The president’s Secret Service detail, preparing for his visit to Colombia, took some time to unwind and enjoy the local flavor. We all know the sordid details. But the New York Times today gives us more detail on the matter, some very important detail.
These very high-level men did not consort with prostitutes. No, these ladies were at a level commensurate with their clients. They were escorts. Our Paper of Record performs an important community service, giving these two ladies the opportunity to clarify the difference. One woman, who declined to give her name, explains:
The price alone [of $800], she said, indicates that she is an escort, not a prostitute. “You have higher rank,” she said. “An escort is someone who a man can take out to dinner. She can dress nicely, wear nice makeup, speak and act like a lady. That’s me.”
Get it? An escort is not a prostitute. She is something else altogether. Our “All the News that’s Fit to Print” reporter continues,
She was dismayed, she said, that the news reports have described her as a prostitute as though she walked the streets picking up just anyone.
“It’s the same, but it’s different,” she said, indicating that she is much more selective about her clients and charges much more than a streetwalker. “It’s like when you buy a fine rum or a BlackBerry or an iPhone. They have a different price.
She trolls for clients inside fancy buildings, not on the street. Please. But the article describes a tussle between the escort and her client the next morning as she started to leave. The Secret Service agent tried to pay her about about $30. She informed the rate was more like $800. Apparently that clear difference between an escort and common hooker was lost on him. But he should have known, because prostitutes — I imagine — demand payment before delivery. Apparently escorts don’t. After hotel security got involved, the agent finally offered her $225, which was close to the $250 she owed her pimp — or client-referral professional — for the hook-up.
Apparently there are fine, but important nuances, in the sex-worker hierarchy.
— Glenn T. Stanton is the director of Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family and the author of (most recently) The Ring Makes All the Difference (Moody, 2011) and Secure Daughters, Confident Sons: How Parents Guide Their Children into Authentic Masculinity and Femininity (Multnomah, 2011)