A George Washington U. study explores the issue of escort-client emotional intimacy

[RobX 2084]

A George Washington University study (The Intimacy Prism: Emotion Management among the Clients of Escorts), based on hobbyist escort review board comments, explores the issue of emotional intimacy between escorts and clients.

 

The study is reported in a story on the "Medical Daily" website -

A Third of Men Who See Prostitutes Crave Emotional Intimacy, Not Just Sex

 

Here are some relevant extracts from the story:

New research has emerged saying that a significant minority of Johns find emotional intimacy from the sex workers that they see, creating opportunities and complications for them and sex workers... A third of men find themselves... infatuated, falling for, or engaging in friendships with the sex workers... These men ... pride themselves in their ability to give pleasure to the worker, and seem to have respect for them as well... Milrod and Weitzer (the authors of the study) separate these people into the following categories:

• 
  [--]those who feel that their providers are engaging in counterfeit intimacy,
  [--]those who feel that their provider reciprocates,
  [--]and those who are confused by the feelings that they have for their provider or that the provider might have for them.
  

 

This issue does come up from time to time on CERB. The recommendations is usually, and rightfully so, to keep a clear head and avoid becoming emotionally attached to your provider. Always remember that the escort-hobbyist relationship is a business relationship.

[fortunateone 156618]

I googled this famous The Erotic Highway (I'd never heard of it), and it took me to TER. I wonder why they didn't just say TER lol.

 

I find their findings a bit interesting. I wonder if they realize that getting their 'data' from posts on an escort review forum, especially one like that. I am not sure that the minority of men who think that way is as 'significant' as they claim.

[Phaedrus 209521]

I googled this famous The Erotic Highway (I'd never heard of it), and it took me to TER. I wonder why they didn't just say TER lol.

 

To be fair, the paper makes it clear that "The Erotic Highway" is a sub-section of TER where this kind of thing is discussed. I think that's just a standard journalism fail. After all, you can't really expect journalist to actually --read-- the stuff they're reporting on, can you? No, wait....

 

I find their findings a bit interesting. I wonder if they realize that getting their 'data' from posts on an escort review forum, especially one like that. I am not sure that the minority of men who think that way is as 'significant' as they claim.

 

I'm afraid I find their findings... pointless, although perhaps politically useful.

 

They do, at least, acknowledge the limitations of their sample:

 

It is also not known if posters on The Erotic Highway are representative of the majority of individuals on TER or the larger population using the Internet to access sex providers. Moreover, we were not able to assess the veracity of the content posted on a website where users are anonymous.

 

Alas, the rest of the paper consists of quoting posts from TER, and paraphrasing them. So, alas, I don't think this paper adds anything whatsoever to the understanding of why clients see SPs. It tells us nothing new. And so, from a scientific perspective, I consider it worthless. Any research worthy of merit would have attempted to avoid a self-electing sample at the very least.

 

Having trashed this paper from a scientific perspective, however, I should acknowledge its usefulness from a political one. The commonly-held view of clients in the wider community does seem, alas, to be that they're a bunch of deviants who are too ugly or weird to get laid without paying for it (yes, I know we know better, but the general public doesn't). And so anything that furthers the fact that not all guys who see SPs are predators and criminals is very much worthwhile.