale on Craig’s List and noticed a listing called Services-Erotic. Ever curious, I checked it out. There are over 400 posts just today. These are thinly veiled ads for prostitution. And Craig’s list certainly isn’t the only game in town.
I must be incredibly naive but I was amazed that there must be thousands of girls in the DC area turning tricks. This doesn’t include the streetwalkers on 14th street (or did they clean that up?).
I’m not sure this is really such a factual question but is prostitution really that rampant? You’d think the cops would just be using this as a to-do list.
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### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/2 "2007-04-23T19:14:54Z")
I don’t have an answer to your question but are you sure it’s 400 distinct posts and not two people spamming the board?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/3 "2007-04-23T19:19:23Z")
[QUOTE=groman]
I don’t have an answer to your question but are you sure it’s 400 distinct posts and not two people spamming the board?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, please answer that before I book my flight to D.C.
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/4 "2007-04-23T19:20:57Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Yes, please answer that before I book my flight to D.C.
[/QUOTE]
you don’t want any of that, holmes.
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### Author:  [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/5 "2007-04-23T19:22:45Z")
On the Portland, OR Craigslist, that particular classification usually has lots of ads for online chat, webcams, or websites for services. There are usually only 5-10 distinct local “working girls”, as far as I can tell 😉
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/6 "2007-04-23T19:24:51Z")
Out here the SF/SJ lists do have quite a few “pros” more or less openly advertising. Some are a massage parlor with a fake pic, some are individiduals with a real pic. In either case, they tend to run that same ad or a close variation of it over and over. In a list of 400, there are likely 12-20 different advertisers.
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### Author:  [@Phlint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlint)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/7 "2007-04-23T19:37:43Z")
**CookingWithGas** , if you take a look at the content of those posts, you’ll see that a very large number of them are repeats from the same 5 to 10 people. A fair number are also advertisements for webcam shows and not prostitution. Throw in a mix of people advertising for Viagakra and its ilk, and some more people with blatant attempts at just obtaining your email address so they can spam you and you pretty quickly add up to the amount of posts you see. I’d guess that in a given day, there’s probably only about 20 or so (I’m at work and don’t really wanna load that page to look and count…) actual offers of an escort on Craigslist.
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### Author:  [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/8 "2007-04-23T20:20:02Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
Are there really that many girls turning tricks around here?
[/QUOTE]
Heh, I thought you ment on SDMB
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/9 "2007-04-23T20:22:55Z")
It terrifies me that the advertisement at the bottom of this page was “Help cover Barack’s Face”. Ick. 🙂
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/10 "2007-04-23T20:56:15Z")
[QUOTE=Phlint]
**CookingWithGas** , if you take a look at the content of those posts, you’ll see that a very large number of them are repeats from the same 5 to 10 people. st.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I didn’t really have that much time on my hands and I wasn’t really looking to buy, just a little window shopping. You may be correct.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-that-many-girls-turning-tricks-around-here/401346/11 "2007-04-23T21:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous]
Heh, I thought you ment on SDMB
[/QUOTE]
I gotta spend more time in MPSIMS.