In the New York Times, whoring is now “paid companionship.” This new phrase appears in an article about the inner workings of a call-girl business. We learn lots of other things, too: “The realm of the dingy bordello and the vengeful pimp is increasingly giving way to professionally run enterprises, many of them headed by women.” You’ve come a long way, baby! Or maybe not. When a prostitute fails to show up for her, um, work, our madam-hero isn’t pleased: “She’ll want to commit suicide by the weekend,” she exclaims, as she describes a plan for retribution that would do any vengeful pimp proud. We also learn that our madam is “disciplined and hyperorganized in her work”–and that she “lives fast and hard on weekends, making prodigious use of recreational drugs, gambling complusively, and sleeping little … [wearing] seductive outfits and [winning] head-turning boyfriends.” Ladies, you can have it all!