Posted on by Amanda Brooks

backpage, ashton kutcher and prostitution

I love this cover
I love this cover

This is a very quick post. I’m sure I’ll think of better things to say this weekend.

a little background

After Craigslist fell, everyone’s attention turned to Backpage. The attention cranked up but Backpage wasn’t saying much, however it instituted new advertising policies that just got in the way of adult sex workers advertising there.

The point of intersection came with the Superbowl in Dallas and the hordes of underage girls being trafficked into the city. Like, so many of them every single hotel in the metroplex would’ve been booked solid with working girls under the age of 18. The Dallas Observer, part of Village Voice Media, made much of the non-event that was the Superbowl (not including the ice storm — which was an event).

Meanwhile, over on the West Coast, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, along with assorted other female celebrities, have been braying about the problem of child sex trafficking in the US. They’ve been raising millions, attempting to influence legislation and are making a lot of noise about this huge “problem” that even they admit has no solid numbers.

The Village Voice ran a story making fun of Ashton’s “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign and questioning the numbers of underage trafficking victims. Ashton took offense and started a Twitter war. He has a scary number of followers who are not sex workers yet consider themselves experts on underage trafficking because they follow his Tweets. Um, yeah.

Which brings us to…

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Posted on by Amanda Brooks

ps: escort plagiarism

— If you’re an escort struggling to uniquely express yourself online, maybe try Better Than Great by Arthur Plotnik.

— One could view The Prestige as a tragedy about stealing another’s idea.

— A good friend of mine is trying to rework her site. I really don’t know why she’s trying so hard. She could save so much time and energy by just finding a site she really likes and copying it. Everyone’s doing it!

— If you’re not convinced by the complaining about escort plagiarism you’ve read here, just Google the phrase “Intimacy and closeness are things I crave.” I don’t what poor girl wrote it first (Chelsy Heyden?), but I feel sorry for her.

— At least one escort explains in her FAQ that others steal her text and photos. Really wish IDoNotHaveaBrain was still around with their “Original Content” badge. Would be even easier for them to check with Copyscape. Sigh.

— Escorts should invoice plagiarists. According to the February 2010 issue of Writer’s Digest, freelance rates for webpage writing range from $40-$125/hr (or $0.21-$2.62 per word); email copywriting $64-$125/hr (or $300 per email!); online editing $25-$100/hr (or $3-$4/page). A pretty nice bill when you add up someone taking your entire ad-text and your website pages! Even better if they take some blog posts too — more billable work for you!

— Geisha Diaries made a post about this very topic the same day I did. They offered some good ideas on content-protection.

Posted on by Amanda Brooks

clueless

Not the post I was writing for this week (I write very slowly), but just two short bits, one very funny, the other rather sad.

— One very special man wants to know how to book an escort and hotel room package. While I would love for this to actually be an option, it would be a can of worms even in legalized countries. (Except for those all-inclusive, buy-a-very-poor-girl-very-cheaply-for-the-entire-weekend tropical resorts.) Also, I’m not sure how well a hotel room/escort package would go over with the “mystery” bidding on hotel sites (like Priceline).

— In general, mainstream cluelessness, MSN posits there is actually a wrong way to show cleavage and gives us a photo gallery of examples. My issue with most of the photos they chose is that the women simply have natural breasts, naturally-presented. These are what real boobies look like; minus taping, makeup, special bras and/or implants (examples of implants and special effects are in the gallery as well). Apparently this simple fact of nature is lost on fashion/entertainment editors. What a sorry, sorry moment. The women with real breasts in this gallery have nothing to be ashamed of.

Posted on by Amanda Brooks

what are you really paying for? 4

The Simpsons have the answer for everything. In one brilliant line, Moe Szyslak answers the question above and solves the Gordian Knot of dating issues in the US.

Just watch episode The Blue and The Gray till 4:40. Or watch the whole episode, it’s fun!

(In case you can’t get the video going, Moe walks into a pickup artist/dating seminar and says: “Uh excuse me. Is this the seminar where you learn to pick up free escorts?”)

Posted on by Amanda Brooks

why craigslist matters

ne requiescat in pace

At this point, it’s faded into dust. Old news. Everyone’s moved on. Except me, obviously.

a personal history with craigslist

I’ve used Craigslist to find living quarters, household odds and ends, sold/swapped items, attempted to navigate the Personals (and still read them just for the laugh, not for the penis pix) and yes — advertised my Erotic/Adult Services on there, both in the US and several other countries.

Any provider will tell you advertising on CL was hit-or-miss. Not only was it stronger in some cities than others, it was certainly stronger in some countries than others. And sometimes the geographical differences were distinct for non-financial reasons: like the number of thick-skulled, hyper-romantics in Asia who confused the Erotic Services section with the Personals vs the crudity of London punters responding to the ads (they were not confused, BTW). One thing never changed: a literate ad with a decent picture stood out in every city, every country. (And then I got to watch how literate the other ads would suddenly become, usually mangling the English worse than their own, original writing.)

It was very much an open market and in many ways, the Internet version of standing on the street. Or perhaps sitting at the bar. At best.

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