Dear Allure,

Your question as to "why there are so few age 40+ African American or Latina providers" is probably best considered in the context of the TER environment. As you know, the sex industry in general and prostitution in particular are very stratified and hierarchical, often mirroring the rest of society.

Statistically, AA sex workers of all ages are overrepresented within street prostitution. This has less to do with what women want and more with the reasons for why women choose prostitution as an economic means of support. The reasons for why a young African American woman ends up using the street as her main mode of survival are completely different from why a 40+ AA or Hispanic woman chooses to use TER as her main source of income. One is survival sex and the other is choice. In order to have that choice in the first place, the educational background and life opportunities need to be present. Fewer AA and Hispanic women have the initial financial freedom to use the Internet and compete for clients in the middle- to upper middle range of sex work.

If you look at the poll archives of TER, you'll see that the TER environment is largely composed of White, college educated, middle aged males. In turn, these men may also operate differently from those clients who solicit street prostitutes. They make appointments over the Internet, they submit to screening and they plan their appointments in advance. They demand a level of physical comfort when visiting a provider and they engage in some form of educated discourse. They are loath to visit providers who live in "questionable areas" and their fear of anything crime-associated is obvious. In short, these men want to visit providers who are more or less similar to them in social status. They are willing to wait and plan for such encounters to happen. "Impulse buying" in this form of prostitution does not exist. Hence, they interact with women who are not necessarily driven by economic urgency. These women can also plan and wait for their appointments and take less of them, because most likely, they have a safety cushion of extra income and don't live on razor-thin margins.

Another facet of this issue is cultural. Fundamentally, AA and Hispanic cultures are more traditional in their approach to sexual matters. While a White woman who has a white collar profession may choose to engage in sex work to make extra cash or even just "for kicks," this would be morally unthinkable to an AA or Hispanic woman who has sacrificed a great deal to end up in a job where a college degree or specialized training is necessary. There are providers on TER who are open about their work and who espouse a sex-positive, almost political agenda. You will definitely find less such women in the AA or Hispanic population. In addition, women over 40 in these population groups would not generally be drawn to prostitution as a profession.

I have attached the study I did last year. It was only a pilot study and it used an old, very flawed instrument which was required by the learning institution. There you can get a snapshot of the women of TER. They are by no means average or represent the typical woman involved in prostitution. But they offer some interesting (and encouraging, depending on what side of the political fence you're on) statistics. As to your own marketing efforts, you'll just have to see what the market will bear. If clients want to meet with you based on your rarity, then it seems a good idea to exploit it for all it's worth. And count your blessings - remember that there are many unfortunate sex workers of color out there who don't have the luxury of choosing their clients, their working environments or their life destinies in our current society.

Yep, it's still a race/class/gender issue,
The Love Goddess

Thank you LG...  while some might choose the pretty young thing...  I gravitate toward the slightly younger than myself but still "If things had turned out different, I could see us together."  It's an illusion, of course, but it's easier on the imagination.
skb

Allure, thank you for such a compelling question. It is something that I have often thought about recently and to see the question posed made me sigh - you were able to ask the question perfectly.

LG, thank you for your thoughtful response. As one of the 58, I will closely review your study with great interest (with a degree in Sociology this kind of thing is right up my alley).