29 / 08 / 2019
4 Minute Read

Thoughts on sex worker reviews

Most sexworkers in Switzerland know by now, that there are two big forums concerning sex workers. It frequently attracts not only the clients but also people from the press, politicians, womens rights activists, agencies and last but not least: the ladies themselves.

Such forums exist in other countries too and most attempts to stop those proved unsuccessful. In times of «Tripadvisor»,  «IMDB», «Rotten Tomatoes» and just any other customer rating site, it’s no coincidence that a forum like «Sexy-Tipp» exists. Now, let’s look at the players and the stakeholders in such a venue!

 

The owners of the forum are more or less unknown. It’s helpful when they aren’t known at all, because such persons are in a very difficult position, as you can imagine. There may be everything from bribery to personal attacks, once the identity is revealed. This group also has to overview anything that is posted and that can be a lot! There is information that is too private and has to be deleted and so are any threats of violence. The redlight business is of course attracting a lot of shady protagonists leading to a often very questionable environment for all stakeholders. Yet, You don’t need to know me, but I can assure you that what happens behind the scenes is less glamorous but also less shady than many people think.

 

Many girls don’t feel well knowing there’s a forum out there which is resistant to every claim and take. After all, there are many visitors who have been turned down outright or some who just are slackers, bullshitters (sorry) or boundary pushers. Some of them get back to the forum to vent some steam or worse: to bully a working girl. But with anything in life, there is a natural balance and so are the reviews. There are more or less reliable clients and writers and some with a better reputation than others. Very dreaded and also dangerous are claims of illness, hygiene, drug abuse, alcoholism, unreliability or forced prostitution. It doesn’t happen alot but it does. And sometimes, one or more such claims even prove true!

 

Now, the review can be very intimate and this can also be a huge drawback for some. Not all services are given to every client. But what do you do if a «regular» (a returning customer) tells you that he read in a post that you were willing to give a certain service to another guest but not to him? Some ladies are now telling their visitors that they don’t wish to have a review or that he shouldn’t write about a certain type of performed service, even if he liked it a lot! Some guys use intimate details to relive the great session he had with his lady of choice, others want to entertain the readers and some tell fictional stories in order to brag about their sexual prowess. No one knows, and that’s the great beauty or the deep abyss of the digital age: it’s a coin with two sides.

 

There are no statistics on how many potential customers can be reached with the forum, but some professionals don’t give a lot on what is written there. Yet, most studios intervene if a claim is totally bogus and false, while other agencies post links to good reviews. If a place, agency or studio has consistently bad reviews, the chances that it will be gone soon are high though. The forum can be a real indicator and some writers are very familiar with the local scene. It’s even assumed that law enforcement has an eye on it. Last but not least, politicians and journalist frequently refer to the forums when they need to have a half way reliable source of information on sexwork from the client side.

 

How should an escort react to reviews? Customers who wrote good reviews will normally unveil themselves, count on it!  Clients who weren’t happy won’t return and there is nothing one can do about them. In some rare cases it’s obvious which one it was and the working girl can politely take to the forum and explain her view there. Because of nonexisting or feeble writing capabilities this doesn’t happen a lot, but any agency can help if any problems arise.

Some sex workers ask guests for reviews or they get to someone who writes one, even if a meeting actually never happened at all. More than one club owner has a group of clients that are willing to take to the forum in order to gain favors in the future. And sometimes writers are sent in order to do some damage to a competitor. In the last ten or so years following and writing for the forum I have seen that in most of the time, the reviews were accurate and for some girls, they proved to be very effective. If only one reader every other day decides to make a visit, this could already add up to a week of great earnings, do the math!

 

The final thoughts should be about the tone and the respect. The way that opinions are expressed by a certain person says more about herself or himself than about the subject! Please do not forget that behind every sex worker is personal history. Some of those are really really tough to digest. When I write a review I always keep this in the head. Yes, it happened to me, that I wasn’t very pleased and what followed was a tirade directed at me with angry text message – fair game! But is it really a fair game? It’s always helpful to question dear beliefs…

 

P. for TheVelvetRooms

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