
Prostitution and the internet - dbcooper
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21611074-how-new-technology-shaking-up-oldest-business-more-bang-your-buck
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bjackman
This led me to do loads of Googling and stuff. I ended up spending ages
reading this forum
[http://www.saafe.info/main/index.php](http://www.saafe.info/main/index.php).
Really interesting to get a totally genuine insider's perspective. Seems to me
that most of these girls are at the higher "escort" end of the spectrum though
as they are mostly charging more than the prices I found on AdultWork (which
is kind of like Just Eat but for prostitution. Browse at your peril:
[http://www.adultwork.com/](http://www.adultwork.com/)). Fascinating.

~~~
bluepenguin
There's lots of online resources to find sex workers. What website you use, is
probably determined by what country you're in. I've never heard of
adultwork.com. There are even review sites where users can review - often in
unnecessary & very creepy detail - their misadventures.

Twitter is also a very useful resource for sex workers and clients. It's a
useful way for a worker to promote themselves and for potential clients to get
a feel of the person before making a booking.

Even in a country where sex work is legal, I feel there is still quite a bit
of opportunity to create a better online resource. Especially one that caters
to the sex workers more. I feel a lot of websites are too client-centric and
not as useful as they could be for client or worker.

~~~
peteretep

        > There are even review sites where users can review -
        > often in unnecessary & very creepy detail - their 
        > misadventures
    

Do you find detailed reviews of stereos to be creepy? How about a detailed
review of a guitar teacher's services? Why is the detail for sex work creepy?

~~~
bluepenguin
A lot of men go into unnecessary graphic details most of which are not really
useful and unnecessarily objectify the women they review. It would be like
reviewing a guitar tutor by describing how they placed their fingers on the
fret board or how they turned the pages of their song book.

~~~
EpicEng

      "unnecessarily objectify the women they review"
    

I'm not commenting on whether or not the reviews are "creepy", but c'mon;
these women objectify themselves for a living. Once you go down the road of
selling your body I think you lose the right to complain about
objectification. They are literally selling themselves as an object.

~~~
dllthomas
Well no, they are literally selling a service. If they were selling themselves
as an object, the purchaser would actually own them.

~~~
EpicEng
Well, yes, they are selling their body for a short period of time, and the
type of "service" they are selling is not irrelevant. If you want to play
semantics then fine; they're _renting_ their body. It all amounts to the same
thing and doesn't change my point. They are objectifying themselves, so I
think we can cut the PC nonsense.

~~~
dllthomas
I don't disagree with the notion that they're objectifying themselves. I do
still think your phrasing was inaccurate. Nothing political about it - it was
plain incorrect.

------
ivanca
Slightly related: the adult business is being rejected by Google play and the
app store. I think some big co should sell a modified android phone (like
telcos do) with a preinstalled adult app store. Plus it could work for other
adult materials such as strong-language comedies and such.

~~~
incision
_> 'I think some big co should sell a modified android phone (like telcos do)
with a preinstalled adult app store.'_

I expect that selling a porn phone would be like selling vibrators. If you
really want to move the later you need to call it a neck massager.

I think plausible deniability / actual versatility is key in selling anything
for which a big unstated selling point is enabling 'sex'.

Porn undoubtedly helped speed the adoption of VCRs and later Internet
connected PCs, but they were sold as a way to watch Bambi with the family or
for the kids to do homework.

~~~
A_COMPUTER
I'd call it the phone for grownups, who don't need a nanny appstore or company
deciding for them what they can or can't install.

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kilroy123
I'm just imagining what an app/website would be like, _if_ prostitution was
legal.

You would probably select hair color, bust, age, ethnicity, body type, and see
recent test results for STI tests. Then you'd probably get an estimates time
when they'd arrive to your place.

It would be extremely interesting to see anonymous user data from such a
service.

~~~
true_religion
Isn't prostitution legal in Germany? I wonder why it isn't happening there.

That said, I think the market for GFE and escorts is the future since legal
prostitution means a general depression in prices so its no longer worth it to
engage in what's actually a pretty physical activity.

~~~
woah
From the article:

> FOR those seeking commercial sex in Berlin, Peppr, a new app, makes life
> easy. Type in a location and up pops a list of the nearest prostitutes,
> along with pictures, prices and physical particulars. Results can be
> filtered, and users can arrange a session for a €5-10 ($6.50-13) booking
> fee. It plans to expand to more cities.

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unclesaamm
There's a dark half of this market that wasn't mentioned in the article-- as
prostitution moves online, so does human trafficking. Here's a report on the
topic:
[http://technologyandtrafficking.usc.edu/report/](http://technologyandtrafficking.usc.edu/report/)

~~~
bluepenguin
Which is why prostitution needs to be legalised and regulated and people need
to stop stigmatising it. It becomes much less of a problem when the people
involved know they have rights and can safely go to the authorities if they
need help.

~~~
blumkvist
Prostitution is legal and regulated in The Netherlands. That doesn't seem to
help with human trafficking. In fact, it's the top destination for human
trafficking according to the UN ODC and it keeps rising. I am not sure, but
have a strong feeling that's the case in the other countries where
prostitution is legal and/or regulated.

Do you care to back up your claim with some evidence or at least shed some
light how you came up with it in the first place?

~~~
mtrimpe
(Some) people in the Netherlands have also been pushing hard to get
prostitution marginalized again, largely under the banner of human
trafficking.

Do you know for example that most human trafficking number includes every
prostitute that has paid someone for assistance with moving to the
Netherlands? Like finding a house, opening a bank account and things like
that?

Human trafficking is to prostitution what child porn is to online privacy.

~~~
makomk
At least some of the UN's figures on human trafficking are based on the amount
of news reports about it - which, given all the activist groups with good
press contacts using it to argue that prostitution should be banned, is not a
terribly accurate measure.

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tempaccount007
Maybe we showcase our sideproject one day on hackernews. Created on a weekend
last year... Created with Django

international sex database isexdb.com

[http://www.isexdb.com/](http://www.isexdb.com/)

[Sorry, throw away account, as you may imagine...]

------
vivianward
Women are not commodities and the only disruption we should think of in
relation to prostitution is how to abolish it. I think anyone who benefits
from prostitution should be regarded as a pimp, and that includes programmers
who write code to make prostitution "available anytime, anywhere."

If you are serious about gender equality and about human rights, please stop
for a minute and educate yourselves in relation to the following questions: *
Can a teenager truly and freely choose prostitution? Does she have an
alternative? Should we allow people to become slaves if they choose to? Should
we allow the selling of human organs in the free market? * What are the
mortality rates and health risks facing women and men in prostitution? Is it
like any other occupation? Does it bear any similarity to a guitar teacher? *
Cui bono? Who benefits from prostitution? * Are there any happy stories of
people in prostitution? When they share their experiences, what do they tell?
How does it feel like to be penetrated 12, 15, 20 times a day?

Here are some links to abolitionists sites:
[http://prostitutionresearch.com/](http://prostitutionresearch.com/)
[http://www.veronicasvoice.org/](http://www.veronicasvoice.org/)
[http://abolishprostitutionnow.wordpress.com/](http://abolishprostitutionnow.wordpress.com/)
[http://www.antipornography.org/ex-porn-star-Vanessa-
Belmond....](http://www.antipornography.org/ex-porn-star-Vanessa-Belmond.html)
[http://www.enddemandillinois.org/](http://www.enddemandillinois.org/)

~~~
radmuzom
What an idiotic comment. I am so serious about gender rights that I have
talked to an actual prostitute and treated with her as much respect as I would
do to a mother, sister or friend. Especially in my country where the average
people are so regressive that if they hear that a girl has kissed before
marriage, they look down upon that girl. However, like a lot of professions, I
think the best way to tackle prostitution is to legalize and regulate it. It's
only in poor places where it is illegal that human trafficking is rampant,
whereas it is very easy for some humans to take advantage of the situation.
And yes, there are people who are in prostitution by choice. As long as it is
regulated by the government (sorry American libertarians, the government
actually has a lot of use in countries like mine, irrespective of what you
like to think) with proper medical check-ups, strict laws against abuse, it is
a very important part of civilization which should never be allowed to become
"extinct". In fact, I would argue that prostitution is what keeps a natural
lid on male aggression and violence and helps society in more ways than people
give it credit for.

~~~
vivianward
There is no need to argue about the issue of legalizing prostitution since it
has been tested and failed to produce better conditions for the people in
prostitution. Just look for reports on the results of legalization in Germany
for example, where the legalization increased demand, expanded the "market,"
and increased human trafficking.

Regarding your conviction that it "keeps a natural lid on male aggression and
violence." I would argue that it is completely false and degrade men, but if
you insist I would urge you to volunteer to the joy division and keep the lid
on male aggression and violence yourself before volunteering other people to
do the nasty job.

~~~
shunya
Interesting about Germany and the increase in human trafficking. When they
chose to legalize, I thought may be this is a good thing.

