Cheap: How new technology changes the oldest industry

The latest issue of the British Economist print Edition is entitled "Inexpensive: How new technology changes the oldest industry" (more bang for your buck:how new Marvell is shaking up the oldest) Cover article, the internet to the sex industry brought about by a detailed analysis of the various changes.

The following is the full text of the article:

The rise of internet pornography

For the Johns in Berlin, a new application called PEPPR has brought a lot of convenience to their lives. As long as you enter an address above, the screen will be a list of nearby prostitutes, not only with photos and stature features, and even price. Users can filter the results, and pay 5 to 10 euros (about 6.5 to 13 U.S. dollars), after booking fees, can also be directly "orders." The service is also poised to expand into more cities.

PEPPR is open because prostitution and prostitution ads are legal in Germany. But even where the sex trade is banned, the internet is still changing the old industry. All along, prostitutes and clients are suffering from the lack of channels to communicate with each other, resulting in the sale of information difficult to butt. It is even more difficult to understand the necessary information before meeting.

The little ads that blondes and Longshanks put up in the streets can only attract a few people. Not only that, the clients usually know little about the appearance and quality of the prostitutes before they enjoy the service. Although the recommendation of acquaintances can help, but the efficiency is very low. At the same time, it is difficult for sex workers to anticipate the risks they may face before they can be formally challenged.

Now, professional websites and applications are promoting the flow of information between buyers and sellers, so that clients and prostitutes can reach a mutually satisfactory deal. The entry threshold for sex trading is gradually being lowered, and the security of the transaction is rising: prostitutes can share information about bad customers and conduct background and health checks before they pick up clients. Personal web pages can help them better advertise themselves and even arrange to meet on the Internet. and the clients ' comments on the website also help to improve the credibility of the information.

Prostitution and its associated promotional activities are illegal in the United States, except in Nevada. But even so, the promotion and introduction of prostitution is spreading online. To circumvent the law, these sites set up servers overseas. Webmasters and users also log on anonymously. They also use legal terminology to circumvent risk, including describing the purpose of the site as "entertainment" and marking the nature of the content as "fictitious."

The rise of the online prostitution movement, which was originally hidden in the public eye of the industry, gradually exposed in the eyes of the people. By soliciting business in public spaces, street women have always attracted the attention of the police and researchers. Many people dislike these people, and because they are the most vulnerable, they are more likely to be concerned by the police and social and medical workers. But in many rich countries their share of sex workers is small. According to Ronald Weitzer, a sociologist at George Washington University in the United States, this percentage of the United States is only 10% to 20% Ronald Vizers.

The sheer volume of data on the web has allowed outsiders to analyze the larger but less-understood parts of the sex trade market: In other words, the prostitution of those who do business behind closed doors. But surprisingly, the porn industry is strikingly similar to other services: the personal characteristics of prostitutes and the services they offer can have a direct impact on prices; small-audience services are more expensive; the internet can also make it easier for them to work more flexibly and cut off links.

Both independent prostitutes and prostitutes working through agents or brothels can create information on websites such as Adultwork to enable clients to contact them. They can also upload their own details, scope of service and charges. Customers can browse by age, bust, dress size, race, sexual orientation, or location.

There are also websites that collect information from clients, ask them to write comments about prostitutes, and describe detailed service and price information. On the UK's PunterNet website, clients can evaluate all types of prostitutes and choose whether to recommend them to others. A sex worker named Michelle Michelle, who has a sexual worker in this article, says it can help her build a personal brand and attract the clients most likely to value her services.

The overall decline in prostitution

We analyzed information on 190,000 sex workers in an international review website. (Since the site is active in the United States, they are unwilling to disclose their identity in this article.) The website claims that the above information is "fictitious". Still, let's assume they can provide useful information. Each information includes a client's assessment of the sex worker's appearance, service and price.

These data can be traced back to 1999 years at the earliest. All the data we use will be adjusted to the price according to inflation. Some people may use more than one name or solicit business by proxy. The data cover 84 cities in 12 countries, with the largest number of sex jobs in the United States and most of the rest from big cities in other rich countries. Since the site only provides information on prostitutes, our analysis does not include data on prostitutes, but they account for about one-fifth of sex workers. In addition, almost all of the comments are from male clients.

Our analysis shows that the most notable trend in recent years has been a downward trend in the average hourly rate of prostitution (see chart one). The economic downturn triggered by the 2007-2008 financial crisis is clearly one of the reasons. Even prostitutes who traded in the least affected areas were also hit. Vanessa, who lives in the south of England, found her cell phone could not ring for weeks. Men, she says, think of buying the spring as a luxury, and they have to cut spending in this area as the prices of their daily necessities rise. Despite the sale, Vanessa was left out in the cold.

In places where the job market has been battered, the sex industry has been hit harder. (The legality of prostitution may also have an impact on prices, but the wide divergence between major cities in the United States suggests that this is not the only factor). In Cleveland, when unemployment peaked at 12.5% in 2010, the hourly rate of money was also sharply reduced.

Chart one: The average hourly rate of prostitution is declining

Large-scale immigration is also the main reason for the price reduction of prostitutes. Big cities like magnets attract people from all walks of life, including sex workers. Nick Mai, of the City University of London, studied foreign sex workers living in the UK and found that as they Nick Mai into the local community and gradually adapted to the local cost of living, the price tends to rise. But if people keep flowing, or where markets are inherently closed, immigration pushes prices down.

As the EU expands to include less developed Eastern European countries, workers from all walks of life are flocking to wealthy neighbours. Ribecca Petz of the University of Leipzig (Rebecca pates) found that, in all respects, the arrival of new immigrants living in poverty would lower the level of German investment. Sally, a British sex worker, is already in a semi-retired state, and several "mature" women in her southern England are engaged in sex trade. She says British girls are hard to get jobs and many Eastern Europeans are willing to accept low prices.

Mellen Skilbre, a sociologist at the University of Oslo, May-len Skilbrei, said that 20 years ago, most of the prostitutes in Norway were locals, and the fees charged were basically the same. Now, with the growing number of sex workers from the Baltic and Central European countries, as well as Nigeria and Thailand, this unofficial price-control measure has been unsustainable.

Lack of experience is also the reason for the low prices of new sex workers, at least initially. Maxin Dugan Maxine Doogan, founder of the American Association of prostitutes and porn providers, said she had learned the basics of getting started with a senior practitioner in Nevada's brothel. Nevada is the only state in the United States that can lawfully prostitute itself.

The older woman taught her the definition of standard services and additional services, as well as specific fees. When Dugan started to pick up passengers in 1988, the standard service charge was $200 per hour, equivalent to 395 dollars today. But she says fees for these services are still only 200 dollars. Some may even provide additional services without the use of condoms, but do not charge additional fees properly.

The rise of the network can attract more locals to engage in sex trading, thereby boosting supply. Women who look and get better or better educated have better marriage and career prospects. But the rise of online prostitution has also increased the likelihood of their offering sex services. Doing business behind closed doors is safer than showmanship in the streets and is less likely to be arrested. Providing services in rental or hotel rooms is also more prudent than in brothels. As a result, family and friends are less likely to know where their new income comes from. Anonymity became possible, thereby reducing the fear of a tarnished reputation. Due to the creation of online data to showmanship, so many people do not want to solicit the streets, but also joined the ranks of sex workers.

At the same time, broader social change is reducing demand, and thus driving down the cost of prostitution. Compared with the past, in today's internet age, people are more likely to find free and no conditions of sexual partners. Tinder and other applications have facilitated this one-night stand. Websites such as Ashley Madison and Illicit encounters also offer possible avenues for adultery. Social tolerance for premarital sex and the difficulty of getting divorced have led to fewer singles and married men seeking prostitutes.

Price Impact factors

Our analysis shows the relationship between the hourly rates of prostitution and the nature of the services provided by prostitutes and their published appearance. As with other industries, the need to pay higher prices for niche services. For example, prostitutes who can receive unnatural sexual intercourse and who can have sex with two clients at the same time, or who agree to serve clients with other women, can request higher prices (see chart II).

Figure two: You have to pay a higher price to find a niche service

Appearances are also important. Our survey shows that clients looking for prostitutes through the site value traditional Western beauty traits: slim and not weak, or beautiful women with blonde hair or busty breasts, which can charge the highest amount of money (see chart III).

Bleached hair is not really blond, so the premium level is lower, but still more "marketable" than other colors of hair. If the body is not hot enough, then from an economic point of view, breast augmentation surgery is worthwhile: from the flat chest into a D cup cover, the hourly rate of money growth of about 40 dollars. According to the price of 3700 dollars of conventional breast augmentation surgery, it takes about 90 hours to recover the cost.

Because 12% of prostitutes on the site claim to be physically fit, slim and have at least a D-cup chest, it shows that a significant proportion of them have taken this approach.

Figure three: In the sex industry, appearances are important.

The prices charged by prostitutes of different races and nationalities vary greatly. A factor can charge a high price in one place, and a discount is needed elsewhere. According to our analysis of the four major cities in the United States and London, black prostitutes charge less than white prostitutes (see chart IV).

Chart four: Black prostitutes charge less than white prostitutes.

Because of the scarcity of data, it is not possible to classify other cities according to race factors. But Christian Christine Chin of the University of America has conducted research on high-end transnational prostitutes in some countries. She found that the price of black prostitutes was high in Kuala Lumpur. In Singapore, the higher price is Vietnamese prostitutes. In Dubai, European prostitutes have the highest prices. Different regions have different definitions of "exotic" and "satisfying", depending on many factors such as population mobility.

In addition, there are some other slightly eccentric influence factors. According to the data provided by this website, the price of prostitutes in Tokyo is usually lower than that in London or New York. However, the cost of living in The Economist's think-tank suggests that Tokyo has the highest cost of living in the three big cities.

This anomaly may be due to the presence of prostitutes on a web site in English, mainly catering to foreigners. The unusual and more expensive services offered by Japanese prostitutes to their clients are often not available to foreigners, including bubble baths and massages provided by Sopurando in the red light district of Japan. The price of each transaction there is 60,000 yen (about 600 dollars), and there will be a pornographic service-though it is usually not publicized.

As in the conventional labour market, higher education often means higher incomes in the sex industry. A study by Scott Conningham Scott Cunningham of Baylor University and Compass Lexecon of the consultancy, Tode Kendall (Todd Kendall), shows that among prostitutes who work within a week, The average income of college graduates is 31% higher than that of non-college graduates.

The difference stems from a more lucrative working model for college graduates, rather than a higher hourly rate. Although sex workers with degrees are less likely to work within a week than others (suggesting that they are more at risk of taking prostitution as a sideline), they will receive more clients when they are at work, and longer. Their clients tend to be older men who want to maintain a longer sexual relationship rather than a momentary encounter.

The extent to which brothels and massage parlours use the internet depends on the provisions of local laws. U.S. legal restrictions force them to keep a low profile, whether online or offline. In the UK, although the law does not allow the establishment of brothels, but prostitution is not illegal, so massage parlors will advertise their watch and price on the internet, but the wording is somewhat veiled. In contrast, Germany's large brothel paradise has a very explicit, informative web site.

Enhance the flexibility of the profession

However, the most far-reaching impact of the Internet, but also those who are independent workers. Cunningham once tracked a number of sex workers in several cities in the United States on a website. In the decade ending 2008, internet advertising in the sex industry has soared and the proportion of independent workers has increased.

For prostitutes, the internet takes up a lot of workplace responsibilities. Work (Melissa Kila Grant Melissa Grant), author of the Act prostitute: work on sex work (Playing the whore:the Work of Sex Gira), believes that the internet is a "lounge and Employment Institute". The online forum replaces the office's drinking fountains. The prostitutes ' door communicates the various challenges and solutions that they encounter in their daily work. There is a very popular post in a forum that specifically explores which sheets are most capable of frequent washing.

A Scottish mother also asked other prostitutes on the internet how to deal with the relationship between caring for their children and receiving clients, since clients usually come directly to the door just after they have been called, so it is difficult to arrange a babysitter. And a prostitute who plans to have a baby asks if other peers are paying enough money to concentrate on having children and whether their income will decline after childbirth. One person replied that sex workers were more likely to take care of their children than other jobs: that the job was paid enough to raise children, and that they could go to school on holidays or when they had a group event. The child is ill and can spare enough time to take care of them.

Some women who are considered in the sex industry often go online to seek advice from others before making a formal decision. Melanie (Melanie), a woman earning 65,000 pounds (about 109,000 dollars) a year, is recently considering using her spare time for several months of prostitution in order to repay her debts. But she is still worried that it will have an impact on her future career. The experienced sex worker replied that if she works independently and does not showmanship through an agent, it is easier to hide her identity. But the other warned that it was now a crowded market. Moreover, this kind of double sided life brings the pressure cannot be underestimated. Therefore, this money is not easy to earn.

Many people who participate in these discussions online have other jobs, usually part-time prostitutes. In their view, there is a stable additional income, and will not have a negative impact on the resume, is the advantage of this job. Sarah says she can afford to pay for her daughter's dance and music lessons with the job. It is difficult for her to afford these expenses if she is only engaged in formal work. Some husbands and boyfriends also know the nature of their wives ' and girlfriends ' work, and even act as brokers, drivers and bodyguards for each other. Other women are secretive about the people around them.

Soliciting clients online makes prostitutes ' workplaces more flexible. They can go out to "travel", use the homepage or material page on the professional website, publicize their destinations, and the time of arrival. In the densely populated UK, prostitutes are available in most places, so they can be "traveling" to reach potential customers in big cities. In Norway, Skilbre says, prostitutes are concentrated in big cities, so "travel" can meet pent-up sexual needs in small towns.

The Internet's introduction of freelancers, part-time workers, and temporary workers for the sex industry could help it digest soaring demand in some special periods. During the Republican and Democratic National convention held in 2008, Minneapolis and Denver, the host, attracted an influx of about 50,000 people. Corning (20.08,-0.04,-0.2%) Another study by Hamm and Kendall found that, during the period, sex-service advertisements for the two cities were increased by 41% and 74% per cent in the sex services section of Craigslist, a classified website.

Health and safety issues

Sex workers are inevitably at serious risk: they may experience rape or other violence, and may also be sexually transmitted infections. But like other industries, the Internet is also improving their lives.

Through the Internet forum, prostitutes can share their experiences in security and avoid getting into legal disputes. Some sites also allow them to provide guarantees for clients they have already entertained, thereby enhancing the risk assessment capabilities of other peers. Others used a service such as Roomservice 2000 to conduct background checks on clients. Not only will prostitutes ' safety be elevated, but clients can also benefit because they don't have to provide credit card information or phone numbers to prove their credibility.

Where prostitution is prohibited, these websites must act with caution and avoid breaking the law. This June, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down Myredbook, a website dedicated to pornographic ads and reviews, and an online chat room for sex workers. American police sometimes use such websites to trap prostitutes. To circumvent these risks, sex workers often use websites that authenticate clients. But it can cause extra trouble and will ignore the most important security issues. "The identification of police is now more important than the recognition of rapists, thieves and kidnappers." "Dugan said.

In the UK, Ugly mugs operates a network database designed to provide prostitutes with the names and telephone numbers of their clients. In the United States, national blacklist can receive reports from sex workers, listing those who abuse prostitutes or refuse to pay. Other prostitutes will investigate potential customers by name, phone number, email address and web name. Although not targeted workers developed, but Healthvana and other applications can facilitate the sex industry buyers and sellers, sharing certified STD test results.

The channel is gradually changing

The shift to the internet means that prostitutes no longer need to rely on traditional middlemen-brothels, agents, pimps and bawd-to solicit business or offer trading venues. Some people decide to do it alone. Anna, a sex masseuse working in the US and the UK, says it can give them more independence. But it also means spending more time and energy and mastering more skills to sell yourself. "You need a good website and a lot of beautiful photos." You have to learn search engine optimization, which is time-consuming. "she said.

Other prostitutes still tend to have their brokers or assistants help them deal with "orders" and various issues on social media. "Today, a lot of people will contact you via Twitter, Facebook, personal websites and e-mail." "Dugan said. For example, through the eros.com website, prostitutes can tell their clients whether they are able to pick up a client. But that means spending one or two of hours on the internet to deal with a few odd chores. Not only that, online advertising is not cheap. Dugan once used 10% of her income for print advertising, but she spent much more money on online advertising than that because there were too many advertisers, but lower returns. What's more, it also takes time to investigate the honesty of clients.

At the same time, some traditional forms of prostitution are struggling. A survey by PLATFORM31, a Dutch research firm, showed that the number of registered sex clubs in the Netherlands had halved in the decade to 2010. The company believes that much of this decline has been offset by the growth of internet pornography services. Sietske Altink, one of the authors of the study, Stersk Alquinco that many prostitutes prefer to work in private places rather than prostitution in clubs or through surrogate Lanhuo. Many cities in the Netherlands prohibit such acts, but they are almost non-existent because they can be used online to recruit prostitutes.

Governments in many countries or regions are trying to control and regulate the sex industry, some for practical purposes, some for moral reasons, and some for fear that some people are forced to engage in prostitution. But in any case, the networking of the sex industry will make it harder to control and regulate. Vizers, a professor at George Washington University, says that, unlike in brothels, nightclubs or bars, buyers and sellers who make sex deals over the internet are more likely to be hidden and more mobile.

Ireland banned the advertising of colour-and-light services as early as 1994. But Greheum Erison Graham Ellison, a sociologist at Queen's University in Belfast, said the ban had little effect. Relevant websites can be moved to other jurisdictions. And the closure of sites such as Myredbook could also prompt similar measures in US companies. They could have operated under the pretext of "managed classifieds", but these excuses have become increasingly ineffective as the business becomes more professional.

For whatever reason, in the long run, there will always be people willing to hire prostitutes instead of sitting in bars drinking. With the growing coverage of the sex industry in the online world and the increasing wariness of practitioners, more people will pay to enjoy the service. More and more people may gradually realize that not all sex workers are exploited and forced to pick up their own passengers.

Such autonomous judgment-and the concealment of the sex trade itself-may mean that pornography practitioners will continue to be discriminated against. But in general, sex workers will benefit. The internet has upended many industries, and this oldest industry is no exception.