By The Hunger
Foreign travel is riddled with hookers. Kiev, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Vegas, etc, are synonymous with prostitution. We all know the “for” and “against” arguments for the world’s oldest profession, but in the end it’s a personal choice.
To quote and concur with fellow travel writer Naughty Nomad, “This author does not endorse prostitution and has never paid for sex in my life.” Atlas Al and I don’t pay for sex, and we don’t recognise paid sex as a captured flag.
Always a contentious issue, the prostitution debate is alive and kicking. In reality though, people only need to convince themselves. Even though I don’t participate in prostitution, I’m not against people who do. Someone who chooses to have sex with a prostitute one night does not morph into a bad person. It’s a choice that has consequences and for some it’s a better choice than others.
Any Westerner who has spent any time in Southeast Asia will have had their Western morals tested, it’s tough. Most men would get hit on more than they’re used to, and of a higher quality on a one-week trip to Thailand than they would in their home country in their wildest dreams. Regardless of any one opinion or culture, prostitution is a fact of life and will be encountered by travellers no matter where they go.
Paying for Sex: Faux Flags
I’ve had many a conversation with guys who share a love of foreign women and listened to them recount their nights of passion with exotic foreigners as they fire off names of countries as if reading an atlas. It normally goes something like this:
Them: Chinese, Thai, Cambodian, Dutch, Russian…
Me: Russian flag, very nice. In Russia?
Them: Nah, it was when I was in Dubai and it only cost me $200.
Me: But it’s not a flag if you pay.
Them: Oh (puzzled look)… then my flag count is a lot lower… umm, I have English and Australian, wait do blowjobs count?
Their cheerful glint soon turns into dismay when I tell them that in the world of flagging, paid sex doesn’t count. Someone has to tell them. I would want to be told that paying for sex and earning it are completely different. Well at least in the flagosphere anyway. If paying for sex and hookers are your thing, then it’s your thing, but when it comes to flagging, it ain’t going to wash. These are false flags, faux flags.
How do I know it’s not the same? Because when these same guys talk about a foreign girl that they pulled au naturel without a financial stimulus package they talk with more vigour and enthusiasm than the 19-year-old Russian doll they banged for 1000 dinars.
The Hook
Another reason I’m not into prostitutes is that there’s no story element, there’s no hook. Anything worth doing has a story, that and the default fact that she actually liked you enough to have sex with you, not paid money to. With prostitutes the only thing that is needed to invade that gorgeous girl’s body is cashola. It’s probably a difference some don’t care about.
How To Check
People always say they didn’t know she was a prostitute until after the transaction had taken place. I have my doubts. No girl ever looks at you that much or in that way, rarely is a girl that ambitious in her pursuit. It can happen, but normally there’s a price tag attached.
There are many parts of the world – Asia, Africa, the Middle East – where prostitution is the status quo. And navigating the red-tinged waters of prostitution can be treacherous in these parts.
What can you say to a girl to check if she is a pro without losing a chance with her if she isn’t? Simple, just ask her, ideally in a humorous way. Rarely would your pro-dar mistake a civilian for a pro. But it can and does happen.
“Free” Prostitutes
Naughty Nomad engineered the term… Shoring: seducing or scoring whores, probably because running into prostitutes while travelling is inevitable; it’s better to be prepared. Shoring as defined by Naughty is, “When a person has sex with a girl who may be a prostitute, but no payment is involved,” in other words hooking up with a pro for free. Some would consider this a skill, others would consider it cheap, either way both roads could lead to problems the next morning.
This only seems like a possibility for guys who already do well with women. Skilled shorers do it for an extra challenge; shorers in denial end up paying anyway by buying the lady overpriced drinks at go-go bars. Maybe an asterisk would be attached to it, but it’s still an earned flag
Men around the world love foreign women, but as far as true flagging is concerned, if you paid, it doesn’t count, flags aren’t for sale. The memory from hooking up with a sexy local organically will be priceless. At least give yourself a chance!
While I agree paid sex is a faux flag, to be fair it's a lot more complicated than just paid vs. unpaid. What about sex which is de facto paid for, eg. wining and dining her and giving her jewelry (ugh). What about sex which obviously would never happen without money involved (e.g., when the guy is wealthy and the woman hopes she can sleep her way into it) To be totally fair, all men would have to compete on a really level playing field, with equalized bank accounts :P
Xamuel, I agree that that it is more complicated than paid vs. unpaid, but the 'you pay anyway' excuse is the oldest in a John's handbook….De-facto paid and paid are NOT the same thing. Is there money with both, yes, is there sex with both, yes, but that doesn't make them the same.
When you knowingly pay for a prostitute it is different than paying for dinner, clothes etc…What you can and can't do, where you can and can't go differ; the relationship is already different. This change in variable (s) brought about by the overt transaction changes the subsequent actions.
In short it's the context which defines the differences.