Food for Thought: What is the Future of Escorting?

[FaustOust]

 

Many have been in this hobby long enough to notice shifts —some subtle, some seismic. And lately, I’ve found myself wondering: where is this all going?

I don’t just mean how or where we find escorts (though that’s changed too over time), but what the whole dynamic even means anymore. Is the traditional client-escort relationship evolving? Is it at risk? 

There’s a lot packed in there that individually may have been points of discussion , but as far as macro-impact, a few trends and questions have been on my mind:

• Has digital replaced desire? With OnlyFans, X  (Twitter), and other platforms offering endless virtual engagement, are fewer guys actually booking in-person time? And if so—why?
• The BFE shift: Most escorts seem to offer some emotional connection as part of the package. Is that real, or just something to say in clever marketing?
• Pricing, professionalism, and polish: There’s been a definite rise in high-end presentation with online platforms such as OF, JFF, even among newcomers. Is the industry becoming more professional—or just more performative?
• Client anonymity and risk: With online visibility, reviews, and social platforms, is client confidentiality at risk?
• Legal and logistical concerns: Do current laws and payment platform crackdowns make this work harder to access and sustain for everyone involved?

To fellow clients: Have your booking habits changed? Are you finding it easier or harder to connect meaningfully?

To the escorts: How do you see your role changing? What are clients doing now that feels different from even 5 years ago?

Edited June 6 by FaustOust

[+ DrownedBoy]

I've seen no shift in hiring platforms for the past decade. I see no rise in professionalism - you still have to search out good ones, and endlessly suffer the flakes.

I'm sure OF and other content places are growing, but I personally need in person contact - you need more than the sense of sight. While some money is being made, it's rare to make good money off social media, especially when every escort and their brother is trying to.

[Ali Gator]

As with every industry in the world today, the escort industry has changed - and will continue to change - and I fear not for the better.  As with every other SERVICE industry we do business with on a daily basis: 

We have not only normalized bad customer service, we accept it and pay exorbitant prices for it. (And the majority of clients tip on it, too). We hardly discuss 'mediocre/bad customer service' anymore (whether in Starbucks or with a provider) because it's normal. We praise good customer service (which should always be expected) because it's so rare. (I recall when the reverse was true in the 70s and 80s). 

We accept paying more for less. (We book an hour appointment for a massage, and it's over in 30 minutes; and the majority of clients are afraid to speak up). Working the full hour gets the escort an excellent review because it's so rare.

The more the generations coming up are raised in their 'silos' with just their tech devices, and have little to no physical contact with others, the worst it will get. 

[pubic_assistance]

4 hours ago, FaustOust said:

There’s been a definite rise in high-end presentation 

I think THIS is the only substantive change. LOTS of pretty boys with Instagram physiques who have marketing campaigns that draw the "high roller" clientele of the world. 

Those of us with normal and even comfortable budgets can't reach the stratosphere of the new norm of Kardashian-world-style cock-commerce.

[+ José Soplanucas]

10 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

I think THIS is the only substantive change. LOTS of pretty boys with Instagram physiques who have marketing campaigns that draw the "high roller" clientele of the world. 

Those of us with normal and even comfortable budgets can't reach the stratosphere of the new norm of Kardashian-world-style cock-commerce.

I think that is only one side of the coin. The other side is the disappearance of the cruising spaces where we would interact and trade. Those lower prices spaces would keep the market average closer to mid-budgets. 

[pubic_assistance]

55 minutes ago, José Soplanucas said:

The other side is the disappearance of the cruising spaces where we would interact and trade. 

There was definitely a time when an attractive young man would utilize those spaces to meet supportive men discreetly. Today, there is less shame in being gay / less shame in publicly celebrating your sexual self / less shame in monetizing your sex life . ..so instead of relying on gay cruising spaces, they advertise their availability in a more public manner, and are well aware of where they stand in their visual merits. (Good looks / big dick / phat ass )

[+ Pensant]

13 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

The more the generations coming up are raised in their 'silos' with just their tech devices, and have little to no physical contact with others, the worst it will get. 

Well said! Just started reading iGen by Jean Twenge, PhD. She describes this isolation well. I have a coterie of 20-something providers and I treat them well and they reciprocate. I’m not engaging as many newbies from that age cohort anymore.

[+ Charlie]

Yesterday I got a spam/scam phone call which had nothing to do with sex or escorting (the caller claimed it was about new benefits offered by my medical insurer).  He had my name and birthdate, and wanted medical information about me. I quickly hung up on him, but googled the phone number to see what I could find about the caller, and was amazed to come up with related names and numbers of men and women who were advertising sexual services!

[Twinkslover]

never give any details. I get weird messages calls al the time. 

[Ali Gator]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

 I quickly hung up on him, but googled the phone number to see what I could find about the caller, and was amazed to come up with related names and numbers of men and women who were advertising sexual services!

Please don't rely on the information which comes up by Googling a phone number. I've been misled a million times. I even Googled my own phone number a few months ago ( a number I have owned since my first cell phone 30 years ago) and as I click on the results to 'see who this number belongs to',  my number belongs to other names, businesses, and different locations throughout North America.  NOTHING came up with my name / address, the rightful owner. Not even the cell phone carrier I do business with is correct. 

[+ Charlie]

The caller actually lived in a complex in which many of the other residents had ads offering sexual services.

Edited June 7 by Charlie

[Ali Gator]

7 minutes ago, Charlie said:

The caller actually lived in a complex in which many of the other residents had ads offering sexual services.

Actually, Google SAYS the caller lived in a complex in which many of the other residents had ads offering sexual services. I advise you to take this info with a grain of salt. You have zero proof any word in this info is correct. 

When I Googled my own phone number a few months ago, the info said I was a dentist in Boca Raton. The address they gave for my phone number was in BR, in a shopping center where none of the storefronts was a dental  office. It also said I'm 'in my 30s'.  So if I mistakenly called you one day, and you Googled my number, this is the info you would've gotten and probably believed it - wondering why a 30-something dentist in BR was calling you. 

For the record, I am not a dentist, I've never worked in a dentist office, I've never even visited Boca Raton, let alone reside there, and saw 'my 30s' 30 years ago. But Google says otherwise.

[+ Gar1eth]

On 6/6/2025 at 3:33 PM, FaustOust said:

 

Many have been in this hobby long enough to notice shifts —some subtle, some seismic. And lately, I’ve found myself wondering: where is this all going?

I don’t just mean how or where we find escorts (though that’s changed too over time), but what the whole dynamic even means anymore. Is the traditional client-escort relationship evolving? Is it at risk? 

There’s a lot packed in there that individually may have been points of discussion , but as far as macro-impact, a few trends and questions have been on my mind:

• Has digital replaced desire? With OnlyFans, X  (Twitter), and other platforms offering endless virtual engagement, are fewer guys actually booking in-person time? And if so—why?
• The BFE shift: Most escorts seem to offer some emotional connection as part of the package. Is that real, or just something to say in clever marketing?
• Pricing, professionalism, and polish: There’s been a definite rise in high-end presentation with online platforms such as OF, JFF, even among newcomers. Is the industry becoming more professional—or just more performative?
• Client anonymity and risk: With online visibility, reviews, and social platforms, is client confidentiality at risk?
• Legal and logistical concerns: Do current laws and payment platform crackdowns make this work harder to access and sustain for everyone involved?

To fellow clients: Have your booking habits changed? Are you finding it easier or harder to connect meaningfully?

To the escorts: How do you see your role changing? What are clients doing now that feels different from even 5 years ago?

Well the BFE may or may not be a marketing ploy. But that doesn't necessarily mean that escorts don't offer it if they say they do, some not offer it though they promise to, and/or some offer it in person when not mentioned in their ad. I mean everyone's personality is different. There are obviously going to be some guys who are more nurturing and some who are more wham-bam-thank you sir. And of course it's possible for an escort who doesn't feel that way-to fake it for the duration of the meeting. Or on the other hand I'm sure it's equally possible for an escort who feels more empathy to act cold and clinical if he senses the client prefers that. And there are all permutations of the above. 
 

As for escort rates, they're bananas. I'm not saying that it isn't an extremely difficult career. But the rates have exceeded the cost of living so much. When I was hiring from 2002 to 2016-I was often able to have a two hour session for say $325. I could often get a Friday to Sunday weekend with an escort for $1800 or if extending until Monday $2000 to $2200. When I had a career before it imploded, I had a low 6 figure salary. I frequently hired once or twice a week-or maybe more commonly every 2nd or 3 week. But even if I had that salary now, I'm sure I'd be hiring a lot less. I could justify $325 or $350 for a 2 hour meeting -there's no way I could see to routinely dropping $400 to $600 on a biweekly or even weekly basis. 
 

Interesting side note-and I can't remember how the subject came up to begin with-my mother when I was in high school or college -possibly in response to a TV program or documentary-said she didn't think prostitution should be illegal. I actually revisited the subject with her a few years back. And she said pretty much the same thing-although I'm almost 100% positive she doesn't know that her little Gman (that's what she calls me🤓🤓) has hired in the past. 

Edited June 7 by Gar1eth

[+ Charlie]

4 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

Actually, Google SAYS the caller lived in a complex in which many of the other residents had ads offering sexual services. I advise you to take this info with a grain of salt. You have zero proof any word in this info is correct. 

When I Googled my own phone number a few months ago, the info said I was a dentist in Boca Raton. The address they gave for my phone number was in BR, in a shopping center where none of the storefronts was a dental  office. It also said I'm 'in my 30s'.  So if I mistakenly called you one day, and you Googled my number, this is the info you would've gotten and probably believed it - wondering why a 30-something dentist in BR was calling you. 

For the record, I am not a dentist, I've never worked in a dentist office, I've never even visited Boca Raton, let alone reside there, and saw 'my 30s' 30 years ago. But Google says otherwise.

Interesting. I just googled my phone number, and almost everything in the report was correct, including my name, address, age, former addresses and phone numbers, partner, associates, relations, etc., etc. I wonder why your experience was so different.

[+ Gar1eth]

8 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

Please don't rely on the information which comes up by Googling a phone number. I've been misled a million times. I even Googled my own phone number a few months ago ( a number I have owned since my first cell phone 30 years ago) and as I click on the results to 'see who this number belongs to',  my number belongs to other names, businesses, and different locations throughout North America.  NOTHING came up with my name / address, the rightful owner. Not even the cell phone carrier I do business with is correct. 

 

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

Interesting. I just googled my phone number, and almost everything in the report was correct, including my name, address, age, former addresses and phone numbers, partner, associates, relations, etc., etc. I wonder why your experience was so different.

Sometimes they're correct,  and sometimes they aren't. I was testing a site out a few years ago. I put in one of my niece's info. Everything was correct except her age. 

[+ Charlie]

When I checked the record on my own phone, I discovered that I received a call from someone in that same residential complex a couple of days ago (I hadn't answered it and it went to voice mail, but they didn't leave any message). 

I made my original comment in this thread, because I wondered if one of the new developments would be providers calling potential customers in their neighborhood.