cop to it first.  Sometimes I will bait them into talking about P4P, and the next thing I know, they are fessing up that they do it.  So technically, the answer is "NO, I do not discuss it with non-hobby friends," but if they admit they are hobbyists, too, then I will discuss it with them.

I talk about it with some married friends. They are mostly unhappy in their relationships.  
I'm happily 2 times divorced and my friends are really jealous of my freedom.

unless you like to dig your grave with your tongue.

I only discuss this to the guys I know I have enough dirt on.

....it would be a huge mistake.

Absolutely not! This is my secret world. While some might understand, most wouldn't. About 20 years ago, I ran into one of my best friends at a strip club, twice. One would think that we could go strip clubbing together sometime, but in the last 20 years neither one of us has mentioned it. The topic is taboo.  

Another time I was eating dinner at a restaurant with some friends of mine when in walked a drop dead gorgeous lady, and sat at a table near us with some of her friends. We were almost speechless. A few years later that lady became one of my all time favorite escorts. Small world. Those ladies at the restaurant come up in our conversations all the time. I would love to tell my friends that I've done every thing on my sex bucket list with the prettiest one many times over. I doubt they'd believe me. Nevertheless, it's one of my strictest rules, and I'll never tell. However, when the topic of the restaurant ladies comes up, I do get a huge smile on my face.  

don't discuss it with others, even if you're married or single, remember the rules of this hobby, BE DISCRETE!!!

Absolutely not. Part of my life that is Strictly, a personal part of my life without exception.

...not because I must but because I choose to limit possible exposure and unintended consequences.

I've been divorced for years, the kids are grown and in disparate parts of the country, haven't had a civvie relationship for years -- so why do I feel the need to keep my activities under wraps?

Part of it is the straight-laced family members I live with (yes, a 63 y/o man taking caring of his elderly Mom and Sis is 2.5 miles away). They're both "good Christians" and would both have heart attacks if they knew of my extracurricular activities. To say they aren't very understanding folks is quite the understatement -- part of the reason(s) my last civvie relationship ended was because my S.O. was Jewish and they told me a week after introducing her to them that they were "concerned for my immortal soul" because I wasn't dating a Christian. Imagine their response to know I've been visiting paid social companions for 25 years!

I also live in a small rural town and everybody knows me and what I do for a living -- can't walk around downtown visiting accounts without 2 or 3 people saying hi, asking how Mom is doing, etc. Again, my sales position would take a significant hit in this conservative area should my fun side become common knowledge. Thus my travels to larger towns/cities 2-4+ hours away to play -- more camouflage in a larger pool of people and a larger selection of lovelies.

So no, even though I'm tempted to tell stories "out of school" when buddies/co-workers/family members express concern that I'm not seeing anyone, I just smile and keep those stories inside -- where the heat keeps me nice and warm, with a Cheshire cat smile on my face.

It's impossible to unring a bell -- once that info is out there, it will travel and take on a life of its own. I've seen terrible things happen to people I've known because of small-minded people (especially their own families).

Is that you have someone to tell all your hobbying woes to.  I have mostly male friends who all have experience with this and they come to me for advice or to tell me about their experiences.

However, from time to time I'll talk to a escort friend.

No way unless I give up on civilian Gals.

I've always been private with my private life.  
When I was young I had more temporary GF's than I could count but as far as guys knew I had no GF.  
Even among my closest  school mates  I would never kiss the Gal and tell.  

 Most  often my temporary GF was another guy' s full time  GF, except when she was with me .    

   I see no point in telling anyone I've visited Hookers and loved them unless I decide to quit seeing civilian Gals.    
 
 An extremely large percentage of  civilian Gals believe  anyone that visits Hookers is low life and desperate.  
  Desperate guys are on the bottom of almost every woman's list.
   
   
 I told one guy, a booker for a few independent's, about a Gal who worked for a different agency doing OTC after hours with me, when she came to town.  He was the only person I told.     He snitched to the agency owner.  

Guys snitch more than women, no sense telling guys anything I want to stay confidential.
The guy you trust is likely to drop a dime on you if he sees an advantage to snitching.

  When I am too old to deal with civilian women challenges I will tell some friends.
   If I live that long.
  Until that day comes......  
   Silence.

However, I do exercise some discretion.  For instance, the sex-negative feminazis at my workplace will never hear about it, but they're in the minority.  You'd be surprised at how many of my female co-workers think that what I'm doing is cool, and love to hear my stories about it.  I've also chewed the ears off my local representatives about the topic of decriminalization.  I understand that married mongers can't be as open as me, but I sure wish more of the single mongers would jump on the wagon and start getting this "normalized" like the potheads and the gays have.

I have and ....

she then became a provider herself. Shes more UTR ...but very shocking to me since she also was very private in personal life and the fact that she is with someone.  

I went and told a stranger that was sitting next to me on a flight once.....I just feel the need sometimes to not feel like im hiding my double life. I love my double life and I find it so ....addicting in a way. I just HAD to tell someone because I really needed someone to vent too....and this person was also a woman..she gave me hug and said to just be smart with my earnings and she will keep me in her prayers ...all while showing me she was a mayors wife. When she let me know that she respected my decision and completely didn't see anything wrong with this way of life...I felt very good inside.

I love being Luna & Luna loves being me.

I'm single, so I really don't care too much about discretion. Just as long as family/work doesn't find out. I'd rather not tell all my friends, but a few know.  

One of my friends confessed to me about how him and his ex were swingers and told me not to tell anyone. As a display of trust, I told him that I see escorts occasionally. No real reaction from him

Another one of my friends, I told. He seems very interested. I'll text him about an experience, and he'll ask to see her website and ask me how it was. He works for TSA, so he said that he'll probably never see an escort,  but I know he's interested. He's got the hots for my ATF and asked me for my recommendations for who to see when he comes to DC. I've told him about TER and I think he's been on the site.

Another one of my friends, he kind of got me into this world. He'll occasionally see a craigslist/backpage girl. We've talked about it, hell when he was drunk, he wanted to split an escort. I said no.

Lastly, couple years ago while watching football, me seeing an escort became a topic of conversation. One of my other friends said when he was in North Carolina, he talked a backpage escort down to half her going rate. On the outside, I was laughing, internally I was thinking "damn, you've just made it harder for black people to see escorts"

..... with a group of guys. A few of them asked me for referrals to some of the ladies I play with.  
Now I'm not sure that I want to share.  
Hhhmmm, I need to take a look at that and see where that is coming from.  
Maybe, I don't trust a couple of them to not be arseholes.

Nothing good can come from doing so, and a whole lot of bad can happen. I enjoy attending M&G's so that I can talk about the favorite part of my life.

The closest I've ever come to discussing the hobby with a civie, I was at a stripclub with a group of colleagues and one of them is the most miserable man I know. His wife is a cunt, according to him she hasn't laid him in years,  he has 5 kids, and he's convinced that he cannot afford to get divorced, poor bastard. Anyway, someone in the group mentioned that maybe one of the strippers would take care of him for a fee. He said "I'd never pay for sex", I almost spit my Bourbon out of my mouth when I heard him say that. My reply was "dude, you pay for sex every day of your life, and you're not getting any". A short time later one of the other guys said "oh, I've ordered a prostitute off of BP, it's great". I flagged down the waitress and acted as if I did hear or understand him".  

Discussing our life with a civie is a lose, lose proposition, especially with colleagues or customers, you can not recover lost professional reputation. I don't really give a fuck about personal reputation, but I staunchly protect my professional reputation.

I made this mistake once years ago with a best friend who inquired, and I let him know in the affirmative.  He later reverted to form, and told me I would be much better off following his lead with My Time.  Maybe, but it's not yet My Time.  Even though this friend dates back to childhood, the attitude of disapproval was evident, as it always is with folks outside the Hobby.   Doesn't matter that we've been and are friends for now forty years, taken vacations together, shared civvie girlfriends,  did other things I can't mention here with 420 and whatever else; with civvies, you are supposed to play the game despite the fact that the failure rate is in excess of 95%.  Hobbying is cheating, which is absurd...for me, that eventually became intolerable.    

Since then, the hobby is like Vegas.   Always have a cover story for civvie friends and family, and take your secrets to the grave except with fellow travelers.   What happens in the hobby, stays within the hobby.  Leaks are the epitome of uncool.

and that was after he told me about his recent visit to an AMP, and street walkers back in the day. Never got into any details at all though, just told him that I had some experience too. He started by telling me an AMP rip-off story- kind of needed someone to open up with and vent.

As a provider whose family and friends know this thread is sooooo interesting!!! Here's to my successful divorce and amazing friends!

I have never talked about the hobby with non-hobbying female friends. I have talked about it with five of my male friends. Turns out that two of them were also hobbyists. Of the other three, their reaction was moderate curiosity. I answered all their questions, and in one case strongly recommended that the guy give it a try. All three had the mindset that they would never pay for it, though the divorced one understood that he ended up paying his ex plenty for the sex that they had.