Sex sells: How mainstream media boost demand for escorts

2013-03-21 02:31:43
From nearly naked barbecuing Hardee's commercials to blatant references to blow jobs and anal sex on CBS's Two and a Half Men, sex has definitely hit the mainstream media. Coming from the days when married couples slept in separate beds and couldn't say the word "pregnant" on television, society's definitions of what is decent and allowable have changed drastically over the last 50 years. As media moguls and advertising experts have known for centuries, sex sells. It's human nature to be drawn to beautiful bodies, be enticed by the promise of sex and be lured by sensations expected from products or services. The media take full advantage of using sexual imagery to promote products and draw in audiences and customers. Here's a brief rundown on how television has changed to allow much more liberal references to sex:
  • 1952 — I Love Lucy: Ricky and Lucy slept in separate beds and referred to Lucy's pregnancy as "expecting".
  • 1960s — The Munsters and Bewitched: The couples could finally share a bed, but they were only allowed to talk in bed, with no other activities alluded to.
  • 1972 — Maude: The title character could refer to herself as being pregnant, and she got an abortion. This was extremely controversial and the first of its kind on U.S. television.
  • 1970s — "Jiggle TV:" TIME Magazine referred to this genre of television as "Jiggle TV" in one of its cover stories in 1976. Shows such as Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Love Boat and Three's Company were characterized as "family-style porn". They were described as "mild erotic fantasy that appeals about equally to men and women".
  • 1977 — Soap: ABC's primetime soap opera was hated by conservative viewers. Billy Crystal's character, Jodie Dallas, was openly gay. Acceptance of gay sex was not accepted for a long time. In 1989, two men shared a bed during a scene of thirtysomething. Sponsors and funds up to $1 million vanished as soon as the episode aired.
  • 1993 — NYPD Blue: The American Family Association objected to steamy sex scenes intended to attract adult viewers. The court threw out an FCC fine administered for a bare buttocks shot in one episode.
  • 2004 — Superbowl: Janet Jackson's engineered "wardrobe malfunction" where she bared her breast created quite an uproar.
  • 2011 — Skins: MTV aired the British-based series which included underage actors depicting racy sex scenes. Critical viewers accused the producers of creating child pornography.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, over 75% of prime-time programs feature sexual content. The Kaiser Family Foundation research proves that the number of sex scenes included in television programs doubled between 1998 and 2005. Experts agree that it boils down to society's shifting definitions of what should be allowed on television and in public concerning sexual content. Today's culture is much more tolerant of sex and innuendos than society has ever been. Previously, some of the content that airs on primetime television would have been considered pornographic. With this in mind, it's no wonder that people constantly have sex on the brain. It's on television, it's on the news (news stories that included details about sex were taboo for delivery to general audiences many years ago) and it's in images we see everywhere: on bus stop advertising, billboards and even on grocery store displays.

It's impossible to avoid sexual images unless you simply stick your head in the sand. It's marketing that escorts don't have to pay for.

This advertising and television imagery primes the pump, so to speak, for clients to desire intimate moments with someone who will provide it conveniently. Media influences prompt a prospective client to seek out an escort. All an escort has to do is to make herself available when a client is ready to pursue such an encounter. Her marketing and advertising is crucial at this point. She has to have a directory profile, website or other posts that help to make her look more attractive and desirable than her competitors. However, because society seems to be stuck on sex, it's easy to become sucked into the counter-reality that sex is more important than other things in life. And, as an escort, it's even easier to buy into this theory, because this is how you pay your bills and make your money. Your entire life is built around sex and human desire. But, despite how human it is to desire sex and to focus on sexual attraction, escorts have to separate themselves from the constant barrage provided by the media. Because your lifestyle depends on selling intimacy and desire, you should focus on other things in your free time. Instead of watching television chock-full with steamy sex scenes and dirty jokes, read a good book, listen to music or go for a hike. Even though you make your money with sex as the foundation, that doesn't mean you have to center the rest of your life around it. If you feel that you are subjected to too much sex through your current media intake, cancel your cable or satellite subscriptions. Stop your newspaper subscription. Attempt to restore some sanity to your world and remove poison from your mind. And because you are keen to the game advertisers and other promoters play by making sex the object of sales instead of the product, you may be able to avoid making impulsive purchases based on the images they provide. You know that a designer fragrance isn't going to make you more beautiful or that eating a BBQ cheeseburger from Hardee's won't make you into a busty country girl in Daisy Dukes. You're an expert at sex. Learn to avoid the steamy advertising and read the fine print... or buy products just because you need, not want them. The reality is that, according to trends, sex in the media will become more overt and blatant in the coming years. While that's good for your business, avoid getting wrapped in the myth that sex is life.