Prostitutes/Escort Services: How Do They Work?

Brett Marie said:

The MC in my latest WIP takes pity on a lonely neighbor in New York City. Knowing the poor fellow is hopeless with women, he decides to engineer a 'chance meeting' between the neighbor and a lady, which will lead to a romantic encounter and enable the neighbor to 'score.'

I'm a married man. My sex life could safely be chronicled in a Disney movie. I have no idea how these things work. Would my MC cruise a street he knew was popular with hookers? Would he call an escort service in the phone book? How would the lady get paid? Is there a pimp involved? Would a prostitute even agree to this sort of arrangement? I'd appreciate any advice to make this set-up realistic.

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So, he wants to arrange a "chance meeting" in which the neighbor won't realize that the lady was paid to go home with him? What happens when the lucky neighbor wants a second date?

Cruising for a street hooker would probably be a bad idea. They tend to be on the more desperate/strung-out end of the spectrum.

I suppose he could call an escort agency and explain what he wants. The woman (or her agency) is going to want money up front of course, and no doubt she's going to charge extra for this "roleplaying." And they'd likely be suspicious, since it sounds like a practical joke or worse, and call girls are obviously wary of police stings, and nutjob customers.

If your MC is better-connected (i.e., rich and knows lots of other rich people) he'd probably be able to ask around and get some names, since the rich have all kinds of pervy fantasies and people willing to cater to them.

I've had hookers approach me on the street at night in NYC. I didn't find out how it goes after the initial contact, but they were nice and wanted to know if I was a cop. If a cop said he wasn't one, I think that was entrapment. That was a long time ago. In the early 1970s.

I had a long talk with a hooker in an Atlanta hotel bar one evening. This was in the mid 1980s. She had been dispatched by an escort service to the hotel for a client and was having an after-appointment drink. The yellow pages had many ads for escort services. She told me that most of the ads were for the cops. You call the number, a lady shows up, and as soon as you suggest an exchange of sex and money (you have to mention it first; doesn't count if she does it), you get arrested.

So, calling an escort service can be risky.

She accepted credit cards. She didn't carry a card machine, though. She put the card and the ticket on her wallet and embossed it by rubbing her lipstick across the paper. She said if she was caught even with the receipts, she could be arrested.

His best way to score a hooker is to ask the bell captain in an upscale hotel.

And would a hooker accept such a job? You bet she would, if the money's right.

Buddy of mine got his via the interwebs! Got her as a joke for another friend. Other friend did not see the humor in this.

The concierge at a five-star hotel here in Atlanta once said that if someone were to inquire about "companionship," they would provide a business card with a phone number; they made no arrangements for the person.

The bar manager at the same hotel said that he had no control over guests bringing their "companionship" into the bar, but he had no tolerance for anything resembling solicitation.

A friend of mine worked for an escort service. She was in her early 40s, very tight body (was also a personal trainer) and attractive. She had a false name and her own webspace through a bigger escort service.

A man would call and ask for something specific and then he'd be directed to various websites and he'd choose the girl he wanted. I'm not sure how they ensured that the males were not police officers.

Then, they would come to her apartment. She only took cash and there were very specific rules set before he agreed to go see her. She had to check in to the service at certain times to let them know she was okay.

She built her client list off repeat business. Most of her "johns" were unhappily married and getting no sex from their partners. Many liked the intimacy before and after sex more than the penetration itself (according to her experiences).

Why not get one of those ads for escorts in the Yellow Pages, call 'em on the phone, and say, "Hi! I'm a writer working on a book, and I have a couple of questions...."

"Hi! I'm a writer working on a book, and I have a couple of questions...."

"I have a couple for you, too, darling. What's your first question and do you have your credit card handy?"

I imagine if you offered to pay what they'd normally get for their time, they'd probably be more than happy to assist you in your research.

Agreed.

My post was in jest, but still think I'd consider taking a companion with me. Are you free on Tuesday, Reverend?

Legally, they are not allowed to charge for sexual services. There are a lot of legal escort agencies out there who will provide an appropriately gendered companion for the evening for an hourly rate (a quick web search on escort agency will reveal hundreds of them). They will very carefully not offer any sexual service and will stress that they are a legitimate operation who do not wish to be accused of such things. They will go along with subterfuge (they are usually hired to pretend to be a wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend for social occasions).

Any sex is usually done as a seperate transaction between the escort and the client and may well be done in cash to avoid obvious papertrails.

Based on working for agencies in other fields, I would say that you could in theory either pay the agency direct (by credit/debit card, online transfer or paypal) for the hourly rate you want (and they would pay the escort their cut) or you could pay the escort directly at the end of the evening and the escort would have to pay the agency commission. It depends on what you want for your story (if it matters at all... I guess that in your case you would prefer to pay in advance...). If there were a seperate commission for sex paid to the escort (which the agency would deny but may still expect a cut...) then there could be issues with the 'secret' element of it...

You would not go to a street walker for this sort of thing. They are totally unsuitable. You'd want someone from a reputable agency with a guarantee of some class and the ability to act a role which you rarely get at street level.

areteus said:

Legally, they are not allowed to charge for sexual services.

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Some counties in Nevada allow brothels to operate, however. I'm not sure whether that would include take-out service or house calls.

So, I wonder if you hire an escort, go out to some function (like a class reunion), THEN, after the event, you both decide to have consensual sex?

CrastersBabies said:

So, I wonder if you hire an escort, go out to some function (like a class reunion), THEN, after the event, you both decide to have consensual sex?

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With an extra payment included. Happens all the time. Well, not your class reunion, but you know what I mean.

This same exact scenario was in True Romance, one of my favorite movies. It's not really explained how the prostitute was found, the guy just knew where to get her, I guess.

I don't think you would necessarily have to pay for the info. Call one up and pretend the plan is for real and ask if they could work it and how. At the end, tell them you thought better of it.

Use a payphone!

Having spent many hours of my life doing advocacy for sex workers, let me please please please encourage you not to waste a sex worker's time. These people are just trying to make a living, so don't make a fake appointment. Plus, they're pretty good at spotting a fake out (and will probably think you are a cop).

Have you tried reading escort blogs? There are a lot of them out there and you might get a good sense of how it works that way.

There are a wide variety of escort services, from independents to agencies to street-based to pimp-controlled. A person could set up through an independent with her own website, through a service in the Yellow Pages, etc.

Finally, you might reach out the book Working Sex, Michelle Tea's book Rent Girl, the book Temporarily Yours, etc. The first two are first person accounts of working in the industry and the third is an academic study of it.