A useful service, I guess, if you need it.

Escort reviews...had to happen some time.

I'm at the office, so I'm pretty sure I won't be clicking that link right away. I suppose it fills a need, though, and if you're not looking for anything but a little action, it's probably cheaper and safer than some of the alternatives.

I wonder if the girls on the site are independent operators, if they're part of a larger organization, etc.

I was curious to see what sort of things I could find under the juicy details for members only. Unfortunately, I was not curious enough to join, so I shall resign myself to not knowing.

Because I'm dense and sheltered...does escort service including banging? Or is that stuff negotiated a la carte on top of the hourly rate?

That's a good question, Gretchen. Don't know, but I think it's safe to guess the latter -- negotiated a la carte, as you say. I remember a passage in a John Burdette novel concerning a prostitute in Las Vegas. The $250 (or whatever) was just to get the woman into your hotel room (while protective muscle lingered not far off). After establishing that the client was not a cop, additional services would be negotiated on the spot. It sounded as erotic as an oil change.

It’s just like car maintenance; you can pay me now or pay me later.

How do you tell if the escort is in the business voluntarily? That (and the whole Eliot Spitzer thing) has been the major hangup I've had about using escorts.

Hard to believe that a quality escort is only $250/hour in Los Angeles. Economy must have gone way downhill.

The material about "what a girl will do" (as well as the star ratings) is behind the subscriber wall.

Sometimes you can get lucky and get "All u can eat" for one low price. some will even have "kids eat free" with one paid adult!

I am reminded of the Charlie Sheen comment, roughly, "I don't pay women to have sex with me. I pay them to leave afterwards."

This really needs to be completely legal everywhere. It is, after all, just a simple business transaction between two consenting adults.

I think it would be great if this was legal everywhere. I would prefer that guys like Amy's friend simply go to escorts instead of lying to people and wasting everyone else's time.

I'd certainly never stoop to banging on some guy's door at 3:00 in the morning, but something tells me he had nothing against being dishonest with other people if it served his own interests. When these kinds of guys are removed from the dating pool, everyone is happier.

By the way, was he a financial planner?

Most large cities have free Escort Review sites where you can read reviews of local Escorts. Recommendations, prices, services and locations. They are interactive, with both providers and clients supplying information.
Here, we have merb.ca and merc.ca

If there is a need for information, someone will use the Internet to provide it.

How do you tell if the escort is in the business voluntarily?

You don't? the place where it gets dicey is with immigrants, usually in massage parlors. If their English is not very good, there's a decent chance they're working for someone against their will.

I would imagine their attitude would be "lets get this over with", and not particularly warm or friendly.

I'm going to guess most American women are working voluntarily. Some may be "forced" because the economy is bad, or their drug habbit expensive. But given the welfare safety net, I'd say its mostly voluntary.

Where else can you make $100-$250 (or more) for an hour's worth of work? and it may be more widespread than you know. For a taste, go to www.backpage.com, search for your town, then head for the "Adult" section.

You might spot someone you recognize.

I peruse mine from time to time, and I've spotted pictures in the "escorts" and "body rubs" sections that have also been posted to online dating sites.

You might spot someone you recognize.

Yep, I did. The girl I was dating.

At least now I know where she was those two date nights when she left me hanging.

It wasn't so much finding this out - more the fact that she wasn't up-front and continued while we were dating. (The sudden drama flare-ups didn't help either.)

Personally, I'm with roadgeek - needs to be legal everywhere. It IS the world's oldest profession, and deserves respect.

Not that it will be legalized anytime soon though...

Not that it will be legalized anytime soon though...

Tell the politicals that they can regulate and tax it. Think of all that tax money - income, licenses, etc.

more the fact that she wasn't up-front and continued while we were dating

Bummer. I've wondered, now and again, how do they handle that, when they quit the business and get into a relationship? Hey, I worked as an escort for two years. Yeah, I didn't think so...

On the other hand, I dated a girl this summer but broke it off pretty quickly. I saw her mug shot in early November. Just a violation of parole, but listed the old charges: DUI, stalking, carrying a concealed weapon.

Boy, I sure can pick 'em. ;-)

Tell the politicals that they can regulate and tax it. Think of all that tax money - income, licenses, etc.

Oh, I'm sure they already know that. The problem isn't so much government, it's politics. "Moral crusaders" and such voting blocs. For example, feminist groups HATE escorts. Why? Well, they set the price "too low."

The same sort of thing happened just last month here in California with Prop 19. Defeated, despite oodles of potential tax revenue. Why? Vested interests wanted it to stay illegal, and moral crusaders wanted it to stay illegal.

I've wondered, now and again, how do they handle that, when they quit the business and get into a relationship?

I can only speak for myself. I'd appreciate the directness if a woman told me that. Likewise, I don't think I'd show her the door solely due to that fact. Now, criminal record? Er...

I have said this before: legalizing prostitution sounds so sensible, until someone tries to recruit your pretty, but fairly dim, teenage niece or nephew into moving to NYC, where they will then service fat tourists for $40 a blow to pay back their new boss for the bus ticket and dirty mattress provided.

I have said this before: legalizing prostitution sounds so sensible, until someone tries to recruit your pretty, but fairly dim, teenage niece or nephew into moving to NYC, where they will then service fat tourists for $40 a blow to pay back their new boss for the bus ticket and dirty mattress provided.

But they can do that already. At least if it were legal, there might be a chance of complaining to a licensing board or taking someone to court.

Right, Prunella, that will be the top of the list of to dos in Shanghai, er, New York.

All those who are advocating legalizing prostitution fail to realize that it often isn't as consensual as you may think. Spartee is right, but he doesn't take his argument far enough.

How do you know that this woman is in control of her passport? Human trafficking is a real problem that goes on all over the world.

I wasn't a big fan of President George W. Bush, but one thing that I admire him a lot for is working anti-prostitution and human trafficking laws into the UCMJ (military law). Unfortunately, mid-level leadership hasn't really embraced the enforcement bit of the problem overseas. I live in Korea now and there are a ton of Filipino and Russian women here who are clearly being exploited against their will.

I'm a pretty horny guy, but I've never understood the desire to basically go to the bathroom on someone. In my mind, if she's doing it for money, that's pretty much what's happening.

Should it be legal? I could imagine myself being convinced of that, but I couldn't imagine that I'd want to personally take part in degrading someone, especially a woman, so badly.

By the way, pulling one off takes about three fucking minutes and as soon as you're done, sex is the last thing on your mind. Oh, and it doesn't cost a thing.

How do you know that this woman is in control of her passport? Human trafficking is a real problem that goes on all over the world.

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

You know its only a problem in a handful of countries, not all over the world. That same argument is trotted out at every olympics and every major world sporting event, and somehow no matter how many times this argument is brought out no one can ever give diffinitive numbers

so luj...
try here:
Human trafficking Stats

"Human Trafficking Worldwide
 27 million – Number of people in modern-day slavery across the world.
o Source: Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves.
 According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), estimates vary from 4 to 27 million.
 The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 2.4 million people were victims of human trafficking from 1995-2005. This estimate uses the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking, and includes both transnational and internal data."

and also here for US source material...

2010 State Dept Traficking Report

now... let's argue that it's all over-reported... those are still big numbers. So. there are your numbers. Happy?

Swiss according to the US report less than 100,000 vicitms have been identified in the last deacade world wide.

Every country is 'graded' no matter how little trafficing occurs withing their boarders.

And last but not least 'victims' are labeld as victims even when they are co-conspiriters with their oppresers.

The way this report reads I'd assume every illegal immigrant who willingly paid a 'human smuggler' to have themselves smuggled into the states is counted as a human trafficing 'victim'

Did you manage to find any reports which didnt list criminal co-conspiriters as victims?

And another thing, according to the same US report

1 in 10 trafficed humans are sex slaves, but 9 in 10 human trafficers are charged with selling humans into sexual slavery?

How is it that more than 90% of trafficers are charged with sex slavery, when more than 90% of human slaves are in forced labor and not sexual slavery?

10% of the victims get more than 90% of the criminal cases against smugglers, while 90% of the victims get less then 10% of the justice syatems attention.

Someone want to do the math on that disparity? I have to go get my brother from the airport

81.

A sex slave is 81 times more likley to recive judical intervention then a regular slave. Ofcourse thats assuming that it ist the sex slaves themselves being prosecuted.

I was watching something on the documentery channel and a NY DA was being interviewed and said that by arresting and convicting "hookers"( I wonder what happened to sex slaves? Probably harder to vilify a slave right?) and jail them it makes it easier to "force them into counciling"

hmmm, luj, you make some great points, esp about how a coyote is certainly a trafficker, but do the people who give them thousands of $ to get into the US count as victims... I don't think they should. In regards to why all the sex prosecutions, versus the others, it's prolly the hangup with sex selling, and the fact that the vicitms are usually women and children. In any case it's astonishingly complicated to come up with numbers that are meaningful because it depends so heavily on how you slice it.

I dunno. what do the numbers need to be to make this a bad thing?

Put it this way. If a college girl pays her way by being a high class lay, we don't see much wrong with that... she made a choice. But if a girl from China is brought over, and either legally or illegally smuggled in... and then suddenly her job isn't doing nails, or working in a fishmarket but giving bj's all day, where is her choice? she doesn't speak the language, her papers are held by those that brought her, and there are many in her society, on both sides of the pacific that look at her as broken damaged goods, so they wouldn't help. This can go on for her for years. How many crimes can be perpatrated against one human being if their entire life is like that?

If you count that 1 girl as 1 sex slave in that case, what exactly are you counting? Can you count the minutes of her life?

Swiss I'm not disagreeing with you. My point is, if it is really about doing the right thing then why the fuck do they have to lie about the numbers?

What purpose does it serve but to whip up support, which all but fades to nothing when people start realizing the truth.

Look at the situation in Icleand, they outlawed strip clubs to prevent human trafficing - who the hell traffics thousands of people into an area as small as Iceland without one single arrest ever being made? How do you hide thousands of foriegners in a country with barely more than 300,000 people?

Lies like that lead people to think its not about helping these people, its about getting cash for their orginazations

"All those who are advocating legalizing prostitution fail to realize that it often isn't as consensual as you may think."

Legalizing prostitution would help reduce the proportion of trafficked prostitution, as above-ground businesses can be regulated and checked, everything is in the open, so to speak - whereas now the businesses are already driven underground where it's much harder to regulate them.

In any case though, the proportion of prostitutes that are 'unwilling slaves' is so miniscule that it seems silly to worry about this when going to some individual prostitute.

Not surprisingly, the website is very controversial:

http://debauchette.com/2008/06/dave-elms/

Allegations of:
-bribes to alter / inflate reviews
-extortion of prostitutes not to have their favorable reviews removed
-women being raped, extorted & blackmailed by the website's employees
etc.