On the hand hand that’s a bit unrealistic. On the other hand that can be sound economics and we see it in many businesses- it’s actually not so uncommon in the sex industry either.
Let’s examine the film first.
Vivian is a street hooker on Hollywood Blvd. she is not a high class call girl or escort. The film and several plot points and sequences go to length to show us she lacks etiquette and isn’t accustomed to even “business class” environments. She has to learn manners from a hotel manager just to be allowed to spend money at a store. Her dress is very “low class” even for the period. Street hookers often have VERY low rates and perform relatively risky (law and safety) work performing quick sexual acts in cars or public (or sometimes cheap motels etc.). In that time period- hell. Even now, a street hooker might charge $10 or so for most services. On the one hand- a “quickie” might take 5-15 minutes total of all goes well. BUT-
1. If it goes not well it can be much longer and
you can end up dead, injured, arrested, boned or not paid etc.
2. You probably aren’t seeing clients back to back to back nonstop all day every day, so it isn’t like since you could do 12+ quickies on the high side in an hour that you can do $10 or $20 or whatever times 12 and get an hourly earnings because you may only have one client in an hour or 5 in a day. Edward is perhaps more seemingly trustworthy than the average John on Hollywood Blvd. and obviously has money and spends it. She has already spent a night with him and not been killed or assaulted or frightened. So he has some degree of safety compared to 2-10+ random johns a day, and it’s basically a guaranteed income of $3000 for one week- which would still be good money for most people in 2023.
What this leaves out though are a couple important things. The deal was for the money PLUS a new wardrobe. A new high end wardrobe worth possibly as much and likely more than the pay. Wether she kept the clothes for personal use or to enhance her business and image or sold them after, that raises the actual amount of compensation considerably.
Also consider perks- do you think she lives in a fancy hotel and takes bubble baths and eats fancy food and gets room service and such in her usual life? She is essentially being compensated more than the average months salary for most Americans at the time for 6 days taking a “working vacation.”
Good food, a little fun, lots of perks. Also- she’s a street walker, not an escort or call girl. She is basically taking a self promotion and the experience, if she stayed in her career, and wardrobe, and possible networking, could set her up on a better paying and more lucrative path in sex work.
But it is very unrealistic in many regards. Or unlikely. Business folks and celebs and such hire escorts all the time- or their people do for them etc. most often they either need “arm candy” that looks good; or they need a pseudo partner. It is generally the case that escorts for higher income persons are often versed in the world of money and such. They generally need to “fit in” at least enough to not cause embarrassment or draw attention that makes it patiently obviously this isn’t someone this person shares interests with or ran into at the yacht club. It is even more common- especially for business folks, that escorts be almost like courtesans. Often they know funny but appropriate jokes, keep up with politics or business and economic trends or global news, know manners and etiquette and are often quite cultured. Because their clients will likely want to discuss such things and the topics may come up and they may need to be funny or witty or charming or respond in a conversation
between rich fancy pants and not look a fool etc. they may need to fit in in a conservative setting or liberal, any sort of people can potentially be clients and the more people they can appease the more potential business and the more valuable their skills often become. So there are certainly lots of examples of “arm candy” where they are expected not to speak and most people ignore them and there is a sort of area set asides where the “arm candy” might go when they aren’t required and relax a bit and even perhaps talk amongst themselves and such- but Vivian doesn’t really fit the “roles” that guys like Edward usually look for and they usually don’t pick up random street walkers. But that’s the core of the film- they appeal to the audience that Edward is not a “bad guy” because he was “desperate” and “at a low point” and doesn’t normally hire hookers or have a Rolodex of hookers.
Then they create a “meet cute” of sorts where in this unlikely situation he hires a hooker but finds her delightful and wants to spend time with her, so now he’s hiring her because he “likes her.” And then in the end the two fall in love which waves away all the sort of moral sticking points that might rub some audiences as problematic. So “pretty woman” lines up a scenario that is possible, similar has happened. But it’s an unlikely story overall full of improbabilities and coincidences and convenient happenings that are all lined up to try and create a “sweet” love story between a rich corporate raider John and a street hooker and have it fit neatly into a “family friendly” formula of “unlikely love” between people of vastly different backgrounds and social positions that is a romance trope. It isn’t really a documentary or a “ripped from the headlines” dramatic romance about rich guys hiring women for sex or companionship. It’s “modern fairy tale” that replaces a “prince”
with a yuppie day trader type and an “abused peasant girl” with a street hooker.
If Vivian were a a high class call girl who charged $100 an hour for overnights she wouldn’t be the “naive” and “innocent” “fish out of water” “salt of the earth” “common folk” to counterbalance the “out of touch” “morally lost but good hearted” wealthy “elitism” of Edward. Her life wouldn’t necessarily be “bettered” by falling for Edward beyond mass audiences finding “wife” a more admirable life choice than “well paid call girl who gets to meet often interesting people and have varied experiences at her diversion while making the salary of a high end banker for the time.” But her “alley cat” “county mouse” life is “bettered” by Edward and his culture and riches while she brings him a “moral compass” and the “joy” and “simple wisdom” missing from his life.
It’s just a trope story with a twist but then massaged so that audiences of the time can treat a film rooted in a power imbalance between a sex worker and a rich client like a light and fun rom-com with no moral complexity or judgements that are and were common in society concerning sex workers and people who hire them as well as the other issues around all that. But yeah- it isn’t completely unreasonable that her hourly rate isn’t actually $100 or that even it if we’re she may be making a wise business choice by taking a contract for 144 hours of work for $3000 plus a new wardrobe and fringe benefits with a single client who while still as a client isn’t someone you can completely trust, has shown good faith to that point. We also need to remember that sex work can be an artistic pursuit- that is to say that many sex workers do enjoy degrees of flexibility in their work and where they can choose their clients, may favor jobs they find more enjoyable or less repellent than others even
when the profits are lower. There is of course a bias in the film that mirrors the social bias- as a street hooker or sex worker, Vivian plays the “Cinderella” trope- a girl in a bad place being rescued by a charming prince. This or course can be seen as an extension of a widely held belief that all sec workers should be pitied or seen as needing rescue from a life viewed as “beneath” what someone with other options would choose. We see this bias again in the concept presented in this meme- that Vivian choosing to take the job for a lower hourly wage is unbelievable or laughable. Of course right? She bangs for money right, so all that motivates her mind is money- the only people who would have sex for money would be people who only care about money and not their morals or social standing or anything else right? What emotions or motivations can a professional sex worker have other than money? That is the implication here.
“No. It’s true of all business!” No. It isn’t. If business is slow, if they like or feel for a client, if the job is easy- a contractor will often charge less, and if it is something they don’t like doing or don’t feel like or they dislike the client or are busy and want a “no” so they can save some time and stress a contractor may say no.
Workers on flexible schedules like retail will often refuse additional shifts because they don’t want the money. Artists vary their commissions greatly- painters and builders and even computer programmers- based on their feelings and needs to at a moment. Across industries and businesses we see cases where people aren’t motivated entirely by money. Teachers go to school for years to be teachers when they know the pay sucks. They may choose a public school with poor pay over a private one with high pay because they feel they can make a difference” more or such. Things like this.
So is it so odd that as humans beings that sex workers may on occasion put their feelings and desires and impulses ahead of profits? That just because someone will sell genital to genital penetration or oral sex etc. that they might, no matter how much was offered, refuse to do anal, or that they might allow only a few or perhaps one single customer to buy that service? That they may do things in their personal lives and not in the professional or vice versa? That they might find a client attractive or otherwise interesting in some way that may make them offer a lower rate or go over on time or put more or less effort in or offer or rescind services from what they usually do for a given amount or at all? Sex workers are people. Most of the time it is a job or a career for full time sex workers and money is important. Just like any other job or career how important varies.
A rich office worker or a broke beach bum might both say: “I quit my job. No I don’t have another lined up, but this is about more than money..” a well paid technician or a minimum wage worker can both have moments of work that they find enjoyable or that they decide to place extra effort into or to spend some of their “personal” unpaid time towards their work. We know this and accept it. Most of us have done similar- but is that such a bizarre concept that sex workers might be much the same? Ok. So let’s be clear here- while this concept, often subconscious, that sex workers are all victims or have been “forced” into such a life or hate themselves or their lives or suffered abuse or blah blah- it’s bogus. That said- many sex workers ARE forced or coerced. Many are only there because they have no other options or as a result of abuse and trauma and exploitation. Not every sex worker is “empowered” and ”choosing their own path” or whatever.
Because as said above…
Sex workers are people. As people they are like other people- not monoliths. The industry isn’t a monolith like most others aren’t either
I’ve worked retail type jobs and warehouse jobs in my younger days and met all sorts of folks. Amazing folks I’d sometimes wonder why they were they with a kid like me at the same job- pilots and investment bankers and ex corporate managers and all sorts of people. Some just took part time jobs for extra cash or employee perks or other reasons- but I’d find that a lot of them either had no choice or chose to. What I mean is that the corporate manager- he just got caught up in bad luck. He lost his job, got divorced, couldn’t get hired in his job and kept getting turned away for positions he was “overqualified for” and he needed money to lost his bills. A retail salary gave him enough to eat and keep afloat. The whole time he was trying to get out and the second he could he went back to the corporate world. The pilot- they just liked the job.
The warehouse we worked paid well and had good benefits. Not pilot good but good enough that he wasn’t doing so much worse on quality of life. He also wasn’t always traveling and under stress and got to move around and be physical at work. He was happier on his life because of the flexibility and the way the job allowed him to work and live. It wasn’t something he particularly liked doing or anything, but it wasn’t something he hated and he was god at it. So I mean- these are just a couple examples but sometimes an industry- like many retail or warehouse jobs, can be predatory. A meat grinder that loves when it can get labor that has no options and especially when that labor is good at the job and is effectively stuck. The sex industry can be extremely predatory and abusive. It can involve literally trapping people or figuratively trapping them. Mental abuse, physical violence, coercion, using drugs or other means, or using promises or threats regarding family and such or many others
Trafficking, slavery, pimping, manipulation, lies. Taking advantage, any number of socioeconomic factors that can play in to things. It’s alot. There’s alot that can be dark and horrible. Even when workers choose the job willingly and have some enjoyment there are those who can endanger and abuse or prey on them. So don’t take this is some sermon about how noble and independent the sex worker is- some maybe are, some maybe aren’t. No one is perfect. The point was that there is a general stigma and all manner of stereotypes around sex workers. They tend to be treated as or seen as stereotypes, extremes, abstract stand ins for moral beliefs or what not. People. Each is a person. A person who may be choosing things and have other options but prefer this one, or a person who can’t see any better options, or a person being forced against pain or death or such. The topic gets complicated and nuanced but “they are people” is about as simply and universal as it can get- I guess technically..
There are sex workers that aren’t people- like by species such as perhaps a gerbil or donkey- but that is off topic and I mention it just to be precise and accurate- but let’s assume when I say sex workers here I mean human sex workers. So yeah- they are people and the reasons and oaths that lead to a place vary person to person, not all sex workers are all about cash and not all are trapped or cornered into the industry. It can be a fun and lucrative career or a way to express oneself or even explore things etc etc. it can also be the only job a specific person might have available that pays their bills or the wages they want; or literal slavery. So it varies but we should try to be cognizant of sub conscious or open bias that passes blanket judgment over sex work or those who do it.
Tl:Dr and commentary removed:
1. The deal was $3000 and a wardrobe of designer clothes for 6 days- those clothes aren’t cheap which changes the math.
2. Factor in perks- it is unlikely a Hollywood Blvd. street hooker on average would be eating so well and staying in such nice accommodations with room service and cleaning and such.
3. The economics checks out. Assuming her standard rate was $100 an hour- somewhat dubious and more likely a figure quoted to Edward a “whale” who obviously has money and is ignorant of rates and practices in the industry- but street hookers sometimes do work by and with motels with hourly rates- however Hollywood Blvd. street hookers are usually giving car quickies or behind the bushes type services and rates for street hooker services are often as low as $10. If a quickie can be completed even as fast as 5 minutes start to finish- that’s $120 an hour- IF you do 12 back to back and do that all day and night. Likely conspicuous and probably not quite..
.. that fast. So you might make $100 an hour but you may only work a couple hours in a day- meaning that your daily and weekly are still under $3000 potentially.
4. On perks- the general risks like violence or non payment or arrest are reduced by sticking to a single John who has shown good will. Even if he didn’t pay her, simply selling the clothes would probably compensate her- and that’s without the jewelry or other items and services she received.
It IS possible Edward could have “played with her” and then called the police and accused her of theft- by by the movies early points he’s already established enough evidence that it would be difficult or unlikely for him to successfully pull that off- so she can assume she is as safe as one can probably be while living with a strange rich man who cruises around looking for street meat.
5. It is common to discount time when long term bookings are made across business sectors.
So in a nutshell that’s the rebuttal.
Let’s examine the film first.
Vivian is a street hooker on Hollywood Blvd. she is not a high class call girl or escort. The film and several plot points and sequences go to length to show us she lacks etiquette and isn’t accustomed to even “business class” environments. She has to learn manners from a hotel manager just to be allowed to spend money at a store. Her dress is very “low class” even for the period. Street hookers often have VERY low rates and perform relatively risky (law and safety) work performing quick sexual acts in cars or public (or sometimes cheap motels etc.). In that time period- hell. Even now, a street hooker might charge $10 or so for most services. On the one hand- a “quickie” might take 5-15 minutes total of all goes well. BUT-
1. If it goes not well it can be much longer and
2. You probably aren’t seeing clients back to back to back nonstop all day every day, so it isn’t like since you could do 12+ quickies on the high side in an hour that you can do $10 or $20 or whatever times 12 and get an hourly earnings because you may only have one client in an hour or 5 in a day. Edward is perhaps more seemingly trustworthy than the average John on Hollywood Blvd. and obviously has money and spends it. She has already spent a night with him and not been killed or assaulted or frightened. So he has some degree of safety compared to 2-10+ random johns a day, and it’s basically a guaranteed income of $3000 for one week- which would still be good money for most people in 2023.
Also consider perks- do you think she lives in a fancy hotel and takes bubble baths and eats fancy food and gets room service and such in her usual life? She is essentially being compensated more than the average months salary for most Americans at the time for 6 days taking a “working vacation.”
Good food, a little fun, lots of perks. Also- she’s a street walker, not an escort or call girl. She is basically taking a self promotion and the experience, if she stayed in her career, and wardrobe, and possible networking, could set her up on a better paying and more lucrative path in sex work.
If Vivian were a a high class call girl who charged $100 an hour for overnights she wouldn’t be the “naive” and “innocent” “fish out of water” “salt of the earth” “common folk” to counterbalance the “out of touch” “morally lost but good hearted” wealthy “elitism” of Edward. Her life wouldn’t necessarily be “bettered” by falling for Edward beyond mass audiences finding “wife” a more admirable life choice than “well paid call girl who gets to meet often interesting people and have varied experiences at her diversion while making the salary of a high end banker for the time.” But her “alley cat” “county mouse” life is “bettered” by Edward and his culture and riches while she brings him a “moral compass” and the “joy” and “simple wisdom” missing from his life.
Workers on flexible schedules like retail will often refuse additional shifts because they don’t want the money. Artists vary their commissions greatly- painters and builders and even computer programmers- based on their feelings and needs to at a moment. Across industries and businesses we see cases where people aren’t motivated entirely by money. Teachers go to school for years to be teachers when they know the pay sucks. They may choose a public school with poor pay over a private one with high pay because they feel they can make a difference” more or such. Things like this.
Because as said above…
I’ve worked retail type jobs and warehouse jobs in my younger days and met all sorts of folks. Amazing folks I’d sometimes wonder why they were they with a kid like me at the same job- pilots and investment bankers and ex corporate managers and all sorts of people. Some just took part time jobs for extra cash or employee perks or other reasons- but I’d find that a lot of them either had no choice or chose to. What I mean is that the corporate manager- he just got caught up in bad luck. He lost his job, got divorced, couldn’t get hired in his job and kept getting turned away for positions he was “overqualified for” and he needed money to lost his bills. A retail salary gave him enough to eat and keep afloat. The whole time he was trying to get out and the second he could he went back to the corporate world. The pilot- they just liked the job.
1. The deal was $3000 and a wardrobe of designer clothes for 6 days- those clothes aren’t cheap which changes the math.
2. Factor in perks- it is unlikely a Hollywood Blvd. street hooker on average would be eating so well and staying in such nice accommodations with room service and cleaning and such.
3. The economics checks out. Assuming her standard rate was $100 an hour- somewhat dubious and more likely a figure quoted to Edward a “whale” who obviously has money and is ignorant of rates and practices in the industry- but street hookers sometimes do work by and with motels with hourly rates- however Hollywood Blvd. street hookers are usually giving car quickies or behind the bushes type services and rates for street hooker services are often as low as $10. If a quickie can be completed even as fast as 5 minutes start to finish- that’s $120 an hour- IF you do 12 back to back and do that all day and night. Likely conspicuous and probably not quite..
4. On perks- the general risks like violence or non payment or arrest are reduced by sticking to a single John who has shown good will. Even if he didn’t pay her, simply selling the clothes would probably compensate her- and that’s without the jewelry or other items and services she received.
It IS possible Edward could have “played with her” and then called the police and accused her of theft- by by the movies early points he’s already established enough evidence that it would be difficult or unlikely for him to successfully pull that off- so she can assume she is as safe as one can probably be while living with a strange rich man who cruises around looking for street meat.
5. It is common to discount time when long term bookings are made across business sectors.
So in a nutshell that’s the rebuttal.