This feature from The Economist about sex work from a decade ago came up in my FB memories and it seems to still be relevant. Read on and follow the link, which will jump the paywall.

archive.ph/d1Qj0


"This newspaper has never found it plausible that all prostitutes are victims. That fiction is becoming harder to sustain as much of the buying and selling of sex moves online. Personal websites mean prostitutes can market themselves and build their brands. Review sites bring trustworthy customer feedback to the commercial-sex trade for the first time. The shift makes it look more and more like a normal service industry.

It can also be analysed like one. We have dissected data on prices, services and personal characteristics from one big international site that hosts 190,000 profiles of female prostitutes (see article). The results show that gentlemen really do prefer blondes, who charge 11% more than brunettes. The scrawny look beloved of fashion magazines is more marketable than flab---but less so than a healthy weight. Prostitutes themselves behave like freelancers in other labour markets. They arrange tours and take bookings online, like gigging musicians. They choose which services to offer, and whether to specialise. They temp, go part-time and fit their work around child care. There is even a graduate premium that is close to that in the wider economy.

The invisible hand-job

Moralisers will lament the shift online because it will cause the sex trade to grow strongly. Buyers and sellers will find it easier to meet and make deals. New suppliers will enter a trade that is becoming safer and less tawdry. New customers will find their way to prostitutes, since they can more easily find exactly the services they desire and confirm their quality. Pimps and madams should shudder, too. The internet will undermine their market-making power."

Read on....archive.ph/d1Qj0

Nice article! 100% the internet has made it so much safer for both parties. It must have been a pain in the old days, ads in the back pages, it's like playing the lottery, you don't know what you get. The review system is a game changer, you see a few good reviews from reliable users and you are almost guaranteed a good time with the SP. Additionally, going to an house or flat makes it so much more discreet, almost like you are going to see a girlfriend.

I assume it's the same for the SPs as well, the internet makes them more independent and they can run it like a business. No third party, they can connect directly with their clients, and they probably have their own forums where they can discuss unruly clients.

I think ESA does a good job in that regard, they moderate forums/reviews pretty well. You see selfies time to time but I assume that is difficult to control. The one thing I find annoying is photoshop, and ESA is using it increasingly. You think you're getting Pamela Anderson but you get Danny DiVito instead.

Anyway, good read from 2014. The US economy is just staggering, "put its value at $14 billion annually nationwide" (that was 3.5% of SAs GDP in 2014 or 2024, SA hasn't grown at all over the past 10 years). Given inflation, general growth of the industry and that the $14B was a conservative estimate, that figure must be a whole lot bigger. Just to put the size of the US economy into persective, Texas GDP is six to seven times that of SA. And Dallas Fort Worth metro alone, is twice that of SA.