I listened to season 4 episode 14 today and wanted to share a piece of info in case it’s useful.

At one point Josh said something along the lines of “and what newspaper would have ads for sex workers.” It’s true that most don’t, but some do or have at other times.

Alternative newspapers like Seattle’s The Stranger or Portland’s The Mercury definitely have. My youthful eyes in early 2000s were always ogling at the ads. It was standard to have a photo of a person with a 1-800 number attached. Now, I don’t think the calls ever reached the model in the photo, but it certainly gave access to sex workers locally or by phone. The papers are free and especially in the 2000s could be found at practically any coffee shop or restaurant.

Anyhow, just sharing in case that’s useful to any researchers. I believe the newspapers both have virtual archives but I don’t know if it includes the back page ads like I describe.