A study from that prestigious sociological journal...

bluffcityguy's Avatar
I find it interesting that it seems to be true based on my experience. And the article linked within it (that comments apparently said is completely atypical) I buy completely. I've met a lot of people involved in strip clubs and it sounds like the brothels are just a natural extension of it. The article you linked brings up some decent points and it's given me a few things to think about.

One thing that struck me though is that even if prostitution were legalized across the U.S. we'd probably be in a similar boat to where we are now. It would be a highly controlled and scrutinized profession. Condoms would likely be required for all sexual contact (just look at what happened to porn) - I can't even count the number of times I've heard the complaints about cbj. And it would probably be pretty stupidly expensive. So if you wanted a semi-affordable visit with a bbbj then your charges are just slightly differently named: unlicensed prostitution and faclitating the same.
bluffcityguy's Avatar
One thing that struck me though is that even if prostitution were legalized across the U.S. we'd probably be in a similar boat to where we are now. It would be a highly controlled and scrutinized profession. Condoms would likely be required for all sexual contact (just look at what happened to porn) - I can't even count the number of times I've heard the complaints about cbj. And it would probably be pretty stupidly expensive. So if you wanted a semi-affordable visit with a bbbj then your charges are just slightly differently named: unlicensed prostitution and faclitating the same. Originally Posted by Kabarakh
Interesting point. Does the experience of the legal Nevada brothels bear this out? (I don't have the time to research; I may look into it over the weekend if I don't find other trouble to get into. ) I do seem to recall that a cursory survey of legal brothel websites suggesting to me that it's up to the individual brothel girl whether she gives BBBJ and I think she sets her own rates. Wouldn't be the first time that a lady has charged a premium for a highly sought after service (how many providers charge a premium for Greek, for example?)

Cheers,

bcg
Interesting point. Does the experience of the legal Nevada brothels bear this out? (I don't have the time to research; I may look into it over the weekend if I don't find other trouble to get into. ) I do seem to recall that a cursory survey of legal brothel websites suggesting to me that it's up to the individual brothel girl whether she gives BBBJ and I think she sets her own rates. Wouldn't be the first time that a lady has charged a premium for a highly sought after service (how many providers charge a premium for Greek, for example?)

Cheers

bcg Originally Posted by bluffcityguy
Never been to one myself either, but hearing her describe it sounds a lot like a strip club. So I'd assume that they are contractors and not employees. If that's the case then the girls are actually getting somewhere around 20-30% of their fee as money in their pocket. If they consider the tax implications anyway. And if you're licensed\registered\whatever with the state then you're on the IRS' radar. So you're at risk of being audited even (or, especially) without filing tax returns. And I hope they aren't filing as opposed to misreporting because filing a false tax return is way worse.

Even if not, they're still only getting their hands on 50% of what they bring in. Which is a pretty hefty cut if it's still true. I suppose competition and fear of losing all their girls might get these places to reduce their house cuts. But it's more likely they'll use the same tactics they do now to keep a strangle hold on strip clubs. Presumably the brothers would provide the doctor for the weekly inspections and foot the bill for the license fees. At 50% cut and requiring a quota I'd hope so anyway.

So, while true that a premium should be expected, it's going to be exascerbated by all the hoops you have to jump through to even provide the service. So I'm going to preface this with I have no idea of the volume some providers deal with and maybe that alone would grant some insight. But I'll go with 5 guys a week. This is probably under shooting it. Though on average it might work out to be that way, since this is going to assume working non-stop, no vacations or anything. Anyway. Let's compare this to, say, a retail job. You're probably going to gross around 20-25k a year. Let's say 25 for the sake of argument. Now, immediately, if you're at a brothel that's you charging 50k a year. 260 guys... That's about 200 per visit. That's not so bad, right?. But, again, that's her making salesperson at Best Buy money. She probably wants to at least manage middle class so you're doubling that. 400 per taker then.

The hard part is if the girl is actually being responsible and paying all the appropriate taxes so they don't get fined into destitution or go to federal prison. You're probably going to be paying 40% of your income of you have to cover all the income taxes, social security and Medicare payments. Also all the state and local income taxes that may apply. So now you're talking 60% of 50% - you're bringing in 30 cents of every dollar you charge.

Now, back to the money math. Though we do have to modify it slight because we need to compare net with net. Best Buy guy, if he's smart, will probably be single/2 to pay the appropriate amount of taxes. 25k turns into 20ish in his pocket. For your 30% to be the same, you need to bring in 70k a year - that's the high 200 range ($269.23). Double that and we're talking 550 per visit and a probably 50-55k a year job. I'm assuming that most girls probably have higher aspirations than that if they chose a career like this.

Of course that's all kinda thrown out the window when you consider they are working 5 days a week all year long in these scenarios. Everyone needs vacation and everyone gets sick. So. Yeah. The prices would go up on weight of every girl having an extra expense built in automatically (if they wanted to be legal). And sadly that would naturally drag the price of illegal providers up as well. They'll look at the price tags other girls charge and say "well I'm as pretty as her" or just think they are getting less than they deserve. Whatever the reasoning might be, it would without a doubt drive the price up.

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Edit: I didn't even get into insurance. Which is another nice boatload of money there. Especially with dependents. Also the assumptions of being able to survive on this level of income are solely based on being in one of the cheapest cost of living areas in the U.S. If you're in one of the bigger population centers, a 50k a year job might just be scraping by.

tl;dr/basic version - prices on average would probably double immediately because the current brothels have set 50% as a standard of some sort. Maybe even more considering they'll be higher profile and tax implications are scarier.
DallasRain's Avatar
interesting read!!!