Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Go ahead. Stick a fork in it.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                                 

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

Red Light District Data Collection

Tapping prostitutes' knowledge
  (+10, -4)
(+10, -4)
  [vote for,
against]

A web-based database prostitutes and researchers can use to gather data about male sexuality.

Sex-workers know a lot about men (and also often about the wives / partners of these men). But their knowledge is not put to use.

Sexologists can enter a call for data-gathering around a particular subject, and the sex workers would then enter the data, in return perhaps for a fee.

Alternatively, the database can be used by the prostitutes themselves for basic market research (current prices, practises, special services, trends, etc...), which might help them in their jobs.

Membership of the website would be anonymous, but to ensure that only sex-workers would participate, each of them would be visited and offered a unique code to use for the activation of the membership.

Such a database could yield a wealth of knowledge about many aspects of male sexuality and human relationships. It might also facilitate some aspects of the sex-workers' profession.

django, Sep 01 2008

[link]






       "Sex workers know a lot about men..." kind of true, but more accurate to say that sex workers know a lot about men who visit sex workers... All the results would be necessarily skewed by this fact, so may not apply universally to the population at large. Interesting nonetheless, though.
lostdog, Sep 01 2008
  

       True [lostdog], that's a basic given, and not uncommon to a lot of social and ethnographic research.
django, Sep 01 2008
  

       + interesting is true. Also, the reverse may be said that men who frequent the Red Light District can share knowledge about prostitutes and women who choose that profession.
xandram, Sep 02 2008
  

       xandram - www.punternet.com is a UK "resource" for exactly that. Its (often frighteningly) detailed. Makes good reading! <ahem>
dja, Sep 02 2008
  

       Erm, exactly what "wealth" is there in regards the mighty subject of "male sexuality"?   

       Global Warming - "What shall we do about it? I know, lets ask our experts in 'male sexuality'".   

       Cure for Cancer - "I know, let's check with our sexperts in order to mine their 'wealth of knowledge'"   

       Mission to Mars - "How will we get there? Hmmm, perhaps if we run some analysis against this wealth of fuck-data."   

       T.O.E. - "How exactly will we resolve the question of the incompatibility between our understanding of the macroscopic-relativistic world with that of the the spooky quantum universe? I know, let's consult the cock facts."   

       So, my facetious examples aside, what benefit could we (or anyone) gain from this carnal compendium of copulation?
zen_tom, Sep 02 2008
  

       Why would a mission to Mars be any more important than knowing the effects of biorhythms on the intensity of the male orgasm?
django, Sep 02 2008
  

       I suppose that depends on who's having the orgasm.
zen_tom, Sep 02 2008
  

       Not your Mars explorer, that much is certain.
django, Sep 02 2008
  

       One correction; prostitutes know a lot about males who go to prostitutes. I suspect that this might skew the data somewhat. It might be useful to other prostitutes but it would be a very poor sample if what you wanted to study was male behavior as a whole. This is similar to the Kinsey paradox: If you set up a booth that says "tell me about your sex life" the people who show up are likely going to have something to talk about.
WcW, Sep 02 2008
  

       Ever had a look at the clinical trials some pharmaceutical companies are willing to research?   

       I'm pretty sure that there are facets of sexual activity that have not been researched. Maybe the wealth of porn on the internet just makes it hard for me to locate, but I'm pretty sure there aren't a lot of studies on the results of sounding, stretching, or bondage. Prostitutes would likely know a bit about these facets of male or female sexuality that few others could research.   

       Is it a wealth of information? I suggest it's as much a gold mine of knowledge as the lastest data on lichen enzyme research, and may actually prove more useful some day.
ye_river_xiv, Sep 03 2008
  

       Yawn.   

       It annoys me, you see, to hear that things like 'sounding' are deemed so important that they even get their own word; and someone will have probably decided on a flag to signal to other people that they like interfering with themselves in this particular way. I enjoy drinking tea, but I'm not about to start up a tea-drinking awareness group, and begin flouting a special button just so others of my persuasion can nod at me knowingly as they pass in the street. This whole 'sexuality' thing just strikes me as being complete bollocks.   

       People just get horny every now and then - and that's all there is to it. To build an identity around or to define oneself only in terms of what makes them experience orgasm or otherwise have a physiologically good-time suggests a distinct lack of anything else of interest to talk about or do with their lives.   

       Person A: Good morning, lovely weather by the way. Excuse me, but would you mind informing me as to what forms of self abuse most quickly bring you to orgasm?
Person B: Well as it happens, I'm rather fond of inserting foreign objects inside my urethra.
Person A: Splendid! Now could you tell me how many more stops it is before Basildon?
zen_tom, Sep 03 2008
  

       I've never experienced basildon.
po, Sep 03 2008
  

       Few people have. By rail, it's about an hour from Billericay - but you have to go via Southend.
zen_tom, Sep 03 2008
  

       Is it near the hanging gardens of Babylon?
theleopard, Sep 03 2008
  

       [zen] "tea-drinking", eh? Is that a euphemism?
hippo, Sep 03 2008
  

       Yes, I have "drunk tea" on more than one occasion - esp. when "in Billericay". I have also been known to "go to Romford", and find it quite agreeable there - particularly the dogs.
zen_tom, Sep 03 2008
  

       If they every put this database up on the Web, the domain name they should use ought to be johnslist.com, is all I'm saying.
milkfish, Sep 04 2008
  

       //begin flouting a special button// I think you mean 'flaunting'.   

       Flouting a button, on the other hand, is a more interesting idea implying, as it does, that you ought to be in some way constrained by a button, but have decided openly to ignore that button and its constraint. Button-flouting could be implemented with respect to clothing buttons and/or with respect to electronic control buttons... or maybe button mushrooms.   

       I wonder what it would look like.
pertinax, Sep 04 2008
  

       So my question is: what's there to know about men who go to hookers? They want some action and can't get any without paying for it.   

       That's it. Problem solved.   

       Besides, it's not like hookers really do a lot with "relationships". the relationship begins with the offer and ends, normally with the hooker trashing the hotel room looking for the other part of the stash. you don't date them, you don't have a relationship with them, you don't call them for anything other than business. You really can't get anything more out of their "knowledge" except what turns men on and gets them to climax faster. But then again, we have a vast compendium of what does that. It's called pornography.
WhereYouAt, Sep 04 2008
  

       WIFRT (the title), I thought it might be a collection of OTHER information gained by prostitutes, as they talk to their client. Such as stockmarket tips, information on company take-overs, back-room deals, and other useful (not sexual) information. Who knows what a business-man might accidentally divulge?
Unless prostitutes are covered by a "Prostitute/Client Confidentiality Agreement" (like doctor/patient confidentiality)...
neutrinos_shadow, Sep 04 2008
  

       That gives a whole new meaning to the term "insider trading".
WhereYouAt, Sep 05 2008
  

       I find it unusual that people believe anyone develops a sense of being based on their sexual activities. Here in America, there are reports that chocolate provides this health benefit, and that health risk, and that your cell phones can give you cancer, and ruin your memory, but may stimulate growth of new brain cells so that you improve your ability to learn, blah blah blah.   

       A wealth of corporate sponsors and frivolous lawsuits have ensured that nearly all facets of modern life have been researched, with the health benefits and risks examined by professional scientists... All facets of modern life except for sex acts outside of the missionary position. These remain shrouded in a fog of fantasy and desire.   

       Someone thinks sticking doorknobs up their ass is exciting, so, someone else writes sleazy stories about how they trained themselves to take the whole door. Only a handfull of perverts and medical professionals know how much of the frame is too much. The full effects of brass polish, varnish, and splinters may remain unknown for decades.   

       I am of the opinion that medical knowledge which is of use for the safety of some individuals should not be limited to fields where a corporate entity deems legal protection necessary.   

       That I feel more information on human sexuality should be available is because I identify myself as a human, rather than a corporation, and not because I identify myself as some manner of pervert.   

       I have no desire to do any kind of drugs, but I still feel that the information regarding these chemicals, both legal, and illegal should be more widely available, and better tested.   

       It bothers me that people think research into one area might not improve life in other areas. The space race wasn't intended to improve life on earth, but brought us a number of very useful products and services.   

       A little sexpert research might be able to put an end to colostomy bags, discover new treatments for urinary tract infections, or get to the roots of paraphilia, and thereby find a cure for pedophiles, or at the very least, spot them before any harm is done. Without the research, nobody knows.
ye_river_xiv, Sep 07 2008
  

       That is all well and good, but I suspect that consulting cleaning ladies would provide more insight. Prostitutes only see a very narrow window of behavior and are likely too busy doing their thing to do much delving into their clients. It's not that the information isn't significant, this is just a really poor way of sampling it. Now if you trained the prostitutes in interviewing and data recording and tracked the Johns to prevent crosstalk then you might have something. Also remember that, like phone sex, a lot of deception is going on (less? or more? it's complicated...).
WcW, Sep 07 2008
  

       "Data entry", is it now guvna? Fifty quid an hour, and I always use an ergonomic desk, don't even ask.
BunsenHoneydew, Sep 16 2008
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle