The first steps towards modern escort prostitution
The following
centuries did not make any significant changes in the development of escort
prostitution until the nineteenth century, when the industrial revolution and
its new brilliant inventions had a formative force on the world of escort
prostitution. The last centuries, so to say, had problems with prostitution due
to the rapidly spreading sexually transmitted diseases. Syphilis produced
hundreds of thousands of victims through brothels and from under the skirt of
street prostitutes all across Europe.
In the new
centuries escorts belonged to the elite echelon, and they were considered as luxury
items on the sex market. Typically, escorts were the entertainers of noble and
gentry groups (civil servants, politicians, and wealthy men) who were happy to
appear in cafes, restaurants or at exclusive social gatherings in clubs.
Also it happened
in the 1900s when the formation of the word ‘call girl’ came into existence.
Nowadays, many tend to say that escort girls are call girls, but in the 1900s
it meant only a prostitute who was available for a date (usually in a famous or
luxurious brothel). So, the present escorts are wrongly interpreted as call
girls of the 1900's because they are two separate concepts. On the other hand,
it is also common to make a time point to reserve a prostitute by phone in the countries
where prostitution is legal (Germany, the Netherlands).
In the 1900's, however,
escorts did not have as good social reputation as their ancient colleagues used
to have or in the Renaissance and we cannot claim that they possessed knowledge
similar to their predecessors, and neither can we say that they had influence
on political decisions, but their main characteristic was preserved: they did
not work in brothels or in the streets, but - to say - they were a paid
concubine or an entertaining paid lover. Escort girls undoubtedly stood out of the
crowd, and their elegance mostly suggested that they were living in good
financial conditions and that ordinary people with ordinary earning had little
chance to conquer them.
Slowly we have come
to the current situation of escorts. As we have seen so far, the existence of
escorts and their prostituting activity cannot be described as a profession
that starts from a primitive form and then becomes a social position. Escorts service
and prostitution can operate always in accordance with the current social
structures, laws, religion, and - and remember - with organized criminals. Here
the question is how we call it and how the profession lives on in the public
awareness. A good example is the servants of the 1900s. Rich families chose maids
so that young noble boys could use them sexually during puberty. So, is it a
paid sexual service carried out by female servants whose responsibilities
included sexual service apart from housework? In the concept of the age this
was not prostitution but an opportunity for young people to be introduced into
sexuality.
So, if we want
to understand the present-day organization of the escort profession, and what
it is, it is not enough to make a mere concept of it. We have to look at
everything (society, sociology, market, demands, clients, laws marketing,
sexuality of the age, etc.) around it. Later on, we are attempting to present
these processes so that we will be finally able to get a round and
understandable picture of what ESCORT means in the context of today's age.