Catherine De Noire has a lot to say about market predictions …
You see, there’s an interesting theory that suggests the sex worker industry can serve as an accurate gauge of the health of the economy. I somewhat already knew about this theory, but a woman I follow on Instagram, Catherine De Noire, recently opined on this in a recent post.
To clarify, De Noire is the manager of a legal brothel in Europe, and her stories are fascinating.
Last month, she posted a piece that discussed the connection between economic uncertainty and the sex industry. In it, she says …
Before the 2008 crash, many dancers in the U.S. saw a huge dip in their earnings. Then tried to warn people about the upcoming crisis. And right now, the dip is happening again.
Over the years, as the manager of a legal brothel, I’ve seen this kind of a dip twice. The first time was COVID-19. Everything slowed down in a matter of day. People pretty much stopped coming to the bars and discos and brothels, and those kinds of entertaining places. But when those restrictions were lifted, many of these businesses saw their numbers not only rebound, but in some cases, actually triple.
The second one was the Russian invasion. When Russia invaded Ukraine, we saw another dip in earnings. It then took several weeks for the business to return to normal. And right now, we see a dip again. And it’s very unusual to see a dip during this time of year. Because March is when this business starts picking up again. After Christmas, after holidays, after new years resolutions. But it’s not happening right now.
Legal brothels and strip clubs are really good indicators of what is happening in society. Because when people have secure jobs, they are calm about their earnings. They don’t expect anything bad to happen. That’s when they usually go to brothers to spend their money. But when there’s a crisis, usually the married guys are the first to stop coming. Because they don’t want to put their families in any financial danger. Not because they feel bad about cheating. But because they feel there are more important things that can be purchased with their money.
Right now. We’re seeing a huge dip in numbers again. And I have a theory. It’s just a theory, though. I don’t have any data for it. And I know that correlation doesn’t mean causation. But this latest dip actually started to happen after Donald Trump came into office. And every time something happens in the U.S., it affects things that happen in Europe. This triggers huge uncertainty. And a lot of the workers are telling me that a lot of their clients don’t have money, they’re trying to haggle, they're trying to go for lower prices, and we also just see the numbers. These are not the numbers we normally expect this time of year.
Catherine De Noire knows a thing or two about market predictions
I actually have a good friend who works as a full service sex worker. So I called her to get her take. She told me that she hasn’t noticed anything personally. Mostly because a good majority of her clients are very wealthy, unmarried individuals. They also tend to hire her for weeks, even months at a time. But she did say that some of her friends who are also in the business have seen a slight dip in their earnings, as well as some guys asking for discounts. Which is an absolute “no-no” in this world. You can negotiate terms for a car, a home, car insurance, home improvements. But only low lifes and creeps try to negotiate with a full service sex worker. That’s just bad form, altogether.
In any event, I do think there's something to be said about this theory of a connection between the health of the economy and sex worker income.
Now, there was one thing that really stuck out with me about Catherine’s commentary. She was quick to point out that after the two economic disruptions she experienced, once those disruptions began to subside, business returned to normal. And in some cases, even better than normal.
This is very similar to how the market works.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Never lose sight of the fact that with every market meltdown comes a market rebound. So as long as you stay the course, and don’t panic sell, you’ll likely be just fine.
As a side note: as you can probably tell, I’m an unapologetic supporter of legalizing full service sex work. Not because I spend tons of cash hiring full service sex workers. but because I maintain that a society cannot truly be free in the absence of personal sovereignty. As long as the government can tell you what you can and can’t do with your body, you aren’t really free.
If you want to use psychedelic mushrooms to treat a medical condition, that's your God-given right.
If you want to buy raw milk from your local farmer, the state shouldn't be able to put you in jail for doing so.
And if you want to get paid for providing sex as a service for consenting adults (or pay for those services yourself), that too should be your decision. Not the state. In fact, if the government was run by smart people, they would fully legalize full service sex work. After all, according to a 2017 report published by the Stanford Economic Review, in the U.S., full service sex work is a $14.6 billion industry. To put that in perspective, that exceeds the value of both the NFL and NBA, combined.
While I’m certainly no fan of taxation, certainly the legalization of full service sex work could generate billions in tax revenue. And even help refill the coffers of social security, which were actively pilfered by politicians for decades. How telling it is that politicians can literally steal your money, but threaten violence against those who chose to sell sex for a living.
Of course, I don’t want to tell anyone how to live his or her life. But strictly from a freedom and economic perspective, there is no rational argument for the criminalization of sex work. And certainly, if cooler heads were to prevail, I do believe the legalization of full service sex work would actually benefit our nation’s economy. This, while also bolstering the promise of self-ownership self-rule, and just the kind of real, honest freedom and liberty we are promised from the moment we are born in this country.
Just something for liberty-minded folks to ponder. 🙂
