Escorts

Escorts are high-status prostitutes, either male or female, who are perceived to have higher status than streetwalkers and those who work at truck stops or massage parlors. There are two kinds of escorts: those who work for an agency and those who work independently. Agency escorts are affiliated with an escort service, which usually advertises in the yellow pages of the phone book or in the local newspapers. The client, or the “john,” contacts the escort agency and requests an escort, and the operator for the agency describes which escorts are available. Once an escort is agreed on, contact information is collected from the john. The escort service dispatches the escort, and the escort contacts the john for directions to the john's location, for an outcall, or to give the john directions to a meeting place, usually a hotel, for an in call. Once the escort arrives, there is a standard fee for the escort's time and companionship. If any sexual activities are desired by the john, a fee is negotiated and referred to as a tip. Generally the fee and the tip are placed on a table, sometimes in an envelope on a table by the john and retrieved by the escort, so that there is no direct exchange of money.

Independent escorts operate much the same way as agency escorts, with the exception that they do not have the resources of the agency to advertise and make contact with johns for them. To attract clientele, these escorts typically rely on word of mouth or by advertising on the Internet. Word of mouth can be earned when johns establish a relationship with an escort and ask the escort to recommend him to others. One example of this is scheduling a “doubles” appointment with established escorts and networking with other escorts in this manner. Doubles, in this case, refers to a session in which the john employs two escorts at the same time. This allows both the john and the escort to verify each other with minimum risk to each party because of the standing relationship of both parties with the established escort.

Independent escorts use the Internet as a discrete and cheap form of advertisement and community. Establishment of a community among escorts allows them to reduce some of the major threats in their line of work. Information on threats such as violent johns, a john or another escort with a sexually transmitted disease, and undercover police officers spread quickly on the Internet. Community sites allow a place for the escort to advertise to reach clientele, and they allow traveling escorts, those who tour from town to town, to let their customers know when they will be available in a specific area. Some escort agencies do use these Internet communities, but these communities are generally populated by independent escorts. Escort agencies tend to have more resources in which to advertise—in phone books, through yellow page advertisements, and advertisements in small, local-attraction newspapers.

Johns can make initial contact with the escort they are interested in and start the verification process. The verification process is the process whereby the escort investigates the john to make sure he is not an undercover police officer or some violent or [Page 257]diseased john that is known to the community. The process usually includes getting the john's name and phone number and sometimes a work number so that his place of employment can be verified. The johns are also asked for a list of references from among the established escorts in the community, so that the escort can further verify the john's identity and increase the likelihood of a safe transaction between the john and the escort.

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