We read, hear, and watch a lot of bullshit in the media about guys and/or traffickers who lure girls into the escort profession. Maybe it's true…and maybe it's fiction. But I gained a little insight this afternoon that might really turn the mainstream on its ear—if only somebody from the mainstream actually read this blog.
Whatever…I was on the phone with an old client today —one who I've known forever—when somehow the conversation turned to that old rites of passage thing (the usual sexual abuse mythology which is generally true), and then to how she got lured into the profession in the first place. And you might find the seminal recruitment tool sublimely enlightening.
No, it wasn't a big, bad pimp driving a $100,000 Benz, or a foreign broker who "turned her out." It was The Lifetime Channel that did the job! Yup! The girl was just 14 years old when one night she watched The Mayflower Madam (the story of Mary Biddle Barrows) on the network and just knew "Hey! I could do that!"
Of course, enroute to her destiny, the girl enrolled in UCLA on scholarship…but dropped out within weeks to pursue her particular dream—one of making the big bucks in the escort game. And sure enough at age 18, she was living in her own apartment, shopping till she dropped, and earning 900 bucks a day to pay the way!
This I find fascinating. While law enforcement pursues any number of facilitators and traffickers whom they think are the culprits, a freakin' cable channel just might be doing more to glamorize the escort world than all the people they're spending all that money to track!
And what about Pretty Woman the movie? How many girls decided to give it a go based on that fucking fairy tale? I mean…come on! Who wouldn't want to find a handsome trillionaire to marry? Ya think maybe a few girls entered the rank and file based on that horse shit?
I'm not trying to preach here or start no revolution. It's not my style. But really…when you think about it…isn't all the media coverage/glorification of the trade as culpable as any other entity? What a powerful recruitment tool! Pimps do it one girl at a time. But Lifetime? Thousands and thousands! And Hollywood? OMG! And don't tell me networks and movie companies don't profit! How much do you think Gary Marshall earned on Pretty Woman?
Of course, the constitution protects people like Gary…and The Lifetime Channel (and me for that matter). But I've always been conscientious on that front. If you've never been an escort, I will not run your ads. Call me crazy but I'm not about to bring any rookies into this industry. But that's me! As for Lifetime and Gary? They'll take the money and run. They have mansions and expensive cars and what not. I have a bike. I can afford to turn a new jack down. Let them do the recruiting. I'll deal with the already-damaged. Case closed. And that's my two cents for the day. I'm out!
For more extraneous, irrelevant and useless observations on the pay for play biz, click here.