# What's the deal with these 'escort' services? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520 "2003-03-27T14:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/21 "2012-01-11T17:37:07Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Brains is brains, so what the hell. > > New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was busted with a hooker from a “VIP Club.” What actually happened was that Spitzer transferred more than $10,000 from his bank account to the club, which automatically triggered a report to the IRS. Suspicions were raised when Spitzer tried to break his transactions into smaller chunks, which wouldn’t trigger the automatic report. However, it was orginally believed that Spitzer was either the target of extortion, or identity theft, not that he was consorting with hookers. No, Spitzer structured his transactions so that they would be UNDER $10000, thus resulting in a SAR, which has nothing to do with the IRS. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/22 "2012-01-11T17:49:08Z")
Since we are on this subject can someone please tell me again why prostitution is illegal between two consenting adults? I have never used one, but I just don’t understand the rational for making it illegal. The streetwalkers, yep I see the point of them being a nuisance, but what is the problem with a call girl that is discreet and not an eyesore to the community? Yes, I know it’s been said a million times but legalize, tax and regulate them. Test them for disease and the danger level for them will decrease since they aren’t on the streets. As the old saying goes: “Why is it illegal to charge money for something you can give away for free?” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/23 "2012-01-11T18:00:26Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Since we are on this subject can someone please tell me again why prostitution is illegal between two consenting adults? Since we’re still in GQ, I will provide the factual answer to this: it’s because people are dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/24 "2012-01-11T18:12:21Z")
Three banned posters in one zombie (or is it two banned posters and a sock?). What’s the record? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/25 "2012-01-11T18:40:42Z")
> [@Dogface](#): > > Yes, escort services are obviously just covers for prostitution, Is this true? Of course, escort services are frequently a cover for prostitution, but are they always covers for prostitution? Are there people who use escort services as escorts? [Question aimed at the Teeming Millions, obviously, not at Dogface.] ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/26 "2012-01-11T18:45:01Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Three banned posters in one zombie (or is it two banned posters and a sock?). What’s the record? Much, much higher than that. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/27 "2012-01-11T18:46:44Z")
**Are** there such things, any more, as escorts (i.e., arm candy – persons hired to accompany the customer in public on social occasions, not to provide sexual services)? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/28 "2012-01-11T18:54:52Z")
I started a thread on this very thing a couple of years ago. The consensus was that this just isn’t very much of a priority for cops, especially in big cities where even the vice-squads have better things to do. And as anyone who’s watched “The Wire” knows, it’s one thing to say, “I know those folks are up to no good.” It’s a whole other matter to be able to build a strong enough case to prove it in a court of law. As someone up above mentioned, those ads in the back of the alt-weeklies, as titillating as they may be, aren’t offering anything illegal. Just massage, table top showers, “modeling services” and whatnot. Not to say that the authorities won’t ever go after these places. If the powers that be in city government wanted to go on a moral crusade, or a police chief with a particularly moralistic bent had a beef with them, they’d certainly find a way to make life difficult for the proprietors of escort, massage, and modeling businesses. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/29 "2012-01-11T19:16:25Z")
There was an escort service here that got busted for abusing credit cards. The girls were slipping extra charges on client’s cards and several reported it to the cops. There was some local news coverage a few years ago. Otherwise they seem to sail along without any problem. Even have ads in the yellow pages under escort. I’ve always wondered how the girl would react if some gullible guy actually _wanted_ an escort to attend a symphony concert. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/30 "2012-01-11T19:43:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > There was an escort service here that got busted for abusing credit cards. The girls were slipping extra charges on client’s cards and several reported it to the cops. There was some local news coverage a few years ago. Are you saying the escort services took credit cards? I didn’t realize that was common. > [@](#): > > I’ve always wondered how the girl would react if some gullible guy actually _wanted_ an escort to attend a symphony concert. 😃 That’s not nearly as uncommon as you might think. Don’t ask me how I know, but I know. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/31 "2012-01-11T20:20:25Z")
> [@mipiace](#): > > The ads I have seen suggest thhings like “special” massages and fetish play but don’t come out and say they will have sex. What they advertize is legal -what happens behind closed doors is between the client and the person offering services. This falls into the category of “I read this somewhere”, but . . . Cecil’s parent publication, the Chicago Reader, once ran a story on such a service, and the service was in fact careful to stay within the law. I believe their rule was, neither party could touch the other’s breasts or genitals. There are a lot of guys out there who _want_ bondage or fetish play that stops short of intercourse. And for those guys, it’s safer to use a legal service–safer for the guy, because he doesn’t have to worry about being busted by a cop posing as a prostitute, and safer for the service, because they don’t have to worry about being busted by a cop posing as a john. So one cannot always assume that escort services are prostitutes. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/32 "2012-01-11T20:26:39Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > One of her customers was U.S. Sen. [David B. Vitter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter) (R-La.), who has not been convicted of anything (statute of limitations) and has not hanged himself and who still serves in the U.S. Senate. This reads funnier if you add extraneous scare quotes. One of her customers was U.S. Sen. David B. Vitter (R-La.), … who still “serves” in the “U.S. Senate”. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/33 "2012-01-11T20:28:04Z")
Do you think that this thread will have a happy ending? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/34 "2012-01-11T22:52:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > **Are** there such things, any more, as escorts (i.e., arm candy – persons hired to accompany the customer in public on social occasions, not to provide sexual services)? Well, there were always rumors that such things were fairly common in Hollywood, for (usually) gentlemen who had to appear in public with dates but didn’t necessarily want the general public to know whom they were really dating (for instance, other gentlemen). I can’t imagine Hollywood is the only place where that kind of thing happened, and actually probably more likely to happen elsewhere now. Though I guess the demand has probably dropped off a little bit recently for service academy dances and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/35 "2012-01-12T00:09:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve always wondered how the girl would react if some gullible guy actually _wanted_ an escort to attend a symphony concert. 😃 Presumably one with an [appropriate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Suk_(composer)) [program](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blow). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/36 "2012-01-12T00:35:17Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > Do you think that this thread will have a happy ending? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/37 "2012-01-12T02:45:51Z")
I knew a woman who briefly worked as an escort and she most definitely did not prostitute herself. She was older than me so this was quite a while ago, 70s maybe, and I can’t say if any of the other girls who worked there didn’t do it. But she merely served as an attractive, classy, well-mannered & well-dressed, ah, escort to accompany upper middle-class gentlemen to social functions. She definitely described it as being a ‘life experience’ and she would occasionally get politely propositioned for more from a client, but like I said she was not the type who would have ever had sex for money. And she wasn’t fired for denying it to clients. She did say however, that if she had wanted to pursue that career it kinda would have had to eventually include that… ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/38 "2012-01-12T04:21:12Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I knew a woman who briefly worked as an escort and she most definitely did not prostitute herself. She was older than me so this was quite a while ago, 70s maybe, and I can’t say if any of the other girls who worked there didn’t do it. But she merely served as an attractive, classy, well-mannered & well-dressed, ah, escort to accompany upper middle-class gentlemen to social functions. \*\* She definitely described it as being a ‘life experience’ \*\* and she would occasionally get politely propositioned for more from a client, but like I said **she was not the type who would have ever had sex for money**. And she wasn’t fired for denying it to clients. She did say however, that if she had wanted to pursue that career it kinda would have had to eventually include that… (bolding mine) :dubious: How well did you know this woman? What reason would she have to divulge such information as to what went on behind closed doors between her and her clients? I understand the desire to maintain a pristine image, and the image of being a clean, respectable “courtesan” fits that billing perfectly. But I have a hard time believing any man paid large sums of money to any woman without expecting something. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/39 "2012-01-12T04:36:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > In 2008, the “[D.C. Madam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Jeane_Palfrey)” was convicted of racketeering, illegal use of the mail, and money laundering. She hanged herself rather than serve a prison sentence. A woman who probably could have avoided prison by fingering (so to speak) some of the most powerful men in the country hanged herself? How convenient. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520/40 "2012-01-12T05:09:23Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > A woman who probably could have avoided prison by fingering (so to speak) some of the most powerful men in the country hanged herself? How convenient. Her entire client list is well known to the public. There was no need for her to finger anyone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-escort-services/164520.md?page=3)