# Picky Prostitute or Mandatory Masseur **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388 "2010-12-08T07:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/1 "2010-12-08T07:35:59Z")
In the midst of an ongoing debate regarding prostitution, I was reflecting on what makes me liberal to prostitution. While against trafficking, pimping and keeping the bitches in line through drug dependency and violence, I don’t see this as a result of actually selling a sexual service for money, but of illegalizing it. I say this not to make a rhetorical point, but for the purposes of the poll I want to restrict the definition of prostitution to voluntarily selling a sexual service for money, nothing else. Being coerced into it through threat of violence or poverty does not factor in, as that would be atrocious no matter the profession. The other main argument against prostitution is that it objectifies our bodies when we sell them for sex. I would argue on the other hand, that a masseur sells his/her body in much the same way, lending an hour of well being to somebody else in exchange for money (I’m ignoring the practical uses of massage here, such as physical therapy). Most masseurs don’t have the freedom to choose their customers, and may have to come into close physical contact with customers they find repulsive. I’m aware that many other professions (such as medical practitioners) face the same dilemma, but I’ll avoid complicating the issue too much. Personally, given the choice, I would prefer to prostitute myself but be able to chose my clientele, than be forced to massage any fat shlubb that walked in. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/2 "2010-12-08T07:42:42Z")
Also to add: I left out the option to opt out. I’m not asking if you’d work either of these professions, I’m asking which you’d prefer given a choice. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/3 "2010-12-08T09:51:37Z")
Picky prostitute, but not because contact is contact. It’s because then you get to have sex with hot (or reasonably attractive) people and get paid for it. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/4 "2010-12-08T10:07:26Z")
_How_ picky do I get to be as a prostitute? If I go with “picky prostitute” and years tick by and as of yet I have not found a customer I’m willing to service, am I playing the choice-game unfairly? How is that different from opting out? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/5 "2010-12-08T10:11:37Z")
So is a hairdresser selling her body? How about a soldier? Construction worker? ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/6 "2010-12-08T10:13:47Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > _How_ picky do I get to be as a prostitute? If I go with “picky prostitute” and years tick by and as of yet I have not found a customer I’m willing to service, am I playing the choice-game unfairly? How is that different from opting out? I’m not the OP, but I’m working on the assumption that “a (wo)man gotta eat.” – i.e., this, and only this, is where you make your money. You can be picky as long as you pick enough clients to survive. Me, I’ll take Picky Prostitute. What can I say? I’m a man. Go through offers of money and sex from women, choose only those I like? Where’s the catch, again…? 🙂 (If you meant this poll to be for women only, then I apologize – but it doesn’t look like it from reading.) ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/7 "2010-12-08T13:42:15Z")
**AHunter3, Noone Special** : No, I’m a man, and I’m trying to drop the entire assumption that only women sell their bodies. I know a few (and know of plenty) gay men who willingly have sex for money, and I know of heterosexual men who have done the same for women. So men can answer the poll equally. For the purpose of this poll, I’m ignoring being forced into prostitution by poverty or otherwise. I would find forcing somebody into a coal mine or cleaning sewers equally wrong. I clearly mean sex workers who have another profession on the side, or who could change professions at any time. So the reverse of the question, would it be wrong to buy sex from somebody who finds you reasonably attractive and is doing it of her free will? **Spark240** : That is, indeed, the gist of the poll =) Is selling your body from sex different from selling it for any other purpose? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/8 "2010-12-08T14:57:16Z")
When I read the thread title, I heard it in my head as the voice of Phil from “Amazing Race” announcing the Detour options. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/9 "2010-12-08T15:15:08Z")
I am male and I would choose CMT. I can’t really imagine the circumstances under which I would ever be a prostitute. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/10 "2010-12-08T16:00:04Z")
I’d love to be a whore. unfortunately I’m a dude and not attractive enough for women and unwilling to have sex with guys. If I get to add in getting to be selective of my clients I wouldn’t blink twice. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/11 "2010-12-08T16:25:27Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > I’m not the OP, but I’m working on the assumption that “a (wo)man gotta eat.” – i.e., this, and only this, is where you make your money. You can be picky as long as you pick enough clients to survive. > > Me, I’ll take Picky Prostitute. What can I say? I’m a man. Go through offers of money and sex from women, choose only those I like? Where’s the catch, again…? 🙂 Man gotta eat and you wouldn’t likely get enough female clients to survive. So you’d be choosing from among potential male clients. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/12 "2010-12-08T16:48:52Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Man gotta eat and you wouldn’t likely get enough female clients to survive. So you’d be choosing from among potential male clients. Who, pudgy 47-YO me? I wouldn’t be getting **any** female clients! 🙂 And I’m married, anyway. I was just trying to play along with the hypothetical… ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/13 "2010-12-08T17:05:10Z")
I’m afraid I would be a picky, very poor, hooker. But boy, when I scored… ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/14 "2010-12-08T18:23:48Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Man gotta eat and you wouldn’t likely get enough female clients to survive. So you’d be choosing from among potential male clients. As a straight male, that was my thinking as well. In truth, the idea of being a prostitute with female clients never entered my mind. Even if I was an opposite-sex gigolo, however, I’d still go with masseur. Honestly, I’m very surprised that most people would rather be a freelance prostitute than a salaried masseur. Maybe they’re thinking of it like the masseur option means you’re not allowed to quit? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/15 "2010-12-08T19:08:42Z")
I’d be a picky prostitute. I like sex, and if I can pick and choose my clientele, that doesn’t sound half bad. I don’t like massaging people, it’s tiring and boring and I get nothing out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/16 "2010-12-08T21:39:06Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > _How_ picky do I get to be as a prostitute? If I go with “picky prostitute” and years tick by and as of yet I have not found a customer I’m willing to service, am I playing the choice-game unfairly? That’s pretty much how most women do it now. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/17 "2010-12-09T09:00:44Z")
It’s interesting to see how people reason, though I guess I was a bit unclear in my OP. My apologies for that. I’m mostly curious about the morality of selling sex, which means that each person can presume that he/she has enough of a clientele whom they don’t mind selling sex to. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picky-prostitute-or-mandatory-masseur/563388/18 "2010-12-09T10:10:44Z")
If I’m being a picky prostitute that sounds like I have sex with people that I want to have sex with anyway, and also get given some money for it. So why wouldn’t I choose that? I’m not really selling my body, the money is just a bonus for doing something I want to do.