In this week’s column, Cecil concedes that “tolerance for premarital sex may have reduced demand for professional services (in my opinion minimally)”.
It seems to me that the historic economics of the world’s oldest profession were a topic in one of the Freakanomics books. I read it years ago, but I think their conclusion was that prices in real dollars have gone down over the past 100 years, and that this was due in large measure to tolerance for pre-marital sex (i.e. less incentive to pay much today since, with a little effort, most guys today can get it for free). My recall is sketchy, so I’d be obliged if anyone can fill-in the details…
I can tell you that in Bangkok from the 1980s all the way up to at least the 1997 economic crisis, prices were informally standardized. It was 300 baht for short time (2-3 hours) or 500 baht for all night. At the time, that was equal to US$12 and $20, respectively. This was something everyone abided by, freelancers and bargirls alike, and there was never a need for negotiation. It was just something that was understood.
Post-crisis, the rates plummeted for a short while as the freelancer joints and the sidewalks of lower Sukhumvit Road filled with the ranks of laid-off office girls. But then they spiked as the economy settled down, and these days guys generally need to negotiate. A fair market price for short time nowadays seems to be 1500-2000 baht short time and 3000 baht all night, which at the current exchange rate works out to $47-62 and $93, respectively. Asking prices will be higher of course, but these are the rates that are considered fair nowadays. So the prices have gone up in recent years. But so have prices of everything, and while I’m not sure how this compares with before if inflation is taken into account, I’d bet it’s a net increase.
And of course, these figures are for Bangkok alone, which is considered the most expensive place in the country for this sort of activity.
All things considered, that is pretty reasonable - at least comparable to taking out a girlfriend for a light dinner for short time, or dinner and a movie for overnight.
Though I always preferred friends with benefits when I was between boyfriends, much less trouble that going bar hopping [and i never dated people I worked with.]
The whole ‘per hour’ thing in the article doesn’t make much sense. Girls get payed by the amount of ‘work’ they do, this can change per day of the week… per time of the year… events in the area.
That being said, the prices in Germany have pretty much been the same for a very long time. It used to be 100DM, and it still is 50 euros. At the same time there are some places where it is either 40 or 30 and in the laufhauser (red light districts) you can get cheaper than that…not to mention the clubs where you pay a fixed rate (and the girls get even less per session).
In the end it’s most important how much a girl makes in the course of a day, the amount of work is secundary. I know girls that do pretty much everything for 30 euros, but will have 20 customers a day. In a more expensive club, she would probably have 2 customers a day and be left with 100 euros. If you talk to the girls there is a whole lot of behind the scenes stuff that plays a role (rent for a room, entrance fees, how taxes are levied). But the few girls I know that talk to me about the whole thing from a business stance (funnily enough all girls I’ve never been with), look at the daily take…