I started in the hobby because of the internet. I never trusted the ads placed in print and the internet review sites allowed me to get started with less fear of LE or ROB's. Yup, I completely blame the internet for my major vice/hobby.

My question is:

Is the internet responsible for the huge influx of young (18-22) independent providers that are incredibly active on CL, at least in OC and LA? My take is that the internet has exposed teens to sex in ways never before possible. They must be desensitized to some degree or at least more familiar with sex than any previous generation. It seems to me that these girls are just more comfortable as sex workers.

My observation is regarding independent young girls that do not have managers. Any other ideas?

Most teenagers are sexually active so that is really not an issue.  Most sexually active girls in CA have had multiple partners by the time they graduate so let's take the taboo of sex off the table for this exercise.

If we look at the numbers, it really makes sense.

California Minimum wage is $7.50 an hour and forty hours makes that $300 a week minus taxes at 25% and you get $225.

Ad on CL = free, motel room, $100 per day on discount website, figure three days per week, $300 and condoms, candles, lube, misc. $100.  So that is a $400 weekly investment.

2 guys per day at $200/hour over three days = $1200.  $1200 minus our expenses of $400 and we have $800 probably unreported tax free dollars for 6 hours of entertaining and a few hours answering emails and phone messages.

If you put the ethics aside, not bad money.  Almost 4 times the money of a minimum wager working 40 hours.  

Ladies I realize a legitimate reviewed lady puts a lot more into than this.  This is just for illustration purposes on why so many young ladies may see this as an attractive option in relation to minimum wage jobs.

it amazes me too ... I love the 18-22 y.o. category, but it is surprising that a girl that just turned legal can be so casual about entering the biz ...

It's possible that before they take that step to becoming a provider, some might work as a stripper/dancer first.  Once they get tired of tipping the DJs, bouncers and bartenders, they figure to take the leap to provider and not have to tip everyone.

but it's the taboo part that fascinates me. These young girls have little trouble seeing guys twice their age for an intimate session.

Damn. Maybe it's their youth that allows them to ignore the possible ramifications.

I don't think it's just the youth it's the culture we live in today. You don't really think that all those women on the rap vids or on those shows on VH1 with Flavor Flav were real do you? It's no different than a young woman going after someone rich or famous. They want the $ and they are willing to use their bodies to get it because that is what society has shown them that is useful. Those real young girls do not see the ramifications, they see the glitter of what that $ can buy them. I doubt that those 18-22 year olds are doing much more than paying rent and a car payment with their money. If any of them are saving it for a rainy day or retirement I would be very surprised. I think once you get a little older 25 and up you start to realize that investing is something that is a necessity not something to blow off.

and in a society where divorce is the norm, rather than the exception, there are more and more girls growing up with Daddy issues...and more and more boys with Mommy issues seeking female attention and acceptance wherever they can find it.

This to me is the crux of the issue.  The internet has made it easier to get these two groups together, but I don't necessarily believe the internet created these groups.

Has the internet brought sex into our homes like never before, absolutely, but so has television and movie rentals.  

But exposure to sex has not created the mindset that yearns for acceptance from any other person willing to give it, even an hour at a time.



I know this may ruffle feathers, but I am truly trying to answer the question.  If you must flame me...I have PM and I am willing to listen to what you have to say.

with sex than any previous generation.  As a coming of age child of the 60's, I can attest that there were multitudes of 18-22 year old women engaging in sex during these times. Much of it may have been 'free' as in 'free love' but make no mistake people were screwing early and often.  Some of the reasons are the same as they are today and some of the reasons are quiet different.  

There is a very common theme that crosses each generation in terms of sexual activity. Quite often it is as simple as curiosity, doing it because their peers are doing it, and/or rebelling against authority.    

While the internet and today's media provides a glut of exposure to sex and much more so than this existed in the 60's, it's the internet's power of shrinking the world while simultaneoulsy provding vast commerce opportunites that likely drives more men and women into the hobby.  The sex would happen anyway but who they do it with, when and where they do it and what they can get from it has now changed.        

So I'll agree with your premise that there are likely more 18-22 year old women providing today then in the past.  However I will not agree that there are more 18-22 year old sexually active women today then in any other past generation.

about sexual activity.....but why are more young girls SELLING their bodies? Screwing every young college stud that comes their way is one thing but the number of young sex workers (in this country) has surely risen dramatically.

Informed ny Porn or Porn stars. We organically explored our sexuality w/o some simulacra of sex..Porn Stars are glamorized and the commodification of women is well accepted...why not rent it when the media makes it look glamourous...the truth is an 18-22 y/o has no idea of the choice she is making or how that may impact her life and freedom to choose in the future.

Hi Lissa

Pretty sad commentary. Our culture teaches young guys to sell drugs and young girls to sell their bodies. Hope not all of that is true.

Absolutely true. I wonder how the damage will manifest itself as these girls get older.

is stuck.  We will not do as well as or better than our parents.  We are the first generation to have this happen.  We are desensitized, jaded, and realize we will not have social security to count on; even though we pay into it.
The generations under us have been exposed to sex, murder, rape, etc. as if it they were nothing.  Sex for money?  What are the consequences when immediate gratification promises "wealth" as seen on MTV?

When I went to school the total cost for 1 year was  14K. WHen I started it was 9K. Today just tuition alone can cost around 50K/year at some schools.

Many excellent points raised by the various posters above.

I'm of the mind that the 18-22 year olds in commercial sex is no more prominent than it was back in the days of Ike.  Things like Craigs List, Backpages, etc... simply allow young women at the "entry level" of the sex worker industy to mange their own "career," be it something very short-term to need a financial emergency or the start of a career which might extend for several decades.

One thing i'm sure of - no one here has got any serious moral objections to this, but there's a more practical consideration.  Internet posting by the fledging provider allows her to avoid the otherwise necessary if not unavoidable evils of running away to a large city and working under the protection of a pimp.  Or apprenticing herself to an older provider who shows her the ropes.

I'm not losing sleep over this either way.  I'd rather have these women posting on CL, which affords them some measure o control and safety, than being pimped out.  I'll ponder the broader questions another time.

both parents working and TV et al being primary caregivers at MUCH earlier ages AND higher income levels than most of us would believe!

add to that, 1/2 the population amongst the "blow jobs are not sex" home schooling

lastly, the "well, they are going to learn it sooner or later" attitude is allowing kids to be exposed to adult themes far earlier then before.

this is without question.

BK

They are selling it because people are buying...

Would all of these young girls be walking the streets without the internet?

I think not.

If that were so, a lot of pimps would have missed out on a HUGE block of business.

before the internet, all I can say is that I managed to find the college co-ed, the older "retired stripper" the hot latino, whatever.  In short, the same mix.... maybe not as easy as with the internet, but they were there to be found.  Earlier... Well, I found willing partners  - cause I too was young and attractive enough.

I wish I could isolate what it is that makes it so "in your face" but I cannot.  And because I cannot, that leads me to believe that it is a combination of environmental factors.... but one thing stands out as I watch my 13-yr old son...

that is, young girls of today 13-18 in some cases have no one watching over them.  My son is frequently called by gals inviting him over to their houses, when no adult is around... or to unchaperoned events... where serious petting takes place... (this for the 12 and 13 yr. old age group!).  

My question, and it is something that my ex and I are really struggling with, is where are these gals parents?  where?  We are not talking isolated kids, nor are we talking run down neighborhoods, but rather middle and upper middle class neighborhoods....   Ever meet some of the providers... they are from the middle and upper middle class...

This all leads me to think that a factor is unsupervised kids.

-- Modified on 6/14/2007 11:58:34 PM

Good points.  To ask you, "are you glad you took the course you did?" really doesn't need any answer, but I will rephrase it -- any regrets?  If anything, what would you do differently, knowing what you know now?  What are the downsides, if any from your point of view?  Cheers.

With all the laborious, lousy paying, dirty, demeaning, boring, unhealthful, dangerous, shitastic jobs to be had I look at it as somewhat a mystery why it took young women so long to reach this vocational epiphany.

  The advent of sites like TER and the accountability given to the consumer side via their review histories and “white listings”, GOOGLE / Zaba / reverse telephone directory searches, and phones with caller ID have brought “screening” to a point where only the laziest and most temerarious practitioners of the world’s oldest profession are busted.

  Religion and patriarchal societal engineering may have kept a somewhat loose lid on it for several centuries; but between communication and informational technologies, and the O’Mighty dollar being the NEW religion; the genie is fully out of the bottle.  


-- Modified on 6/13/2007 5:33:05 AM

you have chided me in the past over soooo many things, at the risk of being chided again - here I go...

I personally like ladies in this profession who did not get into it because they "really had to" but rather choose to participate as a way of making money, and providing a life style that they find fun.  and mostly, I gravitate to ladies that choose this lifestyle... as opposed to being forced into it, or not being aware of ALL the implications of being associated with this lifestyle.  

Young girls, (below the age of about 26 or so) are, in my opinion, not fully aware of all the implications of sex, let alone escorting.

Therefore, the young gals, that are quickly caught up in the sex/money/power in an unsupervised manner - early on - are more likely, IMHO to engage in riskier activities in a manner which could do tremeandous damage to their psychology and self image.  Again, Where are the parental figures? to guide these kids through the introduction to sex...

Ciara?  well, to me is quite the lady... and what I've found over the time I have known her, is very much the type of relationship that I would imagine a maturing marriage to come to.  That is very high praise from me, and while she jokes a bit, she is very attractive physically.  But more important is her ability to deal with oddities of male/female relations....  The young ladies 12-18 who are introduced to money/sex, in the unmediated fashion, will have a different view, and future plan for men, and their own well being.  They will NOT have the view of a mature intellectual approach which I well know that Ciara takes.

What can I say?  I am appalled at what I see... and I fear for my children.  NOT because I would say to them "providers are bad" but because the emotional maturity would be "short circuited" by too early an exposure to "the lifestyle."  The hobby, to me, should be viewed as an option, by both men and women, and not as the course of last resort... too early an unsupervised introduction, would be to introduce this "hobby" as a preferred way to move without providing the benefits of a more traditional approach to the sex/money relationship.

But that is just me....

-- Modified on 6/13/2007 6:12:07 AM

On the whole, I think that lessening the grip of religious morality will have good consequences, not bad.

Sure, crass materialism is not something to be praised, but I think there has always been a measure of this through history, and I think it has it's place as a motivator for good.

This much I know:

I would rather my daughter have a fairly successful career as a sex worker than have a lousy career working a boring job for minimal pay.

-- Modified on 6/14/2007 11:55:13 PM

And there sure is the redeeming quality of getting paid to have inadequate sex instead of enduring it for free. Yay capitalism!

I got through college taking student loans and scholarships.  Then again, I was an engineering major, as opposed to some friends who were art majors and having a tremendous time figuring out how they will pay off their debts.

I don't see the sky falling either.  I do think we (Americans) are far too obsessed with money and sex, which makes it such a big deal.

-- Modified on 6/13/2007 3:41:07 PM

I have a feeling that those that start very young and make the cash will equate sex as a way to make money even as the years go buy...the everlasting bargaining tool. You guys must realize it by now that it's been going on for thousands of years.

And now they realize there is a huge market and stop having sex with the high school jock and college frat boys and make bank having the same kind of sex with guys old enough to be their dad for $300 bucks. What would you do? Then they can really pick and choose who they give it to for free and make sure they are getting what they want(at the very least a decent orgasm)or poof it's the door banging them in the ass instead of them banging her.

Sex is power and always will be. If it weren't for testosterone we'd be out of a job. You guys are held captive by a hormone.

He-veeeeeeeee!!