I've been thinking about this a lot since the news broke, and I can't get my head around what happened there. I mean, I can - it's not hard to comprehend - but I guess it just makes me really unhappy with the state of it all. It's awful and sad and should never be allowed to happen. I feel so bad for any underage girls who were not mature enough to make the right choices, or were perhaps forced into it in some way and were taken advantage of. Same for women who felt they had no way out - whether they did or didn't. This is a very vulnerable line of work, and we'd best remember that. I honestly have no idea how many of these women do it, and very often performed at a high level for hours on end. I, as a man, would not have been able. Women who were mistreated by clients... that pisses me off. Savages.
The owners of the agency... I suppose the logical side should have known better, but though I did not book often with XO, I never encountered any issues, and the women always seemed to be doing alright. I hope they were. I've always tried to make them feel at ease with the arrangement, and always told them to tell me if they weren't comfortable with something. So I somehow thought that overall the agency was run well, that it was at the very least staying out of trouble. While this isn't exactly a wake-up call, it's certainly a reminder of what's what. It disgusts me that I ever gave them money and contributed to their "success". I hope the owners are punished to the max.
I don't think this line of work should be stigmatized, and I don't think clients should be shamed. It's tough, though, and I don't think there's a reasonable chance of that changing in my lifetime, at least not on a large scale.
On a personal level, I am at least somewhat concerned that this situation with the police will widen, and they will start coming after clients based on the phone numbers and text messages they have. Who knows if they have hundreds or thousands? Or less. While I suspect they will not, given the past, I guess for the next several months there will be that little voice in the back of my head that wonders if I might get a phone call or a knock at the door. Perhaps unreasonable. But maybe something we should consider.
Much to think about. But I will never use an agency ever again, no matter how well it is supposedly run. Taking a long break... or maybe just stepping back for good from this hobby.