“High priced” and “high class” have interesting connotations in the context of competitive advertising, right up there next to “boutique” and “high-end” and… so on. Is it classism? I think so, but I also think that classism is how capitalist market segmentation works.

The entry-level “luxury” Lexus, for example, started as a Toyota Camry but was marketed “up” all the same (and don’t *dare* suggest that the neighbor’s new Kia is comparable). Eventually, a third-party neighbor looks at their Lexus neighbor and their Kia neighbor and assigns a value to each, turns nose up at Kia neighbor and… well, there’s your class-construct reinforcement.

One could also argue that to the extent that the mainstream media and public buy into the classism and consequently frown upon your competition, they’re all suckers just as much as they’re perpetuating the classism. But that’s probably a bigger conversation.

I *do* suspect that if sex work became socially acceptable in the mainstream, terms like “high-class” would probably fade in favor of something less… I don’t know, classmongeringly (new word for the day!) obvious.

Honestly, the stuff about our personal life (debt) could happen to anyone no matter what their profession. I think it was a pretty bad idea to write about our personal debt problems, period. I also think I could’ve made my point without going into what my girlfriend does for a living.

So, pretending I’m just a student of sociology with no personal knowledge of the subject. I’ll say why I think “high priced” call girl is something that some women in the profession would see as an indicator of self-worth. A high price acts as a screener; it means that you can make the same amount of money while seeing a lot fewer customers, and it means you can be pickier about the customers you do see. If you charge, say $1000.00 per hour, you might be happy to see only 3 customers per month. Where as if you charge only $300, you might have to see 10 every month. If you have to see 10, you can’t be nearly as choosy about who you see as if you only see 3. Also, seeing more customers is more stressful in itself, even if they are generally likable people.

Also, if you charge a higher rate, there are other forms of screening you can afford such as buying your own advertising instead of working for an escort service, or getting a second phone that’s only for business calls. In other words who you deal with and what terms you deal with them. This stuff just falls under the “more money makes life better” principle.

Think of it this way, back when I had a lot of money saved, it felt good, psychologically to know that if my boss was unreasonable or cruel I could just quit and teach if I felt like it. Now it’s more like, “please sir, may I have another.”

P.S. Ron Paul? Ugh. I’d never vote for him. I don’t really want to get into politics, here just… ugh.

It reminds me of this couple I used to know, where the lady became a hooker at age 50 (total MILF who looked more like 38). She and her husband were *really* into “keeping up appearances.” They lived in a huge house in East Cobb with a pool and she drove a Mercedes. They were also broke beneath it, and had filed BK a few times. I did doubles with her a lot for awhile there and, when we’d get our cash, we’d often blow it ASAP. Toward the end there, they lost the car and the house.

She needs to look good, needs her make up, clothes and so on. She just needed a new computer. Then there’s her little girl, whose education we both agree is very important. So, money is very important to her, well to us. (Not that I get to spend much of it…)

Secondly, it is very important to her to be able to turn customers away. The more selective she can be about customers the better. That is where the class system comes in. It’s not how much money you make per week, its how many guys you have to tell that “I don’t do that and even if I did I wouldn’t do it for what you are offering.” for the same amount of money. Oh, and whether you have to tell them that in person or over the phone or by Email. The better the screening process, the happier we both are. Honestly, she’s not doing this for fun. I’m not naive, I figure sometimes she has fun with guys other than me, but that’s not always (probably not even often). Economic necessity drives her.

Most of my money goes toward paying debt, and a subsistence lifestyle that is worse than I had when I was in college, working part time. (Huge amounts of money every month, staggering amounts of money and even so every disaster brings more debt. I always think what unbelievable luxury we could be living in if we could keep that money every month… I have a good paying professional office job, too.) So, she hasn’t felt she can give up the life.

Ideally she’d like to retire.

Her low point recently was when she had to go back to “modeling” in a local “lingerie shop.” That was what she was doing when we met, but she went Internet only after a while. Unfortunately, in the case of Internet only you have to pay for hosting and you have to pay for advertising. You also need to pay someone who can take good pictures, because those are so important. They’ll make or break a Website or advertisement and amateur night photos won’t cut it even if the woman is as beautiful as my Baby. You need to update those frequently too, at least she says so and it makes sense to me.

See when you work in a “shop,” three things happen, you get to meet nice officers from the local PD trying to trap you, you get to meet cheap weirdos who wander in off the street expecting street girl prices and who get angry when you refuse them (hopefully your shop has some kind of security personnel… but not always), oh and you have to deal with having men reject you for “models” who are younger, or whiter or who don’t look as bored as you do. (It’s had to put up an enthusiastic front after 12 years in the business.)

So, Internet is ideal. (Well, ideal-ler) I don’t know why she hasn’t tried a call girl agency, but I know she’s been involved in some… is office politics the right word? with some of the local agencies, who I think don’t really like independent operators anyway. If she can’t quit, she’d like to go back to being an independent girl but it’s costly.

Is there an alternative? I try to think of one. Declare bankruptcy maybe, get rid of the car for the best price we can, try to slowly pay off our debts? We’ve had this argument before, and I always lose. She won’t do it if she sees a good living ahead of her, besides she wants to go back to school and her credit is completely destroyed (mine would be to if I declared bankruptcy).

I think the best answer always comes from the affected group. I cannot speak as a current sex worker (unless you buy the radfem notion that all married women are.. NOT), but if you’d asked me in 1999 or 2000 when I actually was, I’d have had no issues with “high end” or “high priced” as long as nobody was calling anyone “low end,” which would be problematic. Let’s face it, sex services at the high end are more pricy to the individual consumer than many other services from other trained professionals. Many high-end dancers are expert at identifying and avoiding customers who are still working on their first million (see me for the rulebook). I think if you were to query them as to whether it bothered them to be viewed as “charging more than most other workers,” you’d get a raised eyebrow and an invoice for the time it would take to respond.