Times change over the years for good and bad. Trends evolve, fads erupt and fade, and public opinion adapts with what's currently occurring in the world. As all of this happens, many industries are affected, causing new worries and concerns for people involved in associated professions. The escort industry is not immune to these changes, and, in fact, is quite responsive to them.

As a result, escorts find themselves worrying about issues today that were barely even conceivable many years ago. Additionally, they are plagued with concerns about problems that have grown to serious proportions over time. Consider these modern-day worries of escorts:

1. The HIV/AIDS scare, blown out of proportion by the population control masterminds, has improved sales of condoms and reduced the popularity of sex between genders in general. While sexually-transmitted diseases have always been a reason for concern, the emergence of HIV/AIDS has really stepped up escorts' consistent use of prophylactic protection. Throughout the world, over 34 million people have HIV. Even though only 1.2 million people had the virus in 2008, over 20% of them were unaware they were infected. Although the virus is suspected to have begun affecting humans sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, documented cases have identified infected patients in the 1960s. The health condition didn't receive much publicity until the 1980s, during an era when sex and drugs were part of the mainstream pop culture. Today, HIV/AIDS prevention is second nature for escorts, because infection rates are significant, sometimes accompanied by no visible symptoms. Not only are escorts protecting themselves against herpes, "the clap" or other STDs that may make life uncomfortable and cause difficulties working, but they are also actively combating the risk of contracting a fatal infection. The days of penicillin being able to take care of nearly everything are over.
2. Internet scandals can cause serious harm to your personal or professional reputation as an escort. Before the Internet, a story that broke into the national headlines could seriously do damage to an escort's business. However, she wasn't completely ruined, due to the forgetful minds of the public. And if a scandal only erupted into local or regional headlines, an escort could move her business to a new territory and be just as successful as she was before. Scandals didn't follow an escort around many years ago. Being able to do a background Internet check on an escort was impossible, finding the dirt was much more difficult. However, today is an entirely different story. Once a story even hits local headlines, it's in the public record, so to speak, on the Internet. Using Google or other search engines, a computer user can find dirty details about nearly anyone, especially if he or she has been involved in something scandalous that created headlines. And, in the old days, scandals ran their courses and were dropped. Today, though, the Internet public gets hold of a scandal and makes it their responsibility to comment on it, judge it and to explore it further, often creating something much more serious out of nothing.
3. Social networking may reveal secrets you don't exposed. As a marketing tool, social networking is a wonderful online development that allows you to reach out to potential clients in ways not available in the past. However, depending on how you use your social media, it may also "out" you to friends and family members. Smart escorts always differentiate between their personal and business phone numbers and email addresses. However, if you carelessly cross-list your contact information, clients may be able to find out who you really are in your "real" life, and your friends and family members may discover what you do in your hours away from them. Using any of the same quotations, verbiage, contact information or photos in both personal and professional social networking accounts may create cross-links that could divulge your secrets. Even if you think you are being extremely discreet, an easy mistake of forgetting to log out of a social networking site where you used your professional username could provide someone with increased insight into your life. Years ago, the only way that someone might catch on that you were an escort was to find your stash of fancy lingerie or to hear a rumor about your rendezvous practices with clients. Facebook or other sites were non-issues back then, causing them to be one less thing to worry about.
4. A news-hungry media were of less concern many years ago than it is today. In past days, the news networks had to work very hard to research, film, edit and package up a news stories for publication on television or radio. The technology to do the necessary steps was well advanced for its time, but it was a laborious and time-consuming project for each news story. And, if a story was acquired on-site, getting the tape or video to the studio for use on air was much more complicated than it is today. Due to the creation of news stories take less time and becoming easier to package, journalists have more time to put toward looking for stories. As a result, a news-hungry media was born. And, with the onset of self-publishing "news" sites on the Internet, non-journalists can become news producers, too. They are not trained with the emphasis of journalistic ethics or the knowledge of what is news (versus what isn't). Rumors and scandals become big news stories, when previously more significant news items demanded increased airtime. In essence, the quality of news has decreased over the years, and the number of networks or news outlets have dramatically increased. This leaves open more opportunities for non-news stories about escorts finding their way into mainstream media.
5. The Internal Revenue Service didn't breathe down individuals' necks so severely. Today, as the empire crumbles, it needs more and more money. All laws and acts sold to the public lately as "security measures" are nothing but capital controls. The state wants your life to the last drop. If you owe the IRS a measly $100 they actively seek the funds from you, pulling out all the stops and recruiting help from the likes of Google, Facebook and NSA. With large staff numbers and attitudes that "every dollar counts", the IRS is adamant about not letting any citizen go by without paying his or her "fair" share.

   Many years ago, this wasn't the case. In 1913, the 16th Amendment was ratified, allowing the U.S. government to enact a federal income tax overseen by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Although the department was dedicated to making sure that citizens paid their taxes, citizens weren't harassed to the point of being fearful about their finances or freedom. The department experienced a change with a restructuring in the 1950s, where more vigilant policies were put into place, often in an effort to catch criminals who were abusing the system and couldn't be arrested on other charges. Even during this era, escorts who worked as private, independent contractors could avoid the watchful eyes of the IRS. However, today the story has changed greatly. Nobody is immune to paying taxes in the United States. Always trying to catch tax evaders, the IRS seeks out citizens who do not file income tax forms and digs into their business in efforts to make them pay up. Escorts who do not want to face trouble with the IRS should report reasonable income amounts and attempt to make quarterly payments.

6. Law enforcement efforts to arrest escorts were not as dedicated. Again, spurred by the ever-growing appetite of all levels of bureaucracy, armed drones want to lay their hands on everything that (you think) is yours. Although many brothels and red light districts were raided, patrolled and shut down in the 1920s and 1930s (and before), truly organized stings using technology, undercover cops and informants were uncommon. By and large, escorts who didn't cause public scenes or openly violate the innocence of the country's youth were ignored by the police. Often, police officers had favorite hookers or escorts they patronized regularly, while off and on the clock. Today, though, cloaked in efforts to battle human sex trafficking, stings are set up to entrap escorts and other adult industry workers for arrests. Law enforcement uses the Internet to track communications between escorts and clients, in addition to utilizing it to learn about meeting locations and times. Escorts must be very careful in today's modern day to avoid investigation from law enforcement, even though they are not breaking the laws. Legislation is currently written that may allow police officers to make arrests not only based on the actions of an escort, but what he feels her intentions are. If a police officer infers that an escort is selling sex instead of her companionship, he has full support of the law to arrest her in many states.
7. Escorts must worry more now about their weight and figures than in any other period in history before them. During the 1950s, voluptuous, curvy figures were in vogue. Marilyn Monroe's measurements of 35-22-35 boasted a curvy, hourglass shape. Sophia Loren's figure with a 38-24-38 measurement demonstrated her womanliness. However, as time progressed past this era of curve appreciation, the desire for women to be less shapely evolved. Between 1979 and 1988, 69 percent of Playboy models weighed 15 percent below the expected weights for their height and age categories, reported Allure magazine. And, standard Body Mass Indices (BMI) for celebrities continue to dip below American averages. On top of that, American women are pressured continually with how cosmetic surgery can help alleviate extra pounds, saggy breasts and other signs of simply being "real". Breast augmentation, liposuction and other procedures that were once only for the wealthy are now available to everyone, provided they can obtain financing. Body image and beauty ideals are constantly influenced by a media that embraces airbrushed figures and waif-like body types. More than ever, escorts are subjected to what the media feeds men about what is beautiful. Although client tastes differ, it's becoming more difficult for escorts to maintain the ideal of "perfection", especially as promoted by societal standards.
8. Drugs are more of a problem now than they were many years ago. Although society has been using and abusing substances for centuries, the likelihood of finding clients who are users is higher than ever. Wealthy clients have unlimited access to drugs and may use them recreationally, preferring to use them when spending time with an escort. Experienced escorts know it's unwise to engage in encounters with clients who are visibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In addition to working with clients who abuse drugs, it's also a very possible reality to book a client who will drug you without your knowledge. Date rape drugs are extremely common in the club scene today, and many clients would take advantage of an escort by slipping something into her drink or food. Years ago, being drugged without your knowledge wasn't a concern. However, with the emergence of tasteless, odorless and colorless drugs, it's a reality that escorts have to be cautious against by taking efforts to protect themselves.
9. Feminism creates some severe limitations for the escort industry. At its core, feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that strive for equal rights for women. One might think that the feminist movement would support the escort industry, because women are finding economic independence, becoming their own bosses and creating lifestyles they want by controlling their own destinies. However, many activists and positions in the feminist movement deny that the industry is doing good things for women. Aggressive feminism, ever at the service of the population control think tanks like the Club of Rome, wants no sexual contact to happen between genders. To this end, they denounce the concept that independence is created, saying that the escort industry continues to allow women to be objectified and taken advantage of by men and society. Male dominance, according to some feminists, is a continual theme among clients who contact escorts, and women are degraded and debased into doing less-than-dignified tasks with the promise of a meager pay off. As a result, women involved in the escort industry are not only fighting societal opinions and judgments, but they also face harsh criticism from the feminist movement, causing friction among those who identify themselves as lipstick feminists.
10. Extreme porn may have a negative effect on the escort industry. Many years ago, the dirtiest porn films available involved the "donkey show" in Tijuana and didn't create many requests for taboo activities. However, today's porn continues to push the envelope and create ridiculous expectations for clients who are avid fans. From water and hard sports to double (even triple) penetration, extreme pornography continues to give clients new ideas about things they want to try with escorts. As a result, escorts get requests all of the time that encourage them to broaden their horizons and expand their comfort zones. Escorts who are sexually experimental may thrive on clients like these. However, escorts who are happy with the more "vanilla" activities find themselves pressured to do things they are not happy with in order to retain clients or succeed in the industry. Fetishes, deviance and extremely physical sex are key components of modern porn — but they rarely correlate with the services that escorts are sincerely ready to offer.

Even though things are said to get better with time, the escort industry has a lot more to worry about due to modern technology and events. Escorts' concerns may be more problematic and serious than the ones of their famous colleagues throughout history.