Prostitution and the internet

More bang for your buck

鼓起你的腰包

How new technology is shaking up the oldest business
新技術(shù)是如何震動(dòng)這項(xiàng)老買賣

Aug 9th 2014 | From the print edition of The Economist

譯者：yangsalt

WARNING: We rarely feel the need to alert readers to explicit content. But our discussion of the online sex trade requires frank language, and some may find the topic distasteful.

警告：我們很少覺得有必要提醒讀者里面有露骨內(nèi)容，但是我們討論在線賣淫時(shí)需要直白的語言，有些人會(huì)覺得這些話題不適。

FOR those seeking commercial sex in Berlin, Peppr, a new app, makes life easy. Type in a location and up pops a list of the nearest prostitutes, along with pictures, prices and physical particulars. Results can be filtered, and users can arrange a session for a €5-10 ($6.50-13) booking fee. It plans to expand to more cities.

Peppr這款新的應(yīng)用，給想在柏林買春的人提供了便宜。輸入地址就有大量妓女出現(xiàn)，附帶照片、價(jià)格和身體細(xì)節(jié)。用戶可以過濾結(jié)果，還能交5到10歐元（6.5到13美元）的定金來安排會(huì)面。這款應(yīng)用打算擴(kuò)展到更多城市。

Peppr can operate openly since prostitution, and the advertising of prostitution, are both legal in Germany. But even where they are not, the internet is transforming the sex trade. Prostitutes and punters have always struggled to find each other, and to find out what they want to know before pairing off. Phone-box “tart cards” for blonde bombshells and leggy se?oritas could only catch so many eyes. Customers knew little about the nature and quality of the services on offer. Personal recommendations, though helpful, were awkward to come by. Sex workers did not know what risks they were taking on with clients.

自從賣淫和發(fā)布賣淫廣告合法以來，Peppr這款應(yīng)用可以開放運(yùn)作了。但即使在那些不合法的地方，網(wǎng)上性交易也照干不誤。妓女和皮條客總是想法設(shè)法來找到對(duì)方，還希望在媾合前知道自己需要的信息。電話亭里的金發(fā)大胸的和長(zhǎng)腿美女的“賣春小廣告”只能抓住一定的眼球。顧客無法知道服務(wù)的質(zhì)量和特點(diǎn)。朋友介紹雖然很有效，但是介紹起來總有點(diǎn)尷尬。妓公們也不知道顧客是否危險(xiǎn)。

Now specialist websites and apps are allowing information to flow between buyer and seller, making it easier to strike mutually satisfactory deals. The sex trade is becoming easier to enter and safer to work in: prostitutes can warn each other about violent clients, and do background and health checks before taking a booking. Personal web pages allow them to advertise and arrange meetings online; their clients’ feedback on review sites helps others to proceed with confidence.

現(xiàn)在專門的網(wǎng)站和應(yīng)用可以讓買賣雙方信息流通順暢，更容易達(dá)成愉快的交易。性交易變得更容易做也更安全：妓女可以警告別的姐妹那些比較粗暴的顧客，還能在預(yù)定前調(diào)查背景和健康狀況。個(gè)人網(wǎng)站可以讓她們網(wǎng)上打廣告，安排見面。她們客戶在評(píng)論網(wǎng)站上的反饋給了其他人信心。

Even in places such as America, where prostitution and its facilitation are illegal everywhere except Nevada, the marketing and arrangement of commercial sex is moving online. To get round the laws, web servers are placed abroad; site-owners and users hide behind pseudonyms; and prominently placed legalese frames the purpose of sites as “entertainment” and their content as “fiction”.

即使像美國(guó)這類地方，除了內(nèi)華達(dá)，賣淫并且為賣淫提供便利條件是不合法的，開發(fā)市場(chǎng)和安排性交易也在轉(zhuǎn)向線上。為了避開法律，網(wǎng)站服務(wù)器都放在境外；網(wǎng)站站長(zhǎng)和用戶用化名；在顯著地方放了法律聲明說這個(gè)網(wǎng)站主要是做“娛樂”的，內(nèi)容都是虛構(gòu)的。

The shift online is casting light on parts of the sex industry that have long lurked in the shadows. Streetwalkers have always attracted the lion’s share of attention from policymakers and researchers because they ply their trade in public places. They are more bothersome for everyone else—and, because they are the most vulnerable, more likely to come to the attention of the police and of social or health workers. But in many rich countries they are a minority of all sex workers; just 10-20% in America, estimates Ronald Weitzer, a sociologist at George Washington University.

線上的轉(zhuǎn)移讓我們看清部分長(zhǎng)期在黑暗中潛伏的性產(chǎn)業(yè)。因?yàn)檎窘峙偸窃诠矆?chǎng)所攬活，所以她們總是吸引到政策制定者和調(diào)查者的注意。別人更討厭她們，而且因?yàn)樗齻兪亲钜资軅Φ娜巳?，她們更可能引來警察或者是社?huì)和醫(yī)療工作者。但是在很多富裕國(guó)家，站街女只占性工作者很小的一部分；喬治華盛頓大學(xué)的社會(huì)學(xué)家羅納德·韋策估計(jì)在美國(guó)這一比例只有10-20%。

The wealth of data available online means it is now possible to analyse this larger and less examined part of the commercial-sex market: prostitution that happens indoors. It turns out to be surprisingly similar to other service industries. Prostitutes’ personal characteristics and the services they offer influence the prices they charge; niche services attract a premium; and the internet is making it easier to work flexible hours and to forgo a middleman.

可以從線上獲得數(shù)據(jù)的價(jià)值在于現(xiàn)在可以計(jì)算這個(gè)更大但是很少觀察到的市場(chǎng)：那些室內(nèi)性交易。結(jié)果這和其他的服務(wù)型行業(yè)很像。賣淫者的個(gè)人特點(diǎn)和她們提供的服務(wù)決定了她們的收費(fèi)；特殊服務(wù)會(huì)額外收費(fèi)；網(wǎng)絡(luò)使她們有了靈活的工作時(shí)間并使她們不再需要中間人。

Websites such as AdultWork allow prostitutes, both those working independently and those who work through agencies and brothels, to create profiles through which customers can contact them. They can upload detailed information about themselves, the range of services they provide, and the rates they charge. Clients can browse by age, bust or dress size, ethnicity, sexual orientation or location.

像“成人工作'這一類網(wǎng)站，既接受獨(dú)立賣淫也接受來自代理和妓院的賣淫，并提供顧客可以聯(lián)系買春的資料。她們可以上傳更詳細(xì)的資料，她們提供的服務(wù)范圍越多，收費(fèi)也越多。顧客可以按照年齡、胸、穿衣尺寸、種族、性取向和地點(diǎn)來分類瀏覽。

Other websites garner information from clients, who upload reviews of the prostitutes they have visited with details of the services offered, prices paid and descriptions of the encounters. On PunterNet, a British site, clients describe the premises, the encounter and the sex worker, and choose whether to recommend her. Such write-ups have enabled her to build a personal brand, says one English escort, Michelle (like many names in this article, a pseudonym), and to attract the clients most likely to appreciate what she offers.

其它的網(wǎng)站搜集來自顧客的信息。顧客把他們得到的服務(wù)，付的錢和遭遇詳細(xì)的上傳到網(wǎng)上。在一個(gè)叫做PunterNet的英國(guó)網(wǎng)站上，顧客會(huì)描述經(jīng)營(yíng)場(chǎng)所，遭遇和性工作者，還會(huì)告訴你她是否值得推薦。這些評(píng)論會(huì)為她建立個(gè)人品牌，一個(gè)叫米歇爾(化名，下同)的英國(guó)妓女說道。

TrickAdvisor

耍把戲的顧問

We have analysed 190,000 profiles of sex workers on an international review site. (Since it is active in America, it was not willing to be identified for this article. A disclaimer on the site says the contents are fictional; we make the assumption that they are informative all the same.) Each profile includes customers’ reviews of the worker’s physical characteristics, the services they offer and the price they charge.

我們分析了來自一家國(guó)際評(píng)論網(wǎng)站的190000份性工作者資料。（因?yàn)榇司W(wǎng)站也在美國(guó)活動(dòng)，所以他們不愿意公開名字。網(wǎng)站上的聲明說道此網(wǎng)站的內(nèi)容純屬虛構(gòu)，我們就假設(shè)這和真實(shí)的信息一樣吧。）每份資料都包含了顧客的評(píng)價(jià)，她們的身體特點(diǎn)，提供的服務(wù)和收費(fèi)價(jià)格。

The data go back as far as 1999. For each individual we have used the most recent information available, with prices corrected for inflation. Some of those featured may appear under more than one name, or also work through agencies. The data cover 84 cities in 12 countries, with the biggest number of workers being in America and most of the rest in big cities in other rich countries. As this site features only women, our analysis excludes male prostitutes (perhaps a fifth of the commercial-sex workforce). Almost all of those leaving reviews are men.

數(shù)據(jù)可追溯到1999年。每一份資料我們都選用近期的信息，考慮了通貨膨脹。有一些人可能不只一個(gè)名字，還可能同時(shí)通過代理工作。數(shù)據(jù)覆蓋了來自12個(gè)國(guó)家的84個(gè)城市，來自美國(guó)的最多，還有很多在其他富裕國(guó)家的大城市。因?yàn)檫@個(gè)網(wǎng)站只介紹女性，我們的分析就不包含男性性工作者（可能占了性交易勞動(dòng)力的五分之一）。留下這些評(píng)論的幾乎都是男人。

The most striking trend our analysis reveals is a drop in the average hourly rate of a prostitute in recent years (see chart 1). One reason is surely the downturn that followed the 2007-08 financial crisis. Even prostitutes working in places that escaped the worst effects have been hit. Vanessa, a part-time escort in southern England, finds that weeks can go by without her phone ringing. Men see buying sex as a luxury, she says, and with the price of necessities rising it is one they are cutting back on. Even when she offers discounts to whip up interest, clients are scarcer than they were. In places where the job market slumped, the effect is more marked (whether prostitution is legal may affect prices, too, but the wide variation between American cities shows that this is not the only factor). The cost of an hour with an escort in Cleveland, Ohio, where unemployment peaked at 12.5% in 2010, has tumbled.

我們的分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，最顯著地趨勢(shì)是近幾年來平均單位時(shí)間收費(fèi)的降低（見表一）。一個(gè)原因肯定是07-08年金融危機(jī)導(dǎo)致的下滑。即使那些影響 沒那么大的地區(qū)，賣淫也受了影響。Vanessa，一個(gè)英格蘭南部的兼職妓女，發(fā)現(xiàn)她的電話可以好幾個(gè)星期不響。他們覺得買春是奢侈品，她說，當(dāng)必需品價(jià)格上漲時(shí)，他們會(huì)先削減買春開支。即使她降低價(jià)格吸引人注意時(shí)，顧客還是很少。就業(yè)嚴(yán)重下滑的地方，效果更明顯（賣淫是否合法也會(huì)影響價(jià)格，大量美國(guó)城市間的不同顯示，這不是唯一原因）。俄亥俄的克里蘭夫，失業(yè)率在2010年到達(dá)了12.5%，買春一小時(shí)的花費(fèi)暴跌。

Large-scale migration is another reason prices are falling. Big, rich cities are magnets for immigrants of all professions, including sex workers. Nick Mai of London Metropolitan University has studied foreign sex workers in Britain. He has found that as they integrate and get used to the local cost-of-living, their rates tend to rise. But where the inward flow is unceasing, or where the market was previously very closed, immigrants can push prices down.

大量的移民是價(jià)格下跌的另外一個(gè)原因。大的富有的城市對(duì)所有專業(yè)的移民都有巨大的吸引了，這其中包括了性工作者。英國(guó)倫敦城市大學(xué)的 Nick Mai 研究了來英國(guó)的外國(guó)妓女。他發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)她們完成了整合，適應(yīng)了當(dāng)?shù)氐纳钕M(fèi)，她們就開始漲價(jià)了。但是不斷涌入的地方和以前市場(chǎng)封閉的地方，外來人員還是會(huì)使價(jià)格降低。

Since the European Union enlarged to include poorer eastern European countries, workers of every sort have poured into their richer neighbours. By all accounts prices have been dropping in Germany as a result of the arrival of new, poor migrants, says Rebecca Pates of the University of Leipzig. Sally, a semi-retired British escort who runs a flat in the west of England where a few “mature” women sell sex, says English girls are struggling to find work: there are too many eastern European ones willing to accept less.

自從歐盟開始納入貧窮的東歐國(guó)家，各種勞動(dòng)力就開始涌入它們的富有的鄰國(guó)。人們都說德國(guó)價(jià)格的下降是新來的貧窮移民的結(jié)果，萊比錫大學(xué)的 Rebecca Pates 說到。Sally是一個(gè)半退休的英國(guó)妓女，她在英格蘭西部經(jīng)營(yíng)著一家公寓。在那里有一些”成熟“的姑娘在賣春。Sally說到英國(guó)女孩都在想方設(shè)法找工作：有太多東歐人要錢少。

Twenty years ago most prostitutes in Norway were locals who all aimed to charge about the same, says May-Len Skilbrei, a sociologist at Oslo University. Today, with growing numbers of sex workers from the Baltic states and central Europe, as well as Nigerians and Thais, such unofficial price controls are harder to sustain.

20年前，挪威大部分賣淫的是當(dāng)?shù)氐?，收費(fèi)都差不多，奧斯陸大學(xué)的社會(huì)學(xué)專家May-Len Skilbrei說到?，F(xiàn)在隨著大量地來自波羅地州、中歐、尼日利亞還有泰國(guó)的性工作者的加入，這種非官方價(jià)格的控制很難維持。

Inexperience is another reason newcomers to prostitution may underprice themselves, at least at first. Maxine Doogan, an American prostitute and founder of the Erotic Service Providers Union, a lobby group, learnt her trade from a woman who worked for years in a brothel in Nevada, the only American state where prostitution is legal. The older woman taught her what to regard as standard or extra, and how much to charge. When Ms Doogan started out, in 1988, standard services (vaginal sex and fellatio) cost $200 an hour, the equivalent of $395 today. But some of those starting out now still charge $200, she says, or offer extra services, including risky ones such as oral sex without a condom, without charging an appropriate premium.

沒有經(jīng)驗(yàn)是新來的人收費(fèi)低的另一個(gè)原因，至少第一次是。Maxine Doogan，一個(gè)美國(guó)的娼妓同時(shí)也是性服務(wù)提供者聯(lián)盟這個(gè)游說組織的創(chuàng)始人，從一個(gè)來自內(nèi)華達(dá)的老女人那里學(xué)的如何做生意（內(nèi)華達(dá)是美國(guó)唯一一個(gè)賣淫合法的州）。那個(gè)老女人教給她什么是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)服務(wù)，什么是額外服務(wù)還有怎么收費(fèi)。Doogan女士開始做了，1988年，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)服務(wù)（普通的交和咬）一小時(shí)200美元，相當(dāng)于現(xiàn)在的395美元。但是那些剛開始做的現(xiàn)在還是收200美元，她說，還會(huì)提供額外服務(wù)，其中有些帶有危險(xiǎn)性，比如咬的時(shí)候不帶安全套且不額外收費(fèi)。

The shift online has probably boosted supply by drawing more locals into the sex trade, too. More attractive and better-educated women, whose marital and job prospects are therefore better, are more likely to consider sex work if it is arranged online. Indoor sex work is safer than streetwalking, and the risk of arrest is lower. Rented flats or hotel rooms are more discreet than brothels, so family and friends are less likely to identify the new source of income. Anonymity becomes a possibility, which lessens the fear of stigma. Creating an online profile separates the decision to take up the work from parading for punters.

線上的轉(zhuǎn)移也可能會(huì)因?yàn)槲嗟漠?dāng)?shù)厝藚⑴c交易來極大地促進(jìn)增長(zhǎng)。如果可以線上安排工作的話，更多迷人的受過良好教育的婦女會(huì)參與性工作，她們的婚姻和工作會(huì)因此前景更好。室內(nèi)交易比在大街上溜達(dá)安全，被逮捕的可能性也低。租來的公寓或者賓館房間都比妓院不引人注目，所以家人和朋友都不會(huì)知道新收入的來源。匿名成為了可能，減少了蒙羞的擔(dān)心。在網(wǎng)上創(chuàng)建一份資料是與決定為招攬顧客而游走不同的。

Meanwhile, broader social change may be reducing demand—and thus, prices. Free, no-strings-attached sex is far easier to find than in the past. Apps such as Tinder facilitate speedy hookups; websites such as Ashley Madison and Illicit Encounters, adulterous ones. Greater acceptance of premarital intercourse and easier divorce mean fewer frustrated single and married men turning to prostitutes.

同時(shí)，更加廣泛的社會(huì)變化可能會(huì)造成需求的減少，因此導(dǎo)致了價(jià)格的變化。自由的，不帶附加調(diào)價(jià)的性交易遠(yuǎn)比以前好做多了。像Tingder這一類應(yīng)用以及Ashley Madison 和Illicit Encounters這一類成人網(wǎng)站可以方便快捷的使她們找到皮條客。對(duì)婚前性行為和易離婚的更加能接受意味著很少有單身或者已婚男人去買春。

Dearer for johns

電影johns里的尤物

Our analysis shows how a prostitute’s hourly rate varies according to the nature of the services she provides and her reported physical characteristics. As in other bits of the economy, clients who seek niche services must pay more. Sex workers who offer anal sex or spanking earn on average $25 or $50 more per hour, respectively (see chart 2). Those who will accept two male clients at once or do threesomes with another woman command a larger premium.

我們的分析顯示出每小時(shí)的收費(fèi)是如何根據(jù)她提供服務(wù)的類型和被描述的身體特點(diǎn)不同而改變的。再別的生意中，特定服務(wù)是要加錢的。提供爆菊和打屁股的性工作者平均一個(gè)人多收25到50美元一小時(shí)（見表二）。那些接受雙飛或者加個(gè)別的女性來3p的要高多的錢。

（未完待續(xù)）

From the print edition: Briefing

本文僅供翻譯交流不代表譯者或者發(fā)布者同意文中的說法