Escorts for all Sorts, and The Cost of Living Crisis

It focuses the mind when money is tight and you've got children to support, or more general bills to pay that are going up dramatically. What do you? There are always questions at the back of people's minds about what they would do if they were to find themselves extremely short of funds. Add to this dilemma is the societal stigma placed on accepting government social security benefits and upon certain types of work – escorting included. So, what do you do? Starve, “get a job” – any old job that society wants you to do, or grasp the opportunities that becoming an escort can present?

There are often 'indecent proposals' in life, and tough choices. In 1993 Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson, starred in a movie by that title. It is based on the novel by author Jack Engelhard. In Indecent Proposal, Redford's character billionaire John Gage, offers Moore (Diana Murphy) and Harrelson (her movie husband, David Murphy) $1m to sleep with him for the night.

After careful consideration and a sleepless night, the Murphy's agree to the proposition, and a contract is eventually signed. After the episode, the Diana Murphy files for divorce and embarks on a relationship with Gage. Realising he isn't serious about it; she leaves Gage and returns to the pier where her former husband David Murphy proposed 7 years earlier. The couple join their hands together and re-declare their love for one another.

While escorts can also fall in love with their clients, and it does happen. Even in marriage a partner might find out that their other half has become an escort to make the ends meet, and some single parents also turn to escorting to ensure that they can feed their children.

'My wife became an escort'

Ben Jones writes on Quora: “I didn't marry an escort, she became one when in her early thirties with two kids, a house in the 'burbs' and a husband, me, at home. She was extremely discreet. Her 'time out' didn't affect the children nor our married life. She had a good excuse for the children, when they were younger, and only 'engaged in her business' when I was out of town, which my job forced me to be a lot in those days. I pretended not to know for years, even though I am sure that she knew that I knew. I regarded our married life as too precious.”

“Had I commented, she could just have screamed at me, and meant it. OK, so what? Let's divorce. In summary, it was a good way to treat the situation.” The wife said she'd decided to become an escort, “Because being a housewife was driving me batty. This way I felt appreciated, got lots of sex which I like, and made money of my own.” So, there are many reasons why people get into escorting.

Cost of living challenges

The cost of living crisis is but one of those challenges. Sky News writes: “With inflation at a record high and wages failing to keep up with spiralling prices and energy bills, the number of calls to the English Collective of Prostitutes has increased by a third this summer.”

The Collective's Spokeswoman Niki Adams, who has helped thousands of women over 30 years, said: "The cost of living crisis is now pushing women into sex work in various ways - whether that's on the street, in premises or online. Across the board what we're seeing is people coming to that work from a place of desperation.”

This includes a single mother from Preston who lost hundreds of pounds when the UK government switched over from the old benefit system to Universal Credit. She was left without a job and unable to pay her bills. So, there a number of reasons why people turn to escorting. Not all of them are pushed, some are attracted to the industry and enjoy it as a career.

Escorting diversity

After all, from a financial and economic challenge can come opportunities – and escorting isn't just restricted to men as clients and women as their escorts. Diana Appleyard, writes in The Sun newspaper, 'PAY FOR PASSION: We pay gigolos for sex – the rise of women paying male escorts.' In 2015 she wrote that “more than a third of escorts who advertise their services are now men offering sex to WOMEN, a study has revealed.”

Dr Sarah Kingston, of Lancaster University, said: “Most of the women who buy sex are professional people, who want a guaranteed pleasurable experience. “Paying an escort is also a way of ensuring discretion. Women often want more than just sexual intercourse. They want to go for a drink or a meal before progressing to sex and they can be seeking an emotional connection.”

The study also found that “as well as the 36% of gigolos serving women, another 30% of escorts are aimed at women, but this time for lesbian romps.” Appleyard speaks to several women who hire gigolos: a business consultant who loves sex but doesn't like to listen to date droning on about themselves; writer and broadcaster Charlotte Rose who's a single mother who's used the service of escorts and who campaigns for the rights of sex workers; a divorcee who was in her late 40s at the time; and a lab technician.

Passionate escort

She also interviewed model-turned-escort Matteo DelToro whom Appleyard says advertises himself as “passionate” “gallant” and “sweet” — and also boasts that he is “a great listener.” As an Escort Matteo see his role as entertaining women, and charges them £100 for a boyfriend experience, which isn't just about sex because he accompanies them to the opera, to the theatre, and out for dinner because they want to have a handsome man on their arm. He says sex is just a lovely afterwards.

He tells Appleyard: “The women who hire me range in age from 28 to 50 — most are attractive, but some are not. In that situation, I look for an attractive side to their personality. Most are single, a few are married. The reasons women book me are many and varied — they to impress their colleagues, they want a night of wonderful sex, or sometimes they want to make their boyfriends jealous.”

Escorting is therefore for all sorts. While men remain the main demographics, women, transgender people, and others can either be escorts or clients. There is opportunity out there. They key thing is safety, and to ensure that nobody is forced into the industry. Escorting, even during a cost of living crisis, has to be by informed consent between client and escort, and agency and escort.