Suzy Favor Hamilton - Ex. US athlete admits she worked as an escort

[Prancer]

Let's see,if someone plays basketball well, in fact excellent, but it is just a game, why not get paid for it - like the are? We don't attach diseases, or place a stigma on it, we pay them big dollars to see them play.

Just sayin' she is or is assumed to be really good at it - hence the high price of the 2 or 4 or however long session, why not obtain monetary benefit from it?

You consider professional sports and prostitution analagous?

Do you think the psychological effects are the same?

I agree.... how come the people who pay for the escort service are never mentioned?

Eliot Spitzer
Hugh Grant
Jerry Springer
David Vidder
Ted Haggard
Jimmy Swaggart

I can do a much longer list if you need one, but that list right there is longer than the list of escorts I could name off the top of my head.

Ugh, skatesindreams, that is some glitch you get.

[overedge]

Yeah, but if she was working as a prostitute why wouldn't news agencies call it that? Call a spade a spade. I'm also very confused what they mean exactly by escort.

The news agencies probably didn't call her a prostitute because prostitution is illegal in some jurisdictions. If she hasn't been convicted in court of being a prostitute, then there could be legal problems (like libel or slander) with calling her that.

"Escort" agencies call themselves that for precisely that reason. So if they are busted they can claim that they aren't pimps or brothels or living off the avails of prostitution. All they are doing is making the bookings for men to have a nice night out with these women, and they certainly aren't telling the women they have to sleep with the clients, oh heavens no.

Also, apparently there's a fair number of escort agency clients who like the name "escort" because it helps them convince themselves that they're not buying the services of a prostitute, or cheating on their significant others. Prostitute/hooker = streetwalker picked up for a quickie. Escort = lovely classy lady who is charming and who you spend some time with, in addition to the quickie.

(This according to my students who are in law enforcement/corrections.)

[numbers123]

You consider professional sports and prostitution analogous? Do you think the psychological effects are the same?

No, I was just trying to point out that perhaps she really was good at what she did, like it, and good paid well for the activity. I am not saying that there aren't psychological effects or that someone is unaware of what those are. Just maybe she liked being an escort, we really don't know. But I still think that it should be a "so....what?" and a private matter.

[Prancer]

The news agencies probably didn't call her a prostitute because prostitution is illegal in some jurisdictions. If she hasn't been convicted in court of being a prostitute, then there could be legal problems (like libel or slander) with calling her that.

The very first line of the first linked article is: Three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton says she coped with depression and a troubled marriage by turning to a life of prostitution.

No, I was just trying to point out that perhaps she really was good at what she did, like it, and good paid well for the activity. I am not saying that there aren't psychological effects or that someone is unaware of what those are. Just maybe she liked being an escort, we really don't know. But I still think that it should be a "so....what?" and a private matter.

I guess I find it hard to believe that anyone "likes" being an escort, particularly when the person says that she was working as an escort because she is depressed and struggling.

[AliasJohnDoe]

I guess I find it hard to believe that anyone "likes" being an escort, particularly when the person says that she was working as an escort because she is depressed and struggling.

I've known people who worked in the escort business - male and female. While some didn't feel comfortable in it, others enjoyed it very much. Especially the money.

While I can understand why she may have gone into the escort business because she was struggling financially, I don't understand why she got into it because she was depressed. The depression part makes little sense, unless she was depressed about finances.

It's a profession that isn't for everyone. But there really are escorts who "like" their profession.

[overedge]

The very first line of the first linked article is: Three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton says she coped with depression and a troubled marriage by turning to a life of prostitution.

"A life of prostitution" is not the same as specifically calling a particular person a prostitute.

[MacMadame]

For $600, yes, you can bet that sex-for-money was part of the deal

I dont' think you can make a blanket statement like that. I think the price a man would expect sex would vary as would the price a women would be willing to put out for.

Legalizing prostitution tends to lead to an increase in sex trafficking, among other things.

I'm not certain it is possible for sex workers to not be abused in prostitution. Or perhaps exploited is a better word.

It seems to work in other countries.

You consider professional sports and prostitution analagous?

I do! I consider being a computer consultant somewhat analagous to being a prostitute as well. That's where the name "MacMadame" came from. I was a computer consultant at the time specializing in jobs that involved Macs.

[Prancer]

It seems to work in other countries.

The data on sex trafficking in countries with legalized prostitution comes from those countries.

Roughly 75% of women who work as escorts--not street prostitutes, but escorts--attempt or commit suicide. Sounds like they really enjoy the work to me and it's no different from any other job.

[Garden Kitty]

While I can understand why she may have gone into the escort business because she was struggling financially, I don't understand why she got into it because she was depressed. The depression part makes little sense, unless she was depressed about finances.

This article addresses some of those issues - it's all speculation of course, so who knows how accurate it is, but it does raise some interesting issues. I think the article also addresses one of the reasons that people find interesting what in most cases would be a private matter - the whole idea that someone who seems to have it all is still struggling with issues.

[maatTheViking]

The data on sex trafficking in countries with legalized prostitution comes from those countries.

Roughly 75% of women who work as escorts--not street prostitutes, but escorts--attempt or commit suicide. Sounds like they really enjoy the work to me and it's no different from any other job.

I used to think prostitution should be legal, with many of the arguments presented here.
But after I talked with people who worked with prostitutes and read more data I think buying sex should be criminalizes.
The myth about 'the happy hooker' is just that - a myth. A very small percentage of people in the sex industry does I voluntarily, or wouldn't choose another type of work if they could.

And this might be in addition to trafficking issues...

[leesaleesa]

Prostitutes are not happy people, and men do not pay $600.00 simply for the company of a charming, attractive woman.

That's a blanket statement, and after working in the adult sector for ten years as a dancer and dominatrix, I feel qualified to make it.

[MacMadame]

The data on sex trafficking in countries with legalized prostitution comes from those countries.

Where else would it come from?

Roughly 75% of women who work as escorts--not street prostitutes, but escorts--attempt or commit suicide. Sounds like they really enjoy the work to me and it's no different from any other job.

In what countries? Ones where it is legal or illegal? If there is a stigma to the job, of course there are going to be unhappy people doing it. If the stigma is gone, that is going to change the dynamics of the job.

[Prancer]

Where else would it come from?

More than 80% of sex workers in the Netherlands--where prostitution is legal--are trafficked. You consider this a system that works?

In what countries? Ones where it is legal or illegal? If there is a stigma to the job, of course there are going to be unhappy people doing it. If the stigma is gone, that is going to change the dynamics of the job.

Overall. And just because something is legal does not mean that there is no stigma attached. Otherwise, why would women be trafficked to fill the jobs?

Numerous studies show that between 70 percent and 90 percent of children and women who end up in commercial sex were sexually abused prior to entry. No other industry is dependent upon a regular supply of victims of trauma and abuse.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate...re-trafficking

This is what works? This is what having no stigma looks like?

[joeperryfan]

Overall. And just because something is legal does not mean that there is no stigma attached. Otherwise, why would women be trafficked to fill the jobs?

For the same reason that men are brought in to some countries by Mafias to work in construction, so they(the mobsters) can control them and take a big cut off their payment. The job isn't illegal and there's no stigma attached, it's about control.

[nubka]

I never understand why things like this are news. Consenting adults. She and her husband (and daughter), may have some things to work through, but so do most husbands, and wives and kids. No one's business but theirs.

Because she is a former olympic athlete. If she was joe-schmo from Iowa, the media wouldn't give a hoot...

[Angelskates]

Because she is a former olympic athlete. If she was joe-schmo from Iowa, the media wouldn't give a hoot...

Would most Americans know who she is?

[nubka]

Would most Americans know who she is?

No, but if the story is in print they will read it because of the words former olympian.

[MacMadame]

Ha, work just blocked my access to this page when I tried to reply to Prancer.

Anyway, on the one hand, you say there is stigma. But then you say that the system doesn't work so it proves having no stigma wouldn't change the system. That is not logical.

The question is: if there wasn't a big stigma around women having sex with multiple partners, let alone being paid for it, how would that change the dynamics of the system. If there are no places in the world where there isn't a stigma attached, then we can't use those systems to postulate how not having a stigma would change things. If there are places, then we can.