twinkle twinkle blah blah blah etc.

Maybe it's just me and the increasingly bile-colored glasses issued to me with each passing year, but it seems to me that brothel prostitutes (prostitutes in general, really) are WILDLY overpriced.

Maybe it's the idea of paying a c-note for a handjob that, given a little privacy and perhaps six minutes, I can do for myself. That works out to a $1000 an hour, and as charming as she is, I question whether Lil' Miss Snippy's time is worth *quite* that much.

Through a condom, most gents can't tell the difference, especially if you sneakily add some Astroglide.

Well, a hole is a hole, ultimately.

Also, when my baby sister was a toddler, she would (for reasons unknown) refer to soup broth as "brothel." Phrases like "more brothel!" or "brothel too hot!" were often heard around the dinner table.

Call it what you want.

As a Domme at one of the top dungeons in NY, I know My time is worth much more to My clients than the paltry tributes I accept. As far as prostitutes go, I feel confident one gets what one pays for. but if you want a $10 crackwhore, go for it Fes.

As a Domme at one of the top dungeons in NY, I know My time is worth much more to My clients than the paltry tributes I accept.

Oh, brother. Here's $20. Make me breakfast and do my laundry.

Enjoy all the silly play-acting you want but please drop the pretension, sister.

I'm certain that's the case, Miss Octavia. You, however, provide specialized services, which would of course normally command a premium. In the case of Rattysghost, though, neither the tone nor the content of the reportage lent any indication that the services provided by her were in any way extraordinary.

What you've got to remember is that a commodity is worth precisely what people will pay for it. Gentlemen were willing to pay plenty for me--and not just once, before they knew how much I was going to charge, but again and again and again.

The other thing you've got to bear in mind is that the "Answers to All Your Brothel Questions" article was really quite tongue-in-cheek. The tone of the article certainly wasn't the tone I employed with my customers. Perhaps the reason they were willing to pay so much for my time was that I took great pains to make them feel like they were the most fascinating people in the world.

Please accept my apologies for the misunderstanding, then, and my comments. It was a combination of my ignorance of the avocation and my Monday-morning literal-mindedness, I suppose, working together to overcome my usual faith in the free market.

In my defense: there is a plumber at my house right this moment, gleefully examing my art collection for originals. Vigorous price scheduling, though perfectly within your right, may have struck in me a vituperative chord. Again, my apologies.

Perhaps the reason they were willing to pay so much for my time was that I took great pains to make them feel like they were the most fascinating people in the world.

I thought dommes were supposed to degrade and humiliate people. I also never understood why people would pay for this service. I mean, don't these people have mothers or bosses.

No apology necessary, Fes. I've heard much worse. I just thought I'd drop by and offer my side of the story. And, my condolences on the plumber. Their prices, now, are exorbitant.

Jonmc, I think you're mistaking me for Octavia, who is, indeed, a dominatrix. I was a prostitute, a courtesan, whatever you'd like to call it. You'd be surprised, though: even gents who like to be tortured and humiliated often appreciate being treated as worthwhile and interesting people outside of the context of their fetish.

You'd be surprised, though: even gents who like to be tortured and humiliated often appreciate being treated as worthwhile and interesting people outside of the context of their fetish.

I'm sorry, but to anyone with half a brain, paying someone to treat you as "worthwile," let alone paying someone for sex, would only make you feel pathetic, if you thought about it.

"Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o’ nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."
--Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar. Act i. Sc. 2.

(Seriously, though, to each his own.)

Oh, I still thing hooking should be legal and all that, and I've gotten a lap dance or two in my time, so I suppose that's a form of paying for sex (although I never deluded myself that they were wriggling on my lap for anything but a buck), but paying someone to pretend to like you/want to fuck you is just too depressing to contemplate, it'd be like paying people to come to your birthday party. But like you said to each his own.

I'm a little confused by the Shakespeare. Is it supposed to say that I should stop thinking so much?

Well, it was a joke (the Shakespeare quote), but, yes, that was the general idea. It wasn't intended as a serious suggestion, of course. I was pulling your leg.

As far as paying someone to pretend to enjoy your company goes, in the best-case scenario, they do a good enough job that you don't realize they're pretending. You know: "What luck meeting a girl like you here! We've got so much in common! Fancy your being a horse-racing fan/opera lover/Rocky Horror Picture Show afficionado!" "Oh, yes--why, just last week at Royal Ascot/La Scala/the local RHPS theatre...." In the end, of course, the fact remains that they're paying for your company, but most regular customers believe there's much more to it than the money.

(Pardon the typo! I got an extra "f" in there. Still, in a discussion on brothels, an "f" or two never goes amiss.)

I just wanted to say that I ::heart:: Rats.

Why, thank you, dana!

i'm guessing pulling his leg is free.

No, if you want to pull my leg, I'll have to charge you $20. It's a really good leg.