World's oldest profession, meet the world's newest technology. Sex has long been at the forefront of technological development. Not long after their invention, some printing presses turned from Gutenberg Bibles to somewhat less sacred fare. The earliest VCR buyers were guys looking to move from seedy theaters to the privacy of their homes. Many of the Internet's pioneers (or porn-oneers, if you will) were erotic entrepreneurs, developing profitable business models way ahead of the pack. And now, the sex industry has invaded the world of online networking.
Websites like Match.com have been a boon to those tired of traditional dating. These sites offer a quick way to search for desired qualities, locations, ages, or other traits. The seamier underside of this has been explosion of what one might call freelance prostitution. At sites like Craigslist the same technology used to set up date partners is used to set up johns and working girls. Nowadays, a freelance prostitute can enter the profession with only a computer, Internet account and means of transportation. From the comfort of her home — and without any pimp, madam or brothel — she can post her profile, pictures and contact info and wait for the calls to roll in. A site on Google even advertises tips on how to "start your very own escort agency," and even within close proximity of Princeton many thousands have.
Many college students as well have engaged, to differing degrees, in such "extracurricular activities." In 2001, the BBC found that 60 percent of the sex workers in the major British city of Leeds were full-time students. In our own Ivy League, a group of Brown coeds were busted in 1986 for operating an escort service from campus. Think how much easier running a student harem would be today using the Net than it was in the glory days of Wang Chung. (Note to cash-strapped Tigers: This is an observation, not a suggestion.)
There are risks, of course. My personal favorite story comes to me by way of my old friend Sam, a student at Berkeley. Sam's hallmate found a prostitute online, called her cell phone (every step of the process is digital, except of course the main event, when things get decidedly analog) and brought her up to his room. He proceeded to secretly tape the entire event on a webcam, including his awkward attempts at conversation (e.g. "Want to get lunch in the dining hall afterward?"), his lamentations about his physical "shortcomings" and, of course, the deed itself.
What he didn't plan on was his roommates finding the file on his computer and posting it online on a file-sharing network. As Sam remarked, "pretty soon the whole school had seen the tape, and he was a major campus celebrity, if an infamous and ridiculed one . . . Even at other schools people have mentioned seeing the video!"
Many of you might also have heard of (or even seen) the tape of the Washington, D.C., college freshman whose jilted high school boyfriend posted an old video of their lovemaking online — edited in the style of the MasterCard "priceless" commercials, naturally with "Revenge = Priceless" — along with her name, email and dorm address, forcing her to drop out — or so the legend goes. In this case, the girl did nothing wrong — it was her boyfriend's actions that turned her into an unwilling porn star — but it shows the dangers of the technology.
By nature, the Internet is a medium of liberation, both for good and ill. It allows humans to express themselves with far fewer constraints of distance, social recognition, and government regulation than ever before. Free of government oversight and social opprobrium, many are making the choice to trade sex for money. The freelance prostitute seems likely to be with us for a long time. Her profession is as old as mankind, and yet her methods are cutting-edge, with all the innovations of the digital revolution at her disposal. So the next time you see your neighbor receive a late-night visitor, take a second look: Princeton might just be hosting a bona fide 21st-century Internet "professional." Matthew Schonfield is a Wilson School major from Los Angeles, Calif. You can reach him at mschonfi@princeton.edu.
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