# Have you ever known a sex worker? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071 "2015-02-19T05:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/81 "2015-02-22T01:25:12Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …I don’t think you understand the meaning of the word “documented facts.” Statistics, that you have stated you don’t have and have no intention of looking for, could reasonably be described as “documented facts.” Stuff that you make up based on a few conversations and relationships you may have had over the years can not be reasonably be described as “documented facts.” > > A simple test for a “documented fact” would be this one: do you have any evidence, outside of personal anecdote, to support your assertion? > > As you have repeatedly said through the thread you do not, so it would be silly to accept what you say as anything else but what you have experienced. Personal anecdotes are okay. They are exactly what the OP of this thread has asked for. But I don’t think this thread was intended to be anything other than a search for anecdotes: and your fact free assertions really are distracting. Fair enough. I’ll bow out. ETA: I enjoyed your snark but it is an established fact that a heroin user, given pure heroin in a clean, safe setting, can remain quite healthy and problem free. That is what I meant by “documented facts”. But thanks for your snark. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/82 "2015-02-22T02:56:53Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Fair enough. I’ll bow out. > > ETA: I enjoyed your snark but it is an established fact that a heroin user, given pure heroin in a clean, safe setting, can remain quite healthy and problem free. That is what I meant by “documented facts”. But thanks for your snark. …I wasn’t being snarky and I’m sorry you read it that way. Several people in this thread made the exact same points as me but you ignored them. I simply stopped beating around the bush and was as direct with you as I could have been. But by all means bow out or stay involved in the conversation: its entirely up to you. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/83 "2015-02-22T05:57:46Z")
> [@Martinmasoon](#): > > I work at a bathhouse… i am a 20 yr old male sex-worker So what does that mean? How long have you been doing it? How long do you expect to keep doing it? Do you like doing it? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/84 "2015-02-22T06:05:45Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …I wasn’t being snarky and I’m sorry you read it that way. Several people in this thread made the exact same points as me but you ignored them. I simply stopped beating around the bush and was as direct with you as I could have been. > > But by all means bow out or stay involved in the conversation: its entirely up to you. I am unaware of official statistics but how much of the prostitution today is conducted online? Any figures? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/85 "2015-02-22T06:14:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I have known thousands in Thailand. Professionally in my salad days, on speaking terms with many now in my older years as I visit friends’ bars. Question: As more women in 3rd world countries become educated and their are better paying jobs, will you see prostitution becoming less common? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/86 "2015-02-22T06:15:39Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I am unaware of official statistics but how much of the prostitution today is conducted online? Any figures? Probably almost all of it. Even the streetwalkers have smartphones, email and can post free ads. Smartphones probably take a lot of women off of the street which is not to say that their situation is any more pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/87 "2015-02-22T06:15:40Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Norinew, a member here used to be in the industry (in an oblique way) . Sadly she has passed away. > > [Thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=286032) I read some of her thread. What gets me is why so many of these men need to talk sex with someone on the phone? Why cant they get a “real” relationship? ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/88 "2015-02-22T06:21:47Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I would make a large distinction between these types of “sugardaddy” transactions and traditional prostitution. For one, often times these girls don’t even perform any sexual acts with their rich sugar daddies. They are simply arm decoration and a pretty girl to be seen with in public, etc. Sometimes sex is included but that is also sex with just one (maybe two) men, in order to earn what they need to earn. So I would not consider these girls “prostitutes” in the common sense of the word. It’s very easy to be very selective of your clientele under these circumstances. > > Hookers, on the other hand, see high volumes of clientele (“high volumes” can vary depending on the “class” level of the prostitute) and they engage in sexual activity in order to earn their money. The classier, more expensive escorts (these are the ones who _usually_ don’t perform these acts out of desperation but out of financial interest alone) will necessarily need to see fewer men but they still have sex with multiple men on a regular basis. MOST prostitutes, and I’m NOT speaking of the lowly street walker, do what they do to earn money to support one or more unhealthy habit. And, surprisingly, most of these girls are pretty girls who hide their addictions fairly well. I would make a large distinction too, but my broader point was that there’s a large Grey area between dating, marriage and prostitution, and many people fairly comfortably inhabit that grey zone. Street prostitution, of course, sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/89 "2015-02-22T06:26:20Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > I would make a large distinction too, but my broader point was that there’s a large Grey area between dating, marriage and prostitution, and many people fairly comfortably inhabit that grey zone. Street prostitution, of course, sucks. Yeah, i agree with this ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/90 "2015-02-22T21:43:01Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I am unaware of official statistics but how much of the prostitution today is conducted online? Any figures? Because prostitution is illegal in almost all of the US, it’s going to be VERY hard to get accurate information: there’s just no reason FOR prostitutes to report their activities and some very good reasons NOT to report their activities. New Zealand, where prostitution is completely legal, is probably the best source we have. Plus we have a lot of NGOs which make money by “helping” prostitutes which have a vested interest in inflating numbers and misrepresenting prostitution. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/91 "2015-02-22T21:59:54Z")
I don’t know any prostitutes personally (that I know of, I’m not one to pry) but I DO know of an ex-prostitute named Maggie McNeill who has done an excellent job of debunking a lot of the bullshit about prostitution, particularly the statistical kind) by keeping records of various bullshit claims and linking them with their appropriate debunking. (She’s also an ex-librarian, which probably explains her skill at it.) Here’s [her “Frequently Told Lies” column](https://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/resources/frequently-told-lies/) that covers a lot of it. I didn’t see anything on that page that covers a specific link between drug and prostitution, but there IS a link that indicates that most prostitutes do it for the money, Lebowski. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/92 "2015-02-23T01:40:55Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Question: As more women in 3rd world countries become educated and their are better paying jobs, will you see prostitution becoming less common? There’s no simple answer to that. I have known well-paid executive secretaries who freelanced on the side. Only time will tell. But the important phrase in your question is “better paying.” These ladies could all go get factory jobs right now, there’s a labor shortage, but they’d be working 12 hours a day on an assembly line for peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/93 "2015-02-24T19:07:13Z")
Yes. Dana (she has passed away now) was pretty much an oldschool 70’s-TV-show hooker. (I knew her in the 80s, though.) Like the lady that **CountBlucher** knew, she was sweet and kind; in actual fact a “hooker with a heart of gold.” I knew her because she was good friends with many of my other friends. She herself was suppoirting a family and a heroin habit. She was very stable, her husband and she owned a home that was always well-kept and cozy. I don’t know if hookers at that time had the same freedom to be _proud_ exactly of their vocation that sex workers have now; however, I don’t think she had any hangups about it. Her customers were mostly sweet older gentlemen whom she’d known for years. She never told me about any abuse in her childhood. It’s certainly possible, but somehow I think not. I miss her. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/94 "2015-02-24T19:37:09Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Kay?? 😕 What’s this got to do with anything? Refuting the premise “there is some realistic truth to the idea that just about no woman/girl would willingly let a strange man stick his penis in her mouth or fuck her in the ass, unless that woman/girl was in a position in her life where she felt so desperate to get the money to get her drugs, this was the only way”. There are plenty of women who will gladly do the above for free without a drug habit to support. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/95 "2015-02-24T20:08:22Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Refuting the premise “there is some realistic truth to the idea that just about no woman/girl would willingly let a strange man stick his penis in her mouth or fuck her in the ass, unless that woman/girl was in a position in her life where she felt so desperate to get the money to get her drugs, this was the only way”. There are plenty of women who will gladly do the above for free without a drug habit to support. Um, yeah, with men they _want_ to do those things with. :dubious: For reasons of excitement and sexual attraction. No women in her early 20s will willingly let various, strange 50 and 60 year old men ejaculate into her mouth without there being an element of desperation at play. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/96 "2015-02-24T20:10:46Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Um, yeah, with men they _want_ to do those things with. :dubious: For reasons of excitement and sexual attraction. No women in her early 20s will willingly let various, strange 50 and 60 year old men ejaculate into her mouth without there being an element of desperation at play. None? Come on. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/97 "2015-02-24T20:13:58Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > None? Come on. Could you give me an example? Mental illness excluded? You’ll find that\*\* most \*\*prostitutes who are in it only for the money and are considered “higher class” only engage in safe sex practices. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/98 "2015-02-24T21:08:53Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Um, yeah, with men they _want_ to do those things with. :dubious: For reasons of excitement and sexual attraction. No women in her early 20s will willingly let various, strange 50 and 60 year old men ejaculate into her mouth without there being an element of desperation at play. Once again, check out a Spring Break resort or any other site were people congregate in groups for adult hedonistic behavior. Women are not inherently any less promiscuous than men and plenty of women in their early 20s are attracted to all sorts of men. There is no desperation required to engage in a lot of random, commit free sex. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/99 "2015-02-24T21:17:15Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I have no statistical figures, of course, but also there is some realistic truth to the idea that just about no woman/girl would willingly let a strange man stick his penis in her mouth or fuck her in the ass, unless that woman/girl was in a position in her life where she felt so desperate to get the money to get her drugs, this was the only way. > [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Have you ever been to a Spring Break Resort? Guess you have never been to a bar at closing time and watched pretty girls leave with losers they just met that night. Hell, I’ve been that loser and I didn’t need to drug them. You do understand that a girl can just like sex for gradification purposes. It’s just that when they behave like men we call them sluts. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071/100 "2015-02-25T01:28:11Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Guess you have never been to a bar at closing time and watched pretty girls leave with losers they just met that night. Hell, I’ve been that loser and I didn’t need to drug them. You do understand that a girl can just like sex for gradification purposes. It’s just that when they behave like men we call them sluts. That is still someone a girl (intoxicated by the way) _desired_ to have sex with. I guarantee that none of those drunk pretty girls were leaving with fat, stinky 55 year old slobs. My point firmly stands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-sex-worker/713071.md?page=6)