Has Dubai become a coded word on the Internet for prostitution?

[debbrianna]

I was reading a thread earlier and constant use of the word Dubai in association with influencers has grown so much. However, no one really mentions who pays for these trips. During lockdown the running jokes about Dubai was rife regarding influencers.
I have also read about people duped in going thinking it was with friends on holiday and it all goes wrong.

Not longer ago, lots of people were being paid by wealthy men or companies to fly of to Dubai on party yachts. A few documentaries on YouTube pointed towards prostitution. Some of the most vile and dehumanising things happened to some of them.

ONLYFANS is full of people flying off to Dubia and this set alarm bells ringing for me. AIBU for thinking this?

• [Message from MNHQ: we've been asked to add a warning that this thread contains graphic references to some pretty iffy sexual practices involving body fluids etc. Click away now if that's going to put you off your dinner...]

Imagine living with the memory of being shat on by a big fat hairy guy?? What an absolute horror!!

But do billionaires not want someone who is going to be part of their ‘respectable’ image? Or did it always happen that way and it’s just the internet has made it harder to hide?

@MadameOvary81

www.instagram.com/p/CNj9QTssJ19/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Dubai is a rabbit hole that you really don't want to travel down.

I'm sorry but what is it you're trying to tell us with your cryptic post?

You've attached a link for an Instagram post by a convicted criminal, whose message seems to be 'Google it'?

@Evilpea

There’s seems to be a lot of good music there though? I though CF had DJ nights with an indie crowd?

Blimey. I’ve been looking forward to a health and safety approved studio 54 revival after all this lockdown and thought those places would be ok.

What's Halston? Something to do with the designer?

Gosh, what an eye-opening thread! I'm now sitting here wondering what my step-cousin The Holy Saint Victoria was REALLY up to in her late teens and early twenties working as a hostess on some rich guys yachts in the south of France, and her granny was soooo proud too when she was busy telling me that I should do whatever Holy Saint Victoria does as she is just the greatest and best at everything and what a shame I can't be more like her. I'm going to enjoy mentioning the contents of this thread to my mum later.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/14/halston-review-ewan-mcgregor-netflix-fashion

@Smurfsarethefuture

But do billionaires not want someone who is going to be part of their ‘respectable’ image? Or did it always happen that way and it’s just the internet has made it harder to hide?

Billionaires will have their 'respectable' wife, probably someone from their own background/culture or an upper class Brit or American who gives them heirs, respectability, prestige and access to social circles they might otherwise hard find hard to mix with. They will also have numerous other 'companions', not necessarily female, who provide other comforts and services.

@Picklypickles

ha!

I went to some glam places but was seriously in the nerd crowd and usually working/studying and never saw this stuff (or it went over my head)

Every year in South of France I spot a model who was famous back in the 90s but not Elle or Naomi famous and every year she is with a new guy , the keep getting older and rounder! it’s actually so sad, she still looks good and has an amazing bod, but to keep the lifestyle she wants, she has no other option but to seek older men.

@queenofarles

There are definitely some celeb actresses etc that I often wonder about who have some graphic materialthat is art house cool. I wonder whether that is an opener for other material (not necessarily with them)

@Picklypickles

Gosh, what an eye-opening thread! I'm now sitting here wondering what my step-cousin The Holy Saint Victoria was REALLY up to in her late teens and early twenties working as a hostess on some rich guys yachts in the south of France, and her granny was soooo proud too when she was busy telling me that I should do whatever Holy Saint Victoria does as she is just the greatest and best at everything and what a shame I can't be more like her. I'm going to enjoy mentioning the contents of this thread to my mum later.

Don't.... for one thing you dont know what her job actually entailed - there is a whole spectrum of experiences from "standing there looking pretty" (similar to bikini clad women selling cars/tech/etc) and putting up with mild sexual harrasmen not exactly empowering or great for feminism but not so bad - all the way through to the really grim porta potty stuff.

For another, even if she was involved in some level of prostitution - I dont think its fair to start trying to "out" her now. Especially as a result of another woman (your granny) unfairly comparing you.

I don't think talking about the realities of OF/Dubai/porn and criticising its normalisation is "women tearing other women down". But when it targets indivudual women it can become that.

debbrianna

I read a shocking article in the new York Times a while ago about onlyfans being a grooming site for hard core porn. They purposely offer women money and they keep increasing the money and act. After that they offer them the job outside of their webpage.

And it's an MLM. You derive income from encouraging your friends to start accounts!

And it's an MLM...

Amazing how many people don't understand what 'MLM' is, despite the words that constitute the acronym describing it quite clearly.

Not sure about statement at 12:59 actually. I shouldn't be making suppositions about people I don't know.

I meant that I wonder if some art house stuff is a gateway into other stuff when I had previously always thought it was the other way round - art house stuff expressed an emotion and a separate industry exploied that and sexualised it.

But knowing my naivety, I think I better stand on the side of caution.

@SofiaMichelle

And it's an MLM...

Amazing how many people don't understand what 'MLM' is, despite the words that constitute the acronym describing it quite clearly.

I know what an MLM is. It is very very noticable how the language used to describe/defend/promote MLMs is mirrored by the language used to describe/defend/promote OF. There is also the same back-to-front financial logic that makes no sense in the general terms of supply/demand. And a lot of projections/extrapolations on how much money can be made that make no sense (at least for most) when you look at them logically. And eerily similar emotional manipulation going on. I am not saying that OF and MLM are exactly the same (at least in OF there is an actual tangible "product" being sold. It is regrettable however that that product is women's bodies.) However, they have a lot in common - maybe this is only because they are both scams targetting (mostly) women?

@Smurfsarethefuture

Not sure about statement at 12:59 actually. I shouldn't be making suppositions about people I don't know.

I meant that I wonder if some art house stuff is a gateway into other stuff when I had previously always thought it was the other way round - art house stuff expressed an emotion and a separate industry exploied that and sexualised it.

But knowing my naivety, I think I better stand on the side of caution.

My only knowledge of art as other than what it is, is that people use it for money laundering. That's why some go for stupid prices sometimes.

And as with the low level influencer trend, there is also crucially an initial fogginess in HOW "succesful" people actually make their money. This is probably because:

1. people are encouraged to overemphasize their success "fake it till you make it" (like MLM)
2. "succesful" content creators make a significant proportion of their income by selling the chance of success to other wannabe "content creators". In MLM this would be the "downstream" and actually represent almost all their profit. In OF this comes from money for encouraging others to sign up, "mentoring" fees, and being paid money to "shout out" less succesful/established creators. I accept that this might represent a much smaller proportion of their income than in traditional MLMs - bit since no-one making money from OF wants to be open about how much they make from what there is no way to know either way.
3. There is (probably well founded) suspicion that many making considerable money arent making it from tasteful foot photos or "lingerie but but you cant see their face". Most of the time the content has to be more extreme than that or, and this is where the cross over with Dubai comes in, involve your standard prostitution.

No shame on women who get drawn into that/need to do it. But realistically women have always been able to sell/use their bodies and sexuality (or have it sold for them). The "oldest profession" was the only profession open to women for much of history. It has never been something that led to empowerment or even a good life for the vast majority. The house always wins. So why anyone would think it would be different now is beyond me.

yes @Appalled

There is a pattern to all of these 'talks' on making money from your art, grow your own, etc. There is always a course being sold. It must be the course that makes the money not the 'object'.

Dubai is the new Bahrain, full of prostitution. It is where the men of that region flock to drink, gamble and buy young men and women.

I didn't know that about Bahrain, Lowland.

I wonder where UK men who want to do those things, flock? I daresay they don't have to flock far here.

apalledandshocked the thing is you can make good money out of being an escort but it’s certainly not Flying private jet level kind of money, which many think is the case, there is no way men are paying £70000+Expenses for little unknown models.

Regarding Art, I don’t get explicit art at all, I spent a lot of time looking at Paul McCarthy’s plug sculpture , it certainly made feel 🤢 .
Wonder if whoever buys it has a fetish for or just buys them due to the controversy ?

@queenofarles

This one?

It’s always about getting the taboo/controversial into conservative spaces. Goes back to Modernism, and a play on format/material.

I remember studying this at a’level

philamuseum.org/collection/object/54149

And seeing it at the NPG? Around 1996?

It's not new of course but I agree that because Dubai is a muslim part of the world the hypocrisy seems to make it worse and the terrible human rights record makes it very dangerous.

I lived in Tokyo in my twenties (teaching job) and had a wonderful time, I do really love Japan but it also had a dark side. It's a strangely ancient and yet futuristic country and still very, very sexist!

I partied a lot on the weekends and became friends with some models (Americans and various Europeans/Russians) and it was quickly obvious they were sustaining their modelling careers as escorts.

No judgement from me, we were all adults but I remember the occasional club nights when my model friends would be snorting an absolute ton of cocaine in the bathroom and as naive as I was, I could see that they paying a mental price for their lifestyles. Then the poor Lucy Blackman murder happened and I couldn't pretend anymore that my party friends were just part of a seedy but harmless industry.

@Maggiesfarm

I didn't know that about Bahrain, Lowland.

I wonder where UK men who want to do those things, flock? I daresay they don't have to flock far here.

Stag party in Amsterdam?

Or, just find somewhere close by online - like ordering a pizza