There has been some recent discussion here on merb on the change in the scene recently with fewer new girls. I don't think only OF explains things.
Alex Cooper built a media empire off Call Her Daddy, a podcast massive with college-aged girls and young women. She signed a $60M deal with Spotify and then a $125M deal with SiriusXM. With her podcast, she essentially rebranded hookup culture as "girl-boss" empowerment, teaching her fans to view dating as a game where you manipulate men for clout and money before they can use you. She was so popular that Kamala Harris did her show when she was running, but not Joe Rogan.
Lately, she’s facing huge hypocrisy backlash because she just married a rich Hollywood executive and announced her pregnancy, securing the exact traditional "white picket fence" life she told her fans to avoid.
But sociologically, her hyper-transactional advice might actually explain why fewer young women are entering formal escorting. By normalizing the idea that regular dating should be a financial transaction, she blurred the line between romance and sex work. Now, girls who want their rent paid or luxury trips don’t need to face the massive stigma or legal risks of becoming a formal escort. They can just download Tinder or Hinge, match with a doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, tech or finance bro, aka a "high-value man" and extract those same material goods under the socially acceptable label of "dating a generous guy." How many have seen influencers argue that first date should not be coffee or a walk by the river but instead at a steak dinner and if you don't tip 20%+, then you are marked. All the fantasies of being an escort so that you can being taken to fancy dinners, party on a yacht in Miami or flown to trips in Italy are already being done informally. Also, now since wealthy men now have an endless supply of regular women down for these arrangements, demand for actual escorts drops, too.
Do you think the normalization of transactional hookup culture has replaced traditional avenues of sex work like escorting?
Alex Cooper built a media empire off Call Her Daddy, a podcast massive with college-aged girls and young women. She signed a $60M deal with Spotify and then a $125M deal with SiriusXM. With her podcast, she essentially rebranded hookup culture as "girl-boss" empowerment, teaching her fans to view dating as a game where you manipulate men for clout and money before they can use you. She was so popular that Kamala Harris did her show when she was running, but not Joe Rogan.
Lately, she’s facing huge hypocrisy backlash because she just married a rich Hollywood executive and announced her pregnancy, securing the exact traditional "white picket fence" life she told her fans to avoid.
But sociologically, her hyper-transactional advice might actually explain why fewer young women are entering formal escorting. By normalizing the idea that regular dating should be a financial transaction, she blurred the line between romance and sex work. Now, girls who want their rent paid or luxury trips don’t need to face the massive stigma or legal risks of becoming a formal escort. They can just download Tinder or Hinge, match with a doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, tech or finance bro, aka a "high-value man" and extract those same material goods under the socially acceptable label of "dating a generous guy." How many have seen influencers argue that first date should not be coffee or a walk by the river but instead at a steak dinner and if you don't tip 20%+, then you are marked. All the fantasies of being an escort so that you can being taken to fancy dinners, party on a yacht in Miami or flown to trips in Italy are already being done informally. Also, now since wealthy men now have an endless supply of regular women down for these arrangements, demand for actual escorts drops, too.
Do you think the normalization of transactional hookup culture has replaced traditional avenues of sex work like escorting?
