The Future of Sex Work

EastCoaster
I strongly prefer women of color. Every color.
Here is a link to a podcast of a radio show that originated from my local public radio station today over the noon hour (actual length: 48 minutes). I thought the topic may be of interest to some of you. Note: I have no connection to the show and am not in any way responsible for the content.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM…

Posted Description:
"Working from home looks a little different for sex workers. With most strip clubs closed and dancers excluded from larger pots of money in the coronavirus relief package, the sex trade has largely gone online. From strippers to erotic masseuses to full service workers, virtual sex work required innovation."

22 comments

Latest

Brownc300
4 years ago
Will these strip clubs ever return to pre covid actions. Nude only clubs yes, lap dance clubs I think unfortunately no at this time
latinalover69
4 years ago
Brownc300 methinks you are mistaken. Texas clubs both nude and topless are in full swing. Florida too. Other states are coming online including L.A. The Rona only infects those topless clubs with booze? Right...
wallanon
4 years ago
"Nude only clubs yes, lap dance clubs I think unfortunately no at this time"

If you're actually in DC I can understand why you'd think that way. DC clubs have been trash in the lapdance department for a while now. Like decades. I don't count Ebony Inn because there's a whole lot of other things I don't like about it even if the mileage is good for the area.
Brownc300
4 years ago
hey, latinlover69, I can't wait for things to open back up. Still quiet here in the dmv (DC, MD and VA). I luv the lap dances. I guess with masks and limited touches there's hope.
Brownc300
4 years ago
I agree wallanon with you. Ebony Inn is pretty much the only club I visit.
Papi_Chulo
4 years ago
Not in the mood to listen to a 48-minute podcast but if the point of it is that sex-work will become mostly online/virtual, then I assume this is coming from someone that is not a monger and mostly talking out of his ass (again I didn't listen to the podcast so my opinion may be displaced).

Often times there is more than one variable at work - IMO once Covid is not as big an issue, I envision SCing going back to the way it was w/ perhaps some exceptions (clubs closing due to financial hardship, etc).

To me the #1 headwind for SCs has always been LE (as can been seen at what's happened in ATL recently, and other areas) - two *possible* issues going forward:

1) cities taking advantage of Covid to put further restrictions on SCs even once the Covid threat has passed; in an attempt to get rid of SCs as many cities have done over the last 2 decades

2) there's actually a bit of a push by the left to legalize sex-work - I think this may actually affect SCs negatively - I think SCs to a large-extent benefit from sex-work being illegal and thus harder to come by - in other countries where sex-work is legal, it seems SCs can't compete - something similar may happen here in the U.S, if sex-work is legalized
nicespice
4 years ago
^ Yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if full-service at gets legalized most places within 10-15 years. And start in a few states and get more widespread quickly enough like gay marriage and marijuana. Just a guess though.
winex
4 years ago
What about robots?

I know it sounds a lot like glorified blow up sex dolls, but there are companies working on sex robots with limited AI;Machine Learning capabilities to make them more human like.

At what point will they become good enough to put pressure on sex workers?
nicespice
4 years ago
@winex How well can an AI machine assess a customer and predict customer interests, and hold a conversation accordingly? And hold a conversation that is at a level of maybe 60-80% of his intelligence level. (Enough to not bore him, but not high enough to irritate him)

Granted, given some of the ads I’ve seen on my social media feed, I feel like it can maybe be do-able. But probably a long way to go. 😝
Eve
4 years ago
I've only touched online SW for a short duration years ago. Now, as someone that has explored all brances of face-to-face SW, I don't have the patience for it. Grateful that I don't need to resort to it, and I don't think I'll have to 5 - 10+ years from now.
Salty.Nutz
4 years ago
Virtual sex work is porn. Short answer not buying it.
winex
4 years ago
NiceSpice - there are other aspects to the feasibility of a sex robot that you didn’t ask. Chief among those questions is affordability.

I have been doing some work recemtly in computational linguistics. There have been some amazing advances in the field since 2018. But as of right now, the most sophisticated language models ( a key component of any Natural Language Understanding system require massive computing power)

But your question wasn’t price, but what is possible.

In AI, there is something called the TuringTest. Basically an AI system is considered capable of passing the Turing Test if a human who doesn’t know whether they are talking to a machine or a human is unable to tell the difference between a machine and a human.

As of right now, nothing has passed the Turing Test. But there are systems that are getting pretty damn close.

One such language model is GPT 3. GPT 3 was developed by a company called OpenAI and just last week to Microsoft.

GPT 3 is a generative model - it writes text on its own. If you looked at the things it writes, it is more coherent than a lot of people on this forum.

Once you have text, hooking it up to a Generative Adversarial Network that creates a synthetic, but sexy female voice is child’s play.

Of course you need an attractive body and various sensors and mechanical devices in appropriately soft packaging so it doesn’t feel like you are fucking a bucket of bolts.

But it is doable (no pun intended ) and will be reality sooner than most people think.

Eve
4 years ago
nerd.
winex
4 years ago
Nah, I prove that you can be intelligent and cool at the same time.
Salty.Nutz
4 years ago
its pretty crazy how watching something on tv got packaged to "virtual reality,"
FishHawk
4 years ago
I want a real live woman. One that reacts to me in a positive encouraging way. One that is soft wet and warm.
winex
4 years ago
I like humans too. The only person I know who doesn’t is Icey. And I am sure that he would rather be with a real dog instead of a robot dog.

But the ability for a robot to react in an encouraging way exists today. And soft, wet and warm is also possible.

At some point in time, the technology will be good enough that a certain percentage of the population will consider alternatives.
EastCoaster
4 years ago
Papi said, "I assume this is coming from someone that is not a monger and mostly talking out of his ass (again I didn't listen to the podcast so my opinion may be displaced)."

I only heard the second half of the podcast earlier today (I will listen to the whole thing tomorrow), but all the speakers I heard were women who worked in the trade -- real strippers -- and liked the work. It was a pretty interesting discussion.
Papi_Chulo
4 years ago
I wonder if robot-strippers in the future will be so life-like that they will also ROB custies and do VIP bait-and-switch - and then be so strong that'll they'll beat the custy's ass if he doesn't pay up
🤔
winex
4 years ago
With the right data, a skilled developer can build/train a model to emphase or de-empasize various behaviors. But I just can’t imagine training a ROB would lead to a marketable product.

Speaking of bots, the body motions of these stripper bits is very interesting. Obviously they can be made more attractive. I think part of the goal is to allow people watching to clearly realize that these are robots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X24EsAK…
winex
4 years ago
Since I posted Stripper Bots for everyone else, here is a robotic dog for Icey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmNaLtC6…
Icey
4 years ago
CD is out of character now
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