Geld, spanning en aandacht: een verkennende studie naar Nederlandse hoogopgeleide sekswerkers

Prostitution is generally associated with victim hood and a weak social position. Highly educated sex workers do not fit this profile. However, not much is known regarding their motives and experiences. In this exploratory study we discuss the reasons why highly educated women decided to seek employment in escort, how they define and experience their work, how this interferes with their private life and how they experience the taboo and stigma, and deal with it. For this study we conducted semi-structured interviews with nine highly educated sex workers and one experiential professional. The women mentioned that the combination of money, excitement and attention has been the most important reason for choosing this profession. In the ‘world of escort’ they perceive themselves as beautiful, intelligent en socially skilled women who enjoy having ‘paid dates’ with men. This study sheds light on different aspects of the world of experience of these women: a ‘dream world’ full of excitement and adventure which however might also be a world of ambivalences.