The reality is that this kind of marketplace already exists elsewhere — i.e. on Craigslist and Reddit. While informal markets like that are easier to dismiss or ignore, if Ohlala is successful, it's interesting to imagine a world where the behaviors and activities that happen covertly could be made more visible, and therefore made safer.
I admit to having hangups about paying for sex (because it seems to cheapen it from a moralistic perspective), but we pay for people to use their bodies in a lot of different ways (physical labor, etc) — and though historically paying for sex has been associated with (rightly so) exploitation, I can also imagine an evolution in economics and behavior that is less exploitative. To flip this a bit, I think it's possible (and likely) that a market like this will have both empowerment and exploitation going on simultaneously. It really comes to down economics, context, and the power structures in which participants exist. Does that mean the market shouldn't exist? I think my point is: the market already exists, and Ohlala shouldn't be more offensive just because it's a more visible center of this behavior.
@chrismessina thank you for taking a minute to pen thoughtful remarks on this. I personally don't have an opinion but I appreciate your input. Escort or not, building and launching a product is difficult and the builders of this deserve more than just the trolling you see above.
@chrismessina to your point - if this was happening in Netherland it would probably seem normal. I guess there prostitution is safe, pays the taxes and it's outside the influence of crime
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