# What do prostitutes do during their period? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262 "2004-05-21T00:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/1 "2004-05-21T00:07:36Z")
As the title says, what do prostitutes do during their period? I can’t imagine them “plying business” while menstruating; do they simply take the week off, or get an alternate source of income? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/2 "2004-05-21T00:27:10Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > As the title says, what do prostitutes do during their period? I can’t imagine them “plying business” while menstruating; do they simply take the week off, or get an alternate source of income? Can’t support your $200 a day crack habit if you don’t go to work. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/3 "2004-05-21T00:37:00Z")
Isn’t most of their revenue from blow-jobs? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/4 "2004-05-21T00:41:43Z")
If a woman on birth control pills skips the 7 placebo pills at the end and just starts a new pack, it is often the case that she will experience little or no menstrual bleeding - apparently this can be done for some months (but you really shouldn’t do it without first talking to your doctor). ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/5 "2004-05-21T00:41:47Z")
I opened this thread after Zebra Sha Sha just to post the old joke “What’s black and white and red all over?” I wish I could have stopped myself, sorry Zebra Sha Sha. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/6 "2004-05-21T00:55:57Z")
Depo Provera can also lead to the lack of a period. The Instead cup claims to allow “clean sex” during menstruation. So there are “work-arounds”, but I have a feeling that they probably just stick to offers of, er, sucky-sucky… I can’t believe I actually used the word sucky-sucky in a sentence. Twice even. Somebody stop me. ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/7 "2004-05-21T01:00:32Z")
free upgrades to the “gold” package for all john’s that week. ---
**Author:** ![citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citrus_x_paradisi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/8 "2004-05-21T01:29:15Z")
I think **ZebraShaSha** is right here. Or they might take a week off-- those without drug habits surely don’t enjoy a seven-day work week. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/9 "2004-05-21T02:07:08Z")
What? Seven of those pills are placebos? I’d always thought that women on birth control just didn’t have periods… am I way out of date with old, old pills? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/10 "2004-05-21T02:32:18Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > As the title says, what do prostitutes do during their period? I can’t imagine them “plying business” while menstruating; do they simply take the week off, or get an alternate source of income? Umm…why not? I’m sure there’s plenty clientele willing to pay (possibly extra) for having sex with a menstruating woman. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/11 "2004-05-21T02:53:51Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > What? Seven of those pills are placebos? I’d always thought that women on birth control just didn’t have periods… am I way out of date with old, old pills? I think in the old days, women were just supposed to skip the pill for a week. Now, some of them are placebos, so it’s easier to use (just take one pill every day). I don’t know if there’s any medical evidence that having a period is actually beneficial for women who are on birth control. I read somewhere that doctors just thought it was “normal”, so they had women who used the pill skip the hormones for a week, and the tradition just stuck around. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/12 "2004-05-21T04:29:52Z")
I heard from a reliable source (I wish I could remember what it was now) that the only reason that birth control pills were introduced with an “off” week, was that the drug companies didn’t think women would want to take the pill if they didn’t still have a period. The pill at the time seemed unnatural, and if it had eliminated the period altogether, it would have seemed more so. Anyway, it’s supposedly perfectly fine to not take the placebos and stay on the real pills the whole time, and not have a period. It was just a marketing decision to skip that week. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/13 "2004-05-21T04:59:42Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I heard from a reliable source (I wish I could remember what it was now) that the only reason that birth control pills were introduced with an “off” week, was that the drug companies didn’t think women would want to take the pill if they didn’t still have a period. \ Really, I have to wonder where these places get their information. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/14 "2004-05-21T05:02:28Z")
What I wanna know is, how did they stop getting pregnant before practical contraception was available? I mean did they make every john wear a canvas condom? Ouch! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/15 "2004-05-21T05:21:38Z")
Um, birth control has been around for a long time, longer than you’d think. And condoms have been around for a couple hundred years-previously they were made of animal skins. (Can’t you still get lambskin condoms?) However, I believe a lot of them ended up having back alley type abortions. Or else just staying pregnant. The greatest risk was always disease. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/16 "2004-05-21T05:22:19Z")
I remember reading that before, though a quick google really only turned up [http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000\_03\_10\_a\_rock.htm](http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_03_10_a_rock.htm) These arguments, as arcane as they may seem, were central to the development of oral contraception. It was John Rock and Gregory Pincus who decided that the Pill ought to be taken over a four-week cycle–a woman would spend three weeks on the Pill and the fourth week off the drug (or on a placebo), to allow for menstruation. There was and is no medical reason for this. A typical woman of childbearing age has a menstrual cycle of around twenty- eight days, determined by the cascades of hormones released by her ovaries. As first estrogen and then a combination of estrogen and progestin flood the uterus, its lining becomes thick and swollen, preparing for the implantation of a fertilized egg. If the egg is not fertilized, hormone levels plunge and cause the lining–the endometrium–to be sloughed off in a menstrual bleed. When a woman is on the Pill, however, no egg is released, because the Pill suppresses ovulation. The fluxes of estrogen and progestin that cause the lining of the uterus to grow are dramatically reduced, because the Pill slows down the ovaries. Pincus and Rock knew that the effect of the Pill’s hormones on the endometrium was so modest that women could conceivably go for months without having to menstruate. “In view of the ability of this compound to prevent menstrual bleeding as long as it is taken,” Pincus acknowledged in 1958, “a cycle of any desired length could presumably be produced.” But he and Rock decided to cut the hormones off after three weeks and trigger a menstrual period because they believed that women would find the continuation of their monthly bleeding reassuring. More to the point, if Rock wanted to demonstrate that the Pill was no more than a natural variant of the rhythm method, he couldn’t very well do away with the monthly menses. Rhythm required “regularity,” and so the Pill had to produce regularity as well Not sure if you count the New Yorker as a reasonable source, though it seemed to have gotten its information from fairly close to the source… Personally, I think the menses should be turned off at menarch and turned on when you decide you want to reproduce. or maybe left for once a year. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/17 "2004-05-21T07:12:04Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Um, birth control has been around for a long time, longer than you’d think. I read the Greeks used to stuff animal intestines inside a woman to prevent conctraception prior to sex. (someone confirm for me please!!!) ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/18 "2004-05-21T07:12:07Z")
I watched a documentary on legal brothels in Melbourne, Australia. Hate to tell you you’re all way off base on this one. The ladies they interviewed used cut up sponges, the kind you use to wash your car. They even showed one girl buying a 3-pack from a DIY shop and cutting them up with scissors. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/19 "2004-05-21T10:29:55Z")
**irishgirl** , the plural of anecdote is not ‘data’. And how the hell does that work? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262/20 "2004-05-21T11:00:57Z")
> [@Bob55](#): > > I read the Greeks used to stuff animal intestines inside a woman to prevent conctraception prior to sex. (someone confirm for me please!!!) The Egyptians used Crocodile dung as part of a contraceptive, um, potion didn’t they?? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-prostitutes-do-during-their-period/246262.md?page=2)