w4m: "Let's enjoy the day, see our next President speak and celebrate afterwards"

Katherine Mangu-Ward | August 28, 2008

Craigslist posts for "casual encouters" spiked this week in Denver, coinciding perfectly with the DNC. Compared with the same days in a week earlier this month, the sex-wanted posts were up 80 percent.
 

Cnet caption: "Casual encounter" ads spiked the week of the Democratic National Convention. But correlation does not, by itself, prove causation. The vertical axis is posts-per-day, and the horizontal axis represents every day of the month to date.

Ads were mostly what you'd expect ("SEXY DNC men in town?"), but a few really put in some special effort for the Dems. My favorite: An enterprising lady who's looking for a little something extra:

I'm downtown today and would love to accompany you tonight's speech and the parties afterward. I'm real. I like sex but I'm not a ho, so please show some respect. I'm 43, 5'6", slender, brown hair, hazel eyes, hispanic, ex-model.

I could easily meet you for coffee, lunch or drinks to see if we click...if you reply with a pic, I will respond one way or the other. Let's enjoy the day, see our next President speak and celebrate afterwards.

Please only reply if you have an extra ticket, I have plenty of regular dating options here.

Is this the new version of the hallowed "Prostitutes Say Business Is Booming" convention week story?

God bless the geeks at Cnet—they even describe their methodology at the end of this post, in case inquiring minds want to know.

Comments

|8.28.08 @ 3:41PM|#

I really have to peruse Craigslist more.

craigslist sucker|8.28.08 @ 3:54PM|#

I really have to peruse Craigslist more.

Do so and you'll find out the vast (and I mean VAST) majority of w4m (both in the "regular" personals and the casual encounters) ads are fakes. The typical reply you'll get goes something like "Hey thanks for writing, I really liked your response. I've gotten so many responses that I had to set up a [website, profile on this website, etc.] with my pictures and more info so if you wanna hook up with me you should go there and sign up." Not that I'd know from personal experience or anything!

BDB|8.28.08 @ 4:08PM|#

I bet it goes up even higher at the GOP convention, particularly the gay variety.

|8.28.08 @ 4:12PM|#

Whores insisting they're not, is even more pathetic than drunks insisting they're not.

Dagny T.|8.28.08 @ 4:20PM|#

I really have to peruse Craigslist more.

Just don't send any incriminating photos.

BDB|8.28.08 @ 4:23PM|#

It's especially pathetic on craigslist when gay guys insist they're not really gay, and at the same time ask for "straight guys only!".

|8.28.08 @ 4:24PM|#

I don't understand. How does asking someone to bring her as his date to the convention make her a whore? I wouldn't exactly categorize that as "payment" of any sort.

TWC (Shilling for No Star)|8.28.08 @ 4:26PM|#

Apparently our man SIV was at the convention.

|8.28.08 @ 4:28PM|#

Just don't send any incriminating photos.

What do I care? No one can shame me because I have no shame. Besides, I'm vain enough to be thrilled that my picture is being posted around.

Dagny T.|8.28.08 @ 4:45PM|#

Besides, I'm vain enough to be thrilled that my picture is being posted around.

I realized a second after I clicked that I was floating that one over the plate for you.

I would have also accepted a confession that you *are* Jason Fortuny, and it's all been an elaborate, Tony Clifton extravaganza.

|8.28.08 @ 4:53PM|#

Constant Comment,

Other Craigslist posters are offering $100 - $250 for the ticket. This woman physically describes herself and offers to exchange her companionship in return for an item valued in excess of on hundred dollars. I'd bet dollars to donuts she expects the guy to pay for all the post speech celebrating. The thing that will make her a total whore, is when she doesn't have sex with him.

|8.28.08 @ 4:59PM|#

I would have also accepted a confession that you *are* Jason Fortuny, and it's all been an elaborate, Tony Clifton extravaganza.

But Fortuny is ugly, so that would have been insufficiently vain. I have to make some tough choices, every day.

|8.28.08 @ 5:01PM|#

Other Craigslist posters are offering $100 - $250 for the ticket. This woman physically describes herself and offers to exchange her companionship in return for an item valued in excess of on hundred dollars.


Right. And it sounded to me like she was just asking to accompany a guy who has two tickets to the convention and wants a hot date to bring her. Although I don't know why she would bring up sex unless she was implying the possibility of trading sex in exchange for attending the convention. So maybe you're right. She should have left the bit about liking sex out. Other than that, it just sounded like she wanted to attend the convention, and probably figured that guys who have extra tickets are all going to want to know what she looks like.

...


Ok, so maybe she's a whore. She really probably shouldn't have mentioned sex at all, in order to maintain some benefit of the doubt. At least she's straightforward...gotta give her that.

Doug|8.28.08 @ 5:11PM|#

Just a tip: Women are easy, go to a bar.

|8.28.08 @ 5:30PM|#

It's actually Perez Hilton.

Mr Simple|8.28.08 @ 6:38PM|#

I bet it goes up even higher at the GOP convention, particularly the gay variety.

No, no; they just meet up in the public bathrooms or bring their own page/intern.