Comments on: Shame on America’s johns

By: BSG67

BSG67 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:53:01 +0000

It’s true that cross-country comparisons of sex-working income are somewhat meaningless, however the important point made, besides the condom issue, is that wherever you go, it pays more than other jobs openings.

By: korski

korski — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:37:52 +0000

These comments and comparisons are completely misplaced. In places like Thailand and the Philippines, it is common for the women to spend upwards of eight hours with one client, and she will be shagged two or three times by the younger guys; this does not change or increase the price. I would bet good money that condom use by expats in the Philippines does not exceed 50%, and it is probably not much higher in Thailand. And the percentages would be much much lower when considering Thais with Thais and Filipinos with Filipinas. You also need to take into account what the cost of living is in these comparisons. In all, then, the comments above are greatly misleanding, in fact meaningless.

By: Caty

Caty — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:28:36 +0000

You’re ignoring the entire escort population. Me & my peers get $225 an hour, $150 for the half hour, & that’s in the boonies of Western MA. I’ve heard $300/400 a hour in NYC & SF.

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:08:17 +0000

Lee: I’m dreaming of the day that USA condones …(sensible public health policy, investment in disease prevention, good healthy sex, oh, any number of things).

Con Dom: You are correct in assuming that I am not clocking the time spent sitting/standing around waiting for clients; we don’t have quant data on that, but many sex workers say they don’t think of that as “work” (this is especially true of girls who work the “lokalisasi” or red light districts, rather to my surprise. You get comments such as “I’d be hanging out with my friends anyway. Here or at the mall, no difference”. I note that Chicago sex workers have a very high client-to-hanging-out ratio. In many Indonesian settings it would be lower. But I still contend that there is a remarkably small difference in wages per client. In Chicago, US$ 34 on average. In Indonesia we have data for 10 provinces, and the price varies across the 10. It is highest in Papua, where women were earning US$ 35 per client (even before the dollar started competing with the peso). The lowest mean price is in central Java, at US$ 13 per client, and that’s including freebies. Many street and brothel-based workers say they spend half an hour or less with a client — for karaoke bars and clubs, where the price is higher, the time spent with each client tends to be longer, though the time in the sex act doesn’t.

By: Con Dom

Con Dom — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:15:02 +0000

In your comment comparing Indonesian and American sex work wages you are confuse total working hours with hours spent in the sex act. The text of the paper reads: “On average the
prostitutes work roughly thirteen hours per week, performing roughly 10 sex acts total.
Average revenues generated per week are about $340.” Most Indonesian sex workers spend many more hours on the job to generate that thirty dollars.

By: Lee Rudolph

Lee Rudolph — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:42:48 +0000

mp writes: “We do not see billboards everywhere telling us to use them.”

True; but we did used to see, in Los Angeles (maybe a dozen years or more ago), wonderful big billboards saying “USA CONDONES”. Which always made me do a double-take.

By: mp

mp — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:05:11 +0000

Perhaps it is because condom use is not as “top of the mind” in the USA as it is in countries with “real” AIDS/condom initiatives?

We do not see billboards everywhere telling us to use them. We do not see ads on TV, we do not hear jingles on the radio. They can be expensive. How many programs do we have handing out free condoms to hookers?