# How desperate would you have to be to become a prostitute? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696 "2010-02-19T21:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/21 "2010-02-20T17:59:20Z")
Another choice on the list: If you were so drug-dependent that whoring was the fastest, easiest and (relatively) best-paying way to score drugs or the money for them. I’d like to think I’d stop at that and find some way to get clean. But that’s easy to say when I’ve never used any of the really addictive drugs. If I had a major habit with one or more of them, it might cloud my judgment badly enough that I just didn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/22 "2010-02-20T23:02:55Z")
I chose “wouldn’t be that bad with the right preconditions”. I don’t think I’d ever be willing to be a “street walker”, because even a nice looking guy could be an abusive psycho. I could see myself working at a brothel though, with security and rules in place to keep us whores safe. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolf-alice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@wolf-alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf-alice)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/23 "2010-02-20T23:58:06Z")
Exactly what **DiosaBellissima** said, with **Carlotta** ’s high-end escort specific preconditions. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/24 "2010-02-22T00:19:20Z")
I really can’t imagine it would ever happen. It’s something that would be incredibly hard for me - in the past, getting into a sexual relationship with someone I liked, trusted and was attracted to was difficult enough! It’s difficult for me to be intimate in any sort of way. I mean, if someone had me at gunpoint and demanded I have sex for money, I would rather do almost anything than die. If I was homeless and hungry there are many things I would try before resorting to sex for money. But I don’t think I would end up homeless and hungry - if I lost my home I know a ton of people who would take me in, and I wouldn’t hesitate to ask them! If I was homeless, hungry AND addicted to drugs or alcohol, might be a different situation, but I’ve never been an addict so can’t say for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/25 "2010-02-22T01:24:20Z")
If I could make a decent extra or main source income from exchanging sex for money (or a house, car, etc) I would do it as long as it was safe sex. Of course, this would be only if I was single. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/26 "2010-02-22T03:20:02Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > A better question is, how desperate would the CLIENTS have to be??? My first thought exactly. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/27 "2010-02-22T13:05:07Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Don’t you mean _collage tuishion_? If you get a couple of Ds in your first semester, you don’t have to finish. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/28 "2010-02-22T16:26:05Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > A better question is, how desperate would the CLIENTS have to be??? +1 ---
**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 22, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/29 "2010-02-22T18:54:10Z")
i’ll go with choice four. Since I married my first husband many years ago, basically for his money, many people would say I have already done just that ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/30 "2010-02-23T14:25:58Z")
I’ve been a prostitute and I wasn’t in the least bit hungry or desperate, it was just a job opportunity that I pursued whilst I was looking around for something better (and for the record I didn’t pick up any STDs or get raped or murdered even once). I don’t see it as a big deal, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/31 "2010-02-23T14:37:58Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > A better question is, how desperate would the CLIENTS have to be??? This is the first thing I thought, too. I mean, look. I’m not an attractive man. I’m middle-aged, blobby, have English teeth, have a voice like Kermit the Frog, and am a lousy actor. That’s narrowing it down to a very niche market right there. And without the looks or the suave social manners? I’d be unable to choose my clients. I’d probably end up needing an animatronic penis to get it up. I’d sell internal organs first. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/32 "2010-02-23T19:37:14Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > (and for the record I didn’t pick up any STDs or get raped or murdered even once). [Kid Voice] Illuminatiprimus, tell us about the time you got murdered! 🙂 [/Kid Voice] ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/33 "2010-02-23T21:47:47Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > [Kid Voice] > Illuminatiprimus, tell us about the time you got murdered! 🙂 > [/Kid Voice] Oh alright. There I was, turning tricks in Earls Court when a nice man offered me a ride home… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/34 "2010-02-24T02:14:05Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Oh alright. There I was, turning tricks in Earls Court when a nice man offered me a ride home… > > 😛 “And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don’t hesitate strongly to recommend!” ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/35 "2010-02-28T00:18:49Z")
This is why I love this place. Only here could a discussion of prostitution turn into a Munchausen quote. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696/36 "2010-02-28T21:31:09Z")
I concur with **DiosaBellissima** ’s response-- I think I’m attractive enough to be able to get a position at the right kind of cathouse, and I’m not terribly bothered by the idea of being paid for anonymous sex. I would, however, have to be in a different position from my current circumstances to really consider it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperate-would-you-have-to-be-to-become-a-prostitute/529696.md?page=1)