Matt Mancuso

Prostitution on Craigslist

It was a Hump Day Hyjynx that caught my attention. Cruising the erotic services listings of Rochester’s Craigslist, I found her: smokin420chick4u, otherwise known as Raven the prostitute. Raven’s listing was mottled with reassurances that she would not “rush” or “be cold” like all of the other call girls. The one thing that made Raven stand out from the rest of these girls? She wasn’t nude.

About 45% of the listings display illegible alphanumeric text with a picture of a buxom young lady snatched straight off of a porno site. This isn’t to say that Craigslist won’t meet your needs: Middle-aged men and women, furries, midgets, and dominatrices all have their shot at internet recognition. Serious relationships and platonic blowjobs alike all roam this online jungle of listings that is Craigslist. Regardless of your search, though, it truly is difficult to avoid a glimpse of the naked body of someone you would have preferred to see clothed.

Some listings even offer discounts for their services that are tied to horrible sexual puns; Raven, for instance, offers a special on Wednesdays in the spirit of Hump Day. A small amount of others carry a suspicious element: The mention of video cameras. Why would anyone want to be filmed with a prostitute? In a certain sense, protection — for both prostitutes and clients alike.

If you’re filming yourself during sex, there is a likely chance that it falls under the zone of pornography instead of prostitution. New York Penal Law defines a prostitute as anyone “who engages or agrees or offers to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee.” If you’re able to make money off of a pornographic movie, however, your “clients” (the viewers) are not involved in the sexual activity itself. Therefore, it can be chalked up to clean, legal filmmaking; both yourself and your Craigslist prostitute leave unharmed.

While newspapers generate revenue from their (admittedly not as seedy) listings on a per-advertisement basis, Craigslist can get away with hosting the erotic services page because no money is gained on their part. To ensure this, no ads are permitted on any erotic services page. The rest of the website’s subsections, however, can contain as many as five different ads, all of which generate legal revenue for Craigslist.

There are currently 21 categories on the erotic services page, each varying based on basic sexual requirements. Say that Bethany, a woman, is in need of a studly duo of men one night: Her section of choice would be “w4mm,” where “w” stands for woman (Bethany), and “mm” stands for two men (Bethany’s erotic request). Transsexuals are also included and are denoted by a “t.” No more than two people can make the request, nor can more than two people be requested at a time for services. Yet, given the variety of listings, there is likely room for more people.

According to Craigslist, their erotic services page developed due to user input. Tired of the various dating advertisements, many users requested there be a separate place for the ads. Enter the erotic services page, a new home for prostitution listings.

Today, Craigslist allows a certain level of user screening for these ads by allowing users to flag listings as “inappropriate.” Granted, if you are viewing the erotic services website, your judgment of what is traditionally inappropriate may be slightly different from that of the norm.