Internet making sex work safer, report finds

[peter purves]

The internet has helped prostitution become a satisfying and relatively safe career, according to one of the biggest studies of sex workers conducted.

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[shagmore]

There was also an article saying that if it wasn't for the internet then a good proportion of women would not become WGs

[Autopunter]

Personally I've always been glad of the internet. It wasn't how I was able to meet my first WG (that was in Amsterdam), but it just makes life as a single punter so much safer and easier. Technology is a double edged sword in this game, but let's take a moment to appreciate its good side. I remember when I was growing up, the only prossies I knew about where the street hookers who used to hang around my town's red light district (later it would turn out there were also a couple of brothels, but you never saw those unless you knew where to look). Rough looking munters and deep into drugs; it would have been a bad scene to get into.

[Happyjose]

Can't be a serious study - there's no stock photo of a mini-skirted girl leaning into a car window, or any quotes from shrieking harpies blaming punters

[JonasG]

Game changer indeed.

Couple of clicks on your phone then a text and you've made a booking.

[Autopunter]

Can't be a serious study - there's no stock photo of a mini-skirted girl leaning into a car window, or any quotes from shrieking harpies blaming punters

You mean they asked someone other than Julie Bindel to do the study?! No wonder they missed the obvious sight of gangs of chained women being led down the high streets of Britain for a life of sexual slavery! The shame!

[Barclay Spank]

What I don't understand is when escorts say they check men out before seeing them. Looking up their names on the internet. I have never given any of my details to a sex worker. Has anyone given their name to a sex worker so that she can look them up on the internet?

[snowbum]

What I don't understand is when escorts say they check men out before seeing them. Looking up their names on the internet. I have never given any of my details to a sex worker. Has anyone given their name to a sex worker so that she can look them up on the internet?

Assume they mean checking feedback on AW or WG shared list of known problem punters?

[signy]

What I don't understand is when escorts say they check men out before seeing them. Looking up their names on the internet. I have never given any of my details to a sex worker. Has anyone given their name to a sex worker so that she can look them up on the internet?

I think they mean support and info sites like Ugly Mugs. Interesting to see that the survey was commissioned by the police.

[S.X. MacHine]

Refreshing to see conclusions based on serious and objective research in stead of bigoted claptrap justified by religion of feminism. Or should I say, one particular interpretation of feminism, because the buggers cannot even agree among themselves; some see prostitution as exploitation (e.g. repulsive cunt Harriet Harman) while others think it empowers women.
In any case, a welcome article, based on real life and not fantasy.

[mrhappypants]

If I am not mistaken one of the researchers posted on her about a year asking punters to complete a survey.

They are very interesting results.

[Erinaceinae]

BBC article about the same study I think.

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[Jimmyredcab]

More total cobblers, if there is a lunatic out there he will use the internet to find a victim, prostitution is a dangerous business, that is why they charge ridiculous rates. 

[Home Alone]

If I am not mistaken one of the researchers posted on her about a year asking punters to complete a survey.

They are very interesting results.

You're right, mrhappypants. Teela Sanders or one of her team did post on here a year or so ago, asking for punters to complete a survey.

It's the second such exercise she's been involved in. When she was at one of the Universities in Leeds some years - 8 or 9? - ago, she led a similar research project, which was written up in a book called 'Paying for Pleasure'.

As one of the interviewees on that project, I bought a copy of the book which was non-judgemental and came up with conclusions that wouldn't be news to punters or WGs but was to much of the media - it didn't fit with their stereotypes of WGs or their clients.

If I remember rightly, though, it was criticised in an academic 'peer review' because the interviewees were self-selecting, rather than having been discovered by the researchers.

[Happyjose]

If I am not mistaken one of the researchers posted on her about a year asking punters to complete a survey.

They are very interesting results.

https://www.ukpunting.com/index.php?topic=104886.msg1236099#msg1236099

[JonasG]

BBC article about the same study I think.

External Link/Members Only

Kinda the same for us.

I wouldn't punt if it wasn't for the internet.

[mrhappypants]

More total cobblers, if there is a lunatic out there he will use the internet to find a victim, prostitution is a dangerous business, that is why they charge ridiculous rates. 

You’re wrong Jimmy.  Study says it, girls say it and I believe it.

If I remember rightly, though, it was criticised in an academic 'peer review' because the interviewees were self-selecting, rather than having been discovered by the researchers.

Not a great concern.  The limitations of a quasi-experimental design are well documented, but it does not stop them producing informative results (think lung cancer).

[Horizontal pleasures]

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Here is a summary of the full report on which the Guardian article is based.

Also of interest: External Link/Members Only

Or buy the full book here:
External Link/Members Only