In recent post I noticed that there was some dispute between a provider and hobbyists on how to label us.

Although we are aware of the fact that basically we are prostitutes, I personally dislike the word mainly because it's strong association with illegality.
Who wants to be referred as a criminal?
Some may say, "what do you care how others call you?" It matters. Constant reminder on how shameful or wrong you are will eventually have negative effect on you. Prostitution=illegal=crime= "an action that is considered to be evil, shameful, or wrong." It's like having an abusive parent. It sucks. And I know that just about everyone has a fucked up family.  

You don't call black people nigger anymore. Same goes here. Certain words are just politically incorrect, at least among our "escort" community. Please be nice to us, we are actually very sensitive about this.

my favorite medical test book was called Professor Loeb, which people would naturally want to pronounce LOBE.  His family, being originally German Jewish ND HAVING BEEN IN aMERICA SINCE THE 1850S (don;t get me started, that is a whole nother story) pronounced it Lerbe.  We all were careful to call him by the name her preferred as in Yes Sir Dr, LERBE.  I agree with you, names and words have meaning.  In talking about prostitutes, I quoted an economist in context who used that word. I prefer professional or companion or any number of other words.  I believe being an excellent provider takes psychological, social, and physical skills that are exceptional.  I agree the P word has become degrading and above all, that I have the right to be called a physician if that is important to me rather than a doc (I don't happen to care, but almost all my colleagues do) and you have a right to be called an escort or companion or whatever you think is appropriate.

....however, when you say 'we are actualy very  sensitive about this' you are not speaking for me. I am not sensitive about it in the least. I'm a very secure person and have zero hang-ups about what I do. Whether it is PC or not I really don't know as it is an actual apt description of what we are. You likened it to 'nigger' well that is not a 'real' word but a slang or evolved word from negro. (for the record I don't like the word)

To be in this biz you have to have a sense of self worth and know who you are inside and out. If a mere word upsets you......especialy a word that is technicaly correct. Sure it's nice to have the 'label' companion, escort, provider etc etc.... however, you can put all the pretty little bows you want on it, it still means prostitute. Of course there are different levels of the 'niceness' of our labels...It's important to not let the lesser of the nice lables bother you. It is only a word.

A Good Fuckin' Time!
Why does it matter what labels  they put on us  when we accept the consequences  of our occupation before our very first date.  Being called an escort  is not gonna keep you from being arrested yeah it does hurt but it is kinda accurate.

There are lots of different kinds of prostitutes out there, everyone is sellin something we just don't BS as much about it.

And you are a good fuckin Time LOL

I agree, words matter, and the P word conjures up all sorts of negative connotations. It is also synonymous with "to degrade oneself."

I know sometimes a providers work is difficult, but I would hope that they for the most part are treated with respect, and feel good about what they do. If I felt this was a degrading experience for them, I'd have no interest in it.

While it is a business relationship that a client and a provider enter into, that doesn't mean that it can't also be friendly and fun.

So, ladies, you pick the word. I'll be happy to use it.

what a high class skilled professional does from what a woman who is not very skilled and sells what amounts to a rushed climax.  Our language is poor that way, but how do you separate a really skilled high class Geisha for example from a voluntary (as opposed to a kidnapped--a different matter)comfort girl in Japanese military camps. Maybe it doesn't matter, but maybe it does and it certainly does to some of the women I know.

Words also can become degraded.  "Dame" used to refer to an upper class woman until Damen Runyon came along. I think prostitute is a word that has taken on a different and not complimentary connotation.

I agree, its crazy to allow what people who oppose the hobby call us.  Its a negative term and I do not accept the hobby as being negative

I like kinder terms for special people.  I associate a companion or provider with a higher level of emotional influence and lasting good memories then a prostitute.  I would equate the term "Nigger" to the term "Whore" where the intent is to degrade or hurt a person. I disapprove of either of those terms.

You *are* all that! '

and more!

Cheers Claire

Gregory / GTM

Nicer word is better than "the lesser of the nice labels".  Why would you settle for anything less when you can have the best? The less you care about how others perceive you the less people will care about who you are. According to Cooley's Looking Glass Theory, "we develop ourself through the judgments of others."  You grow your self esteem/ self worth through positive reinforcement/feedback from people around you. This is the case for me, at least.  I do care about how others call me because it defines who I am.  Maybe you are different from me.

I totally agree with Dr. Joe, words do have meanings.  They can be powerful.

I myself do not use the word for the ladies I have met, but yes, technically it is a fair word for it.  At least the money says that to me as it is leaving my wallet.  I never use the N-word other than academically, and prefer not to use this word to describe this level of service.  But all ladies should also be as mature about it as meowbaby. I am just going to have to find a reason to head south!

Hooker is so way down there that calling yourself a hooker is even comical. It shows that you have sense of humor.  
Still I don't know what it is about the P word that bothers me so much. Maybe because it is such a technical /legal word used in  newspapers or legal documents to describe us? Something that hateful wives of our clients would use?
Maybe I secretly am ashamed of what I do and the real truth (that I actually am a prostitute) hurt?

Here is my feedback:

A woman can have one man in her world who
she has sexual relations with several times
a day.She is considered his girlfriend.

If that relationship comes to an end and the
woman is out the sexual relations and she meets
someone who she can share part of what is missing
she is an aquaintance.

If she finds two more guys to provide what is
still yet missing, and has sex with three different men a week she is suddenly a prostitute, hooker, etc etc.

But when a man of wealth marrys a woman who's only
job is to stay at home, take care of all
household duties,have a meal on the table
at the end of his workday, provide sex for him
even if she may not be in the mood, she is called a wife.That is just a glorified name for prostitute, hooker, escort or provider.

Heaven forbid the two should wind up in divorce
she is sometimes paid a one lump sum settlement
or winds up with some kind of financial support.
Names are just that. No value to them but in the end its all the same with the acception that he was more of a sugardaddy AKA husband AKA ATF hobbyist and she his ATF provider.  

When you evaluate and define the meaning to both
there is only one difference yet many comparisons.She lived with him.Both Wife and Prostitute are both job titles.

So the next time someone walks up to you and says
hey how's life in the prostitute world? Tell them
you got a raise and were promoted to a wife if you
married and if not, tell them you hope to get promoted soon unless you have neither  just say life is good and smile    

 

People sometimes forget that this subject matter is one of dear sensitivity to us who venture down this route.

more than that.

If you're a provider you're much better off if you lose any and all hypersensitivities to the various terms labeling the craft. Doing so will infinitely empower rather than allow one to self-victimize.

 Synonyms, euphemisms, and popular “slang” are always evolving and changing. Why allow anyone to have any influence on you just for using a word (new or old) that describes your 100,000+ year old vocation.

You may call ME 'polyamorous' if you must; but WHORE-MONGER is much more accurate.

You can be offended all you like. It IS what YOU are, a prostitute. When arrested and charged you are charged with prostitution and the news refers to you as a prostitute. There is nothing PC or not PC about using the word prostitute. What you do as well as what us "johns" do IS ILLEGAL!

Also if a person is convicted of a crime, they ARE a criminal.

Escort, provider or whatever title you choose to use all mean prostitute. Deal with it, accept it and move on.

Well Said!!

You go to a doctor because he has specialized skills that benefit you. You pay him/her a fee.
Is he/she a prostitute?  No, he is a professional. He aquired his skills by dilegent effort and applies them for a fee.
You go to a lowyer and the same aplies. (No, I won't make the obvious joke,)
The mechanic who fixes your car, the plumber who installs you furnace, they apply thier skills for a fee. Are they prostitutes ?
A scientist who applys his knowledge to trivial or socially worthless applications to enrich himself and his employer, is he a prostitute?

A good companion (provider) has to aquire more than the ability to provide quick physical release to her client.  She must be empathic, charming (even when she feels like shit), and highly skilled at what she does.  How many of us have wives as skilled as these ladies?  They deserve our respect and the use of terms which have negative connotations shoud not be  part of our thinking or of our image of them.
They are true professionals in the positive sense of the word and our designation of them should reflect this.
himself and his em

Prostitute is a legal definition.  The N word is not. It's hardly accurate to compare the two.  For what it's worth I almost never use the word prostitute and it is for many, though not all, of the reasons that you mentioned in your post.  I do not however think it is wise to try and sugarcoat what we are doing-committing an illegal act-by choosing to simply ignore the legal definition of it as distasteful. Neither providers or hobbyists should ever become complacent enough as to pretend that what we are doing is without risk.

and yes I know that is what i am=please stop reminding me.

The fact that the transactions that we hobbyist engge in is reflection of the hypocracy of our society.  The  forces that prevent legalization come from the same institution that tollerated and abeted the sexual abuse of children, the torture and murder of those who departed from it's teachings and continue to practice sexual inequality.  The intollerance of sexual practices derives from the tenet that women are property.
This can be seen in it's extreme form in a large part of the world today.
I reject the false morality that bars men and women of the free exersize of thier sexuality.

to what we do... not what we are.  and with many, even that does not seem to fit.  more I gave her a present... and she did likewise.  that seems to fit much better.

Did you realize that when you were talking about lawyers, you said LOWyer? ROTFLMAO!

Hugs,
Ciara

I don't like storing too many items in my warehouse.

Hugs,
Ciara

I didn't get taken out to Denny's. And to think I gave you everything . . . moan, dramatic interlude and intermission.

Just kidding. I agree, hon.

Hugs,
Ciara

i think this terminoligy speaks for itself.

no need to get down in the dirt.

I would think its the additude behind the word that most find offensive.
The word "prostitution" in itself i don't find offensive at all but an exact description of what it is. Now when it becomes personalized and directed at someone, its typically used as an insult. Now thats what I have a problem with.
Whore prostitute escort companion street walker all mean something different to everyone. Personally I have never been a street walker, but the rest I guess would apply.
Just as we and most of the Gentlemen here prefer to be called a client or hobbyist as apposed to a John and so on. Still theres money exchanged for sex no matter if you are a client or a John or Hobbyist but prefer the additude behind it.
We all know its different from what the rest of the world thinks and its a waste of breath to try and explain it to them. Preset additudes won't allow them to see this for what it is or us who partisipate for the people we are. Its easier to hate something if it looks dirty nasty and against all morals.
I see what I do the way I do and don't expect anyone to see it my way, in order to do so, they'd need to make an appt with me and see for themselves I am just myself, no labeling required.
Just learn how to roll your eyes and move on. Narrowminded people are everywhere. If you allow them to make you feel a certain way by labeling ...well you have allowed it. Just
move on is all...

but never any of the perjorative words or phrases bandied about by hypocritical society.

Everything she does is Magic

If I ever get back to Pheonix.....Can I store 1 item in your warehouse?......

WOW...3 years ago and you remember no Denny's.....Where does that put me with the Ladies I'm seeing now...LOL..

So you meet a woman, and you ask her her name. She says, "You can call me Beth." But, you say, "Is that the name you were born with?" She says, "No, the name on my birth certificate says Elisabeth, but my family and those who know me call me Beth. That's the name I prefer, and I don't like the name Elisabeth." And you say, "Well, since that's the name on your birth certificate, hence your legal name, I'm going to call you Elisabeth. 'Deal with it, accept it and move on.'"

Hmmm!

My business license is for "Professional Services, Other."  I run a somatic and energy healing practice specializing in whole-being integration and relaxation therapies. I am also sex educator and pleasure activist.

I hang up and cease communications with ANYone who suggests that my work is of an illegal nature. If someone were to call me a prostitute to my face, I'd likely have a knee jerk reaction to slap them silly.

Really, all those on this thread saying that you are criminals... I'm shocked!  (And dismayed that anyone would make such claims on a public forum.)

.02

I hope you note the other responses dealing with the power that words have.  I have so many names and titles that you can call me just about anything you like and I'll likely answer, as long as it is friendly.  

Only my best friends can call me a whore.  It's ok because I know that they mean it in the best and most ancient of ways.  NO ONE calls me a prostitute.

Personally, I like "Practitioner" or "Sensual Artist."

I use that one on my website as well... it's lovely, isn't it?

Lovely

You are an escort when you escort a man into your room but once you start fucking him for money you become a prostitute, whore, etc.  You don't like it then go back to school and get a legit job.

Oh Baby...It's very freah...

ditto

but you doesn't hasta call me JOHNSON!

I think me, Mr Fisher, Doc and a few other will remember this...

even if we wished we could forget it.

For all you youngsters... here's a link... as as painful as it might be...

A meter maid, I've never been.

I almost never read long threads, and I never leave long posts, but I read this one end to end and I'm going to fracture my rule.

It's so interesting that threads about bodily functions elicit so many yawns, but start a thread about word meanings and the posts will stretch to the moon.

Why is that?

Certainly, words can hurt; and we all know which ones do that, but why do they?  I don't have a definative answer, but maybe some word history will help reveal something.

Grab a beer, this may take a while.

I am Jewish, as are my parents, but my grandparents weren't Jews.  They were Hebrews.
Why?  Well, it seems that in the mid to late 19th century, people who didn't like my grandparents' ethnicity found some delight in calling them yids.  Now yid is just short for Yiddish, which means Jewish, which is what we were fine being called for around 4,000 years (Before that is was Hebrews, don't ask.)  But yid sounded too much like Jew, and since yid was meant to hurt, Jews had to become Hebrews.  Thus we have Hebrew National hotdogs, Not Jewish National hotdogs.  Finally someone said WTF one day and we all became Jewish again.  Funny, I never felt a thing.

Again, back in the 19th century, there were people who didn't seem to function as well as others mentally.  They were called by a whole variety of names, some not too bad; such as children blessed by God. (Reference Todd Brownings film:  Freaks.)  But scientists had to have something more scientific, so they created the following scientific names:  imbeciles, morons and idiots; all depending on where the functionality fell on a somewhat arbitrary scale.  What good it did anyone is anybody's guess, but the intentions were deemed as good.  As we all know now, these words became rather, let's say, perjorative.

In the mid-20th century, scientists became embarrassed to use these words (Note:  My jr. high health and science text still used the terms!)  (Gives you an idea of what a crappy school system that was, but I digress.)  So a  new non-perjorative term had to be found.  Well, the problem of these folks seemed to be mental, and the exact problem was that they were somewhat behind, or retarded so, voila: the  Mentally Retarded were born.  (I wonder if they felt anything?)  Today:  Special needs seems to be doing the trick, but I bet not for long.  (Dana Carvey:  "Isn't that special!)

Check out this chain:  black, negro, colored, black, Afro-American, black, African-American.

Now, prostitute has never been a very good word.  I don't like it because its actual meaning is to degrade something of value (Or the one doing the degrading.)  Thus, a lawyer who undermines the ethics of his profession for some monetary or other improper gain is said to prostitute himself, same for doctors, engineers, politicans, etc.

But a person who brings joy to men and some degree of financial security to herself by sharing in an art older than mankind is considered a prostitute, why?

Language is a mysterious force.  (Laurie Anderson said that language is a virus, I belive it!)

Sorry for the big carbon footprint, but I really love this subject.

Let's keep it going.

LOL!! MIsssong
well I prefer

Horny  woman! lol

I'm much too modest to be comfortable with the term "Goddess."  Though, my dear, you can certainly call me that if you'd like to see me blush...

the old adage of "Pro vs. Con"... which goes something like this:

If "Pro" is the opposite of "Con", then "Congress" must be the opposite of "Progress"

AND.......

the word in question does begin with "Pro", so it must be good...

or at least a lot better than Constitute, which also happens to be a word  (link provided for anyone who is really this bored)

They can't take the competition for screwing people.

Contrary to your belief, some girls are not only beautiful but also smart enough to figure out how to put herself through school without sitting on a $200,000 + debt.  

It's like as if you read my mind.

I think prostitute is kind of like cancer, people say it in a whisper..

I like whore better, it at least has a dirty fun connotation, I even have a t-shirt/panty set that says "kiss me fuck me lick me suck me like the whore that I am & then get the fuck out!" -Agent Provocateur.

A smart woman knows to be a lady in the dining room & a whore in the bedroom....keeps your man coming home at night!

BB

Yes by definition if they sell their ability, talents, or name in a base and unworthy purpose. It comes down to ones interpretation of base and unworthy purpose.  Of all your examples only the scientist as you described them to be (applies his knowledge to trivial or socially worthless applications to enrich himself) are prostitutes. Yes all those scientists prostituting themselves by getting paid for by working on socially worthless string theory???

Regardless of Providers talent, unless the intent is purely therapeutic and done under the supervision of third party health professional a women who accepts payment for given sexual gratification to a client by definition is a prostitute.  I find nothing wrong with that but out of consideration of some ladies sensitivity I will refer to them as Ladies, Providers and Practitioners. What matters is what something is, not what it is called.

Miss Blake, I'm officially a huge fan!
J

Proud to be a HO!!!!! Proud to enjoy all the money. Especially in this economy. You can call me anything you want just call me when you are horny.

The pasta of the prostitute. Somehow this just fits.

First off, I don't really care about any of the "PC" or non-"PC" stuff about what words/labels people call each other.

You say that a plumber/doctor/lawyer/mechanic are not prostitutes because they learned a skill and get paid for their services. A provider should not be called a prostitute for the same reason. That logic is not good. A plumber/doctor/lawyer/mechanic are still called such things whether they are good or bad at what they do. You are saying a provider is "better" than a prostitute at what she does.

According to you a woman in this profession is called a prostitute if she is not as refined or as good as a provider. The profession is prostitution, thus the person is a prostitute. Just like the profession is plumbing thus the person is a plumber. Doesn't matter if the plumber is any good at it, they are still called a plumber. A bad plumber won't last long in the business just like a bad prostitute won't last long either.

If a particular woman tells me she doesn't want to be called certain things, like prostitute or hooker, then I will not do so as I am a polite guy and it's no skin off my nose. But make no mistake about it, if you are in the profession of prostitution, you are a prostitute. Nothing wrong with the profession or the designation.

b-

Call me whatever you wanna call me...just dont call me late, dont nsnc, DON'T CALL ME STUPID, and dont call the COPS.

As long as I am getting paid for what I do...I seriously don't care.


Allure`.............refused to use an alias!!

If someone finds a term offensive -- or I know it to be offensive per our society -- I will not call them something offensive. If a lady chooses to call herself a whore or prostitute, then it's her choice. However, as Mr. Fisher states,  society deems such words as low-class and illegal, so I choose not to be called a whore or prostitute. I realize some ladies in this business call each other whores endearingly (and honestly I don't usually do that), but that is said in jest. You know the saying, "African-Americans can call each other nigger but white people cannot call them niggers."  It is not the word per say, it is the meaning.

I'd rather be called a provider, a seductress, a Courtesan (my favorite because I'm also an artist), a sexual healer, whatever. Just don't call me late for dinner.

Hugs,
Ciara

Good one!!!!!

and you did leave it!  Like I would wear it to a formal dinner or biz meeting! hee hee... but then you took it back....  BUT YOU did look lovely in it, and as I say, I did not.  (My legs are too hairy!)

Thanks for your candor. This PC climate we live in makes me almost puke. You can be civil and honest. Your post proves that. This is P4P, not fucking Romper Room. You are selling whatever by the hour, not the pound. We don't own you and you don't owe us after said hour is complete. There is a contract of sorts and so long as each party lives up to that, who cares.

when I wrote the review of our time together a few years back.  You are first class all the way and for all the right reasons.

Allure, I could never have said it better. You hit it right on the head!

Each word has a different implication and meaning
Although they all apply to a person who performs sex for money.

Escort
Courtisan
hooker
call girl
prostitute.
whore
street walker