And I know, I know, some of you are thinking to yourselves, "Damn,, bcg, you sure have a weird concept of 'interesting'..."
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...sands-of-years
Quote:
Dear Cecil:
I once heard someone — it may have been my father — claim the price for a prostitute has remained relatively stable throughout the ages. Has it, relative to the price of, say, bread, games, household utensils, etc? I realize this is a complex question, but still, can anything sensible be said about it?
— A fan from Holland
Cecil replies:
Interesting notion, and perfectly plausible. Sex is perhaps the most basic commodity after food and shelter. Few sell themselves for the joy of doing so; they do it to cover the cost of living, usually for lack of other options. Allowing for pricing variations due to attractiveness, services provided, and so on (which I acknowledge make for a wide range), and conceding that tolerance for premarital sex may have reduced demand for professional services (in my opinion minimally), the fundamental economic relationship hasn’t changed since we had brains enough to bargain. Ergo, prices for sex ought to be historically stable. However, proving this conjecture is a bitch.
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More at the link.
Cheers,
bcg