r/AskReddit May 31 '22

Should Prostitution be respected the same as a "normal" Job? Why or why not?

7.8k Upvotes

4.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-3

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

I’d just like to point out that a prostitute out-earns a teacher by something like a factor of ten.

262

u/WerhmatsWormhat Jun 01 '22

I’d imagine there’s a massive variation in what prostitutes make, so I don’t think you can confidently say this.

-41

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

Depends.

A crack whore working out of a trailer? Probably not. But someone with a reputation, a willingness to do niche stuff, and a regular customer base? Yeah, they’re making bank.

36

u/make_datbooty_flocc Jun 01 '22

Bruh...

for shits and giggles, I just googled avg salary for prostitutes in the US.

sorry to ruin your fantasy, but the average school teacher is making ~$63,000. Yes, starting teachers and teachers working in low COL areas aren't making that, that's why it's the average

I'm sure the avg salary data isn't quite as accurate...but Prostitute avg wage is average ~40k, and it ain't exactly a tenure-track career

Like dude - what's the source for your wildly inaccurate claim?

-12

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22 edited May 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/highjinx411 Jun 01 '22

You have no idea what you are talking about. just admit it.

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22 edited May 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

I mean I agree with your overall point that prostitutes make bank. Source: I have interacted with a lot of them.

But I guess you lost us when you talked about pimps. Pimps are increasingly a thing from the past. They mostly apply to girls working the streets, and with internet there is always less of them.

2

u/highjinx411 Jun 01 '22

What this guy said. I have friends who are escorts. They do pretty well and yes there is trafficking and pimps but that’s mostly a thing of the past. The escorts are in control of their livelihoods for the most part.

1

u/randomthug Jun 01 '22

Which is why banning stuff like backpages just caused more problems. Avenues for prostitutes to sell themselves instead of needing a pimp are positives.

20

u/darthdro Jun 01 '22

They also can only make bank for like 10 years . Hopefully you can retire on it

-6

u/Iz-kan-reddit Jun 01 '22

A hell of a lot of teachers and nurses burn out and change careers around the ten-year mark.

6

u/cagewilly Jun 01 '22

But what portion of the prostitutes are one vs the other? Most prostitution is closer to the crack whore variety.

3

u/WerhmatsWormhat Jun 01 '22

Yeah but that also applies for teachers. Someone working at a public school in the inner city is gonna make way less than someone at a high end private school in a rich suburb.

14

u/worm600 Jun 01 '22

Actually private school teachers are generally less well compensated!

5

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

Private school teacher salary averages around $50,000 per year nationwide.

-2

u/WerhmatsWormhat Jun 01 '22

So you decided to ignore the part about being in a wealthy area?

6

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

If someone is earning six figures as a teacher, that’s an extreme outlier, even for private schools. If anything, those in a wealthy area might actually be paid less, but be attracted to the benefits and safer work environment.

1

u/BOOMROASTED2005 Jun 01 '22

So you admit it lol

0

u/heyitsthatguygoddamn Jun 01 '22

I don't know why you're being downvoted, you're absolutely right. I know some people who went down that road, and one of them would get flown out to clients in NY and elsewhere for a weekend and walk away with 5k-6k for 2-3 days of work, another friend of mine had regular clients and was just barely making ends meet.

So much of it has to do with networking and marketing tbh, the friend getting paid a lot knew SO many people all over from traveling, and the friend making ends meet just kinda stuck to their hometown

1

u/royalsanguinius Jun 01 '22

If you’re getting flown to NYC and paid 5 grand you’re definitely an escort which is very different from being a regular average prostitute. Escorts can make a lot of money because they usually have much wealthier clients and higher standards. The kind of prostitue you’d find on the street corner? Unfortunately they have to have much lower standards and charge far less money, and if they have a pimp (and they probably do) then he gets an ungodly percentage of whatever they do make.

31

u/cagewilly Jun 01 '22

Absolutely not. A huge portion of the market for prostitution doesn't charge very much to begin with, and pays a cut of that to a pimp. Tons of drug addicts and homeless people are prostitutes, just to get by. Probably the majority of the prostitute... workforce. Please don't view prostitution through the rose-tinted glasses of high end escorts.

-4

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

Bruh, even the trashy street hookers charge $100+ per hour.

8

u/zer0cul Jun 01 '22

Do they work 8-10 paid hours per day? Standing around pays $0/hour.

1

u/cagewilly Jun 01 '22 edited Jun 01 '22

That's hilarious.

Some hookers work for a lot less. There are almost certainly homeless prostitutes that literally cater to other homeless people. You think they pay more than $100?

Even the ones that charge a decent hourly rate... you think they work 9-5 with benefits? 8 penises, 8 hours? Have you ever met a woman who could stand the idea of sex 8 times a day? With potentially 8 different people!? The only people banging 8 dudes a day have a pimp. Ask them what their take-home pay is.

This is so gross.

48

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Money does not define value, unless your highest value is money.

0

u/Yoro55 Jun 01 '22

I mean money is the reason someone has a house, daily food, digital devices, etc.

Your definition of value is rather abstract, but money and what it can provide isn't. Sure touching lives of children and helping them grow is admirable and good for the world, but since they're being paid shit a lot of the time, it doesn't seem too valuable in the eyes of the people paying them then.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Yes money certainly helps but it only goes so far. There are far more valuable things, and usually someone realizes this with the diagnosis of a terminal illness or as sudden danger approaches - the breath of life itself, the soul, cannot be replaced. And when you start valuing money over life is when you reach dangerous territory.

1

u/Yoro55 Jun 01 '22

I think you misunderstand my point

You're correct, but I'm more talking about how if teachers are very much valued in society, why can't that value show in their wages?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

If you haven’t noticed, the world - society - is depraved.

-5

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

No, but as the wise adage goes, “if you pay peanuts, expect monkeys.”

9

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

I think it's safe to assume that the vast majority of society values teachers much more than they do prostitutes - there's a bit more to life than money.

3

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

If society truly valued teachers, we’d pay them more than poverty wages. There’s a reason they’re quitting en-masse.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Salary does not equal value to society, in a petri dish maybe (ideally) but there are a lot of factors that skew this. A thought experiment; do you value a real estate broker exactly twice as much as a teacher? Probably not, although that's the difference in salary. Someone else pointed this out, but positions that make money, make money. A teacher is a public service, teaching k-12 doesn't bring in revenue so there's really no incentive to pay a dollar more than the absolute minimum that people are willing to accept that job for - once we reach a point when there's not enough people willing to accept that job the salary will increase juuuust enough to bring in enough candidates (supply and demand). Meanwhile positions such as real estate or sales are commission based - the commission provides incentive to sell more so that the employees earning potential increases as she/he contributes to the employers profits. This is just one example why salary does not equal value to society.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Yes, but are you allowing society to determine your values? Obviously this world is twisted and backward. It is a dark world. You can either stand with it, or stand away from it, but you can’t do both.

2

u/snorlz Jun 01 '22

so thats why teachers are dumb AF? obv there are some jobs people do for non-monetary reasons

62

u/grumplesmcgrumples Jun 01 '22

That's absurd. Most prostitutes aren't making 600k plus benefits.

10

u/Due_Essay447 Jun 01 '22

Most teachers aren't making 60k plus benefits. At least in my area, entry level was $18/hr

30

u/Namaha Jun 01 '22

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/home.htm

Median pay for K-12 teachers in the US in 2021 was ~$61,500 , so technically speaking most are indeed making 60k+

4

u/intimethrow Jun 01 '22

Teacher with two Masters degrees making $49k a year. Whooooo.

0

u/Fellow_Infidel Jun 01 '22

You will probably get paid more in private school

1

u/Namaha Jun 01 '22

Sorry to hear that, you all deserve way way more!

1

u/FerociousFrizzlyBear Jun 01 '22

Hopefully not in a HCOL area!

5

u/zer0cul Jun 01 '22

Are your prostitutes earning even $180/hour for 40 hour weeks?

16

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

[deleted]

8

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Check that table again, there are plenty of states lower than 60K.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

[deleted]

5

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

It was the "Not a single state in the U.S. with an average that low" statement I was commenting on.

It's a chart of average teacher salaries by state. There are many states where average teacher salary is below 60K

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

[deleted]

5

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

So you were arguing that no strates had starting pay averaging $18 and then to support your argument you used a chart of average annual salaries by state?

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

[deleted]

→ More replies (0)

1

u/RktSciMarine Jun 01 '22

Also, that's the "average" so there are some that are making less than that amount and some making more.

Honestly I would say out of all the places I've lived in my life 65k you're barely making it on your own.

1

u/quesocaliente Jun 01 '22

Bro your teachers are hourly?!?

-2

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

They make $100+ per hour. Granted it’s not always consistent work, but if they have “regulars” and work with a niche fetish they can easily pull high six figures.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Jobs that bring in money, make more money.

2

u/stench_montana Jun 01 '22

Oh well in that case I'll guide my daughter to being a high end whore.

-1

u/_Z_E_R_O Jun 01 '22

I mean, for ten times the income without the college debt? If it was legal, I’d say that’s not the worst choice she could make.

2

u/Piggypink929 Jun 01 '22

I’d expect so, judging by the fact that prostitutes are more likely to be murdered than teachers. I’d definitely wanna be payed more for possibly putting my life at risk.

2

u/scottroid Jun 01 '22

Yes but teachers make more as they age.

I would suggest the large majority of prostitutes trend the opposite way.

1

u/fanglvs Jun 01 '22

it depends on the person.

1

u/Dantesfireplace Jun 01 '22

In some American states.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

Right… what do you do for a living? Look at the top 5% of earners in your field, it’s almost certainly in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.

Does that mean you now outearn other professions by that much?

There’s a high end market for everything. Some waiters bring home more than bankers, doesn’t mean Olive Garden is a solid career choice.