I was all about the above until I started hobbying abroad (as in overseas, not a gender misapplication) where the hobby is perfectly legal and I was amazed at how affectionate and open the providers were - not only about their sexual needs, but their lives, their families, failed relationships, great ones they were in, etc.
In short, they treated me like a whole person, not just an erection with a wallet attached. I saw one provider in Quebec exclusively for almost four years. I mean exclusively on my part - I would not have sex with any other lady, either in or outside the hobby. I really didn't care about what she was doing, and if I really wanted to ramp up the jealousy factor all I had to do was Google her name as she was an active porn star at the time. But curiously, I didn't get jealous in any way, because when I was with her, all of her attention was on me. I would schedule multi-hour appointments, and if my appointment ended near lunch time or dinner time I would invite her to join me as a courtesy. She always joined me, off the clock, and I remember sitting across a dinner table from her in a pretty nice restaurant when she ran her fingers through her long, thick brunette hair and innocently said, "Oh, I have some of your come in my hair." as if she was mentioning the weather.
As Marlene Dietrich (Google her) once said, "In the United States, sex is an obsession, in the rest of the world, it is just a fact." Truer words were never spoken.
We obsess, we make ourselves schizophrenic over the "line" when the "line" is there because of our mid-evil laws that make the hobby illegal and make us have to be guarded about our identities, our lives, and our sexuality.
On my first trip to Germany I stopped in the first small town I came to to use the public toilet. (Something we do not have enough of in the US.). As I was urinating at a trough-like receptacle, a slender, 40-something lady walked in and started cleaning the restroom. I rushed, zipped up, and got back to my (native) travel companion, who explained that that was the "putzfrau" or cleaning lady, and she couldn't care less about the fact that I was whizzing in her presence.
In France I stepped into a stall in a public restroom at a Metro station and while I was sitting, I heard the unmistakable click-click of high heels as the stall door next to me closed, Under the partition I could see her very fashionable high heels, her narrow ankles, and the skirt come down as she sat and engaged in the same activity I was engaged in.
In Luxembourg at a streetside cafe after eating lunch and having a beer, I went inside to use the restroom, and there were two doors next to one another, one marked "Damen" (Ladies) and one marked "Herren" (Men). I went through the door marked Men and found myself in one large unisex restroom!
On a trip to the Netherlands 4 years ago, as the national soccer team made it into the quarter finals, the city put up the jumbo TV screens on all sides of the wide grassy esplanade next to the Van Gogh Museum. It was a bright, sunny, summer afternoon, and complete families were camped out on the grass, cheering the national team. As the day warmed , the ladies (of all ages) removed their tops and went topless, and nobody batted an eyelash, except for me! (I put on my mirrored sunglasses.)
My current ATF is on the far north side of Dallas, about 6 hours one way. Since last November, I have driven round trip three times to see her, and she is planning to come down at the end of the month to spend a weekend with me. Only the time engaged in actual sex will be "on the clock", the rest of the weekend, as she put it, "will be spent with my lover who knows me so well". She is German, married to an American, and has two pre-teen daughters.
I know some of this sounds like its from another planet, and I'd really like to kidnap Ken Paxton and tie him up and leave him in the restroom of a Paris disco so maybe he'll get over his homophobia, or get in touch with his inner feminine side, or whatever....
My point is we draw these artificial lines around ourselves, build emotional walls as high as we can, and why? Because our archaic laws force us to think that we are criminals and we are immediately on the defensive.
I am glad for the gift that I have had of travel that I have had, grateful beyond belief for the ladies I have met overseas who were so comfortable with their sexuality that they helped me accept mine!
Chill out, enjoy each other's company. If you are so afraid of crossing "the line" (both providers and hobbyists), how are you able to validate and appreciate each other's sexuality and humanity? The alternative is that freak show that passes for the Austin Eccie boards - misogyny that makes Donald the Rump look like the ultimate WK!
Ladies, enjoy the man you are with. If "that little voice" tells you that something is wrong, upgrade to a better class of client. Gentlemen, enjoy the lady you are with. If that "little voice" tells you that she has the usual "issues", upgrade to a better provider. They are out there - on both sides. And when you meet them, you wonder why you wasted all the time and money you wasted on the US version of the "hobby".
I'm going to STFU now. I hope you all enjoy your lives and the company of the people YOU CHOOSE to be with!