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PaperclipPerfector
1yr ago
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Well I don't frequent brothels either, for what it's worth, but that particular set of streets I first happened on by accident more than 20 years ago. It's always fascinated me. I realize similar such streets exist elsewhere in the world but I am a pretty naive country boy at heart.
I've actually never seen any soaplands; maybe they're not as bold in advertising as the pink salons, etc. that you see in the entertainment districts in the cities here. When you mention women from Eastern Europe, sure I've seen them on the escort billboards, burlesque club ads, etc. and walking arm in arm with Japanese dudes. In my experience they're from former Soviet republics, and the ones I've spoken to are quite nice, though of course they have an edge. But that's a different thing. The area I am talking about isn't the run-of-the-mill call-girl service you can do an internet search for. (Though it does have a wiki page.) Also it's possible a caucasian woman has worked there and i've just never heard of it.
And regarding researching the area, I wouldn't dream of administering something like an IQ or personality test, or even taking very many quantitative measures at al. I can't imagine any statistic less enlightening than the average weight of a prostitute in Tobita shinchi. I imagine a qualitative study, preferably consisting of multiple interviews over a period of time. It is my belief people change over time, and I'm far less interested in what a test that attempts to "categorize" people has to say than digging deep into the whys, whats, and where-to-from-here stories that everybody has. There is what I see as a clear tendency on the Motte to put great faith in IQ scores, for example. As a researcher, I don't find IQ particularly interesting or useful.
Some university students I know have tattoos, but yes, in general tattoos are seen as dispreferred. I can only make this claim based on what I see around me. It is not uncommon to see signs at hot springs and pools that people with tattoos are forbidden. It is also true that I once saw a large man at such a pool with a tattoo and there was no sudden appearance by SWAT to spirit him out. Certain types of tattoos (full sleeves, or even full body tats) are clear indications of involvement in an organized crime group, as you allude to. That said, these same organized crime groups are everywhere. On your way to Tobita shinchi, for example there is a large building with a gang crest on its driveway gate. Just a few blocks from the police station.
I personally dislike tattoos and their ubiquity in the US now puzzles me.
I apologize for having been unclear.
What'd be interesting to know would be data on beauty of prostitutes, personality dimensions and also IQ. (there are easy tests that tell you quite a lot). Is it mostly something done by women who can't make ends meet in the normal market ? What's the share of women like say, Brooke Magnati who went into prostitution because she could earn more in 2 hours than she'd have earned as programmer through the whole weekend ? Does sociosexuality play a role - ? etc.
Interviews are fine, but people lie about why they do what they do, usually to themselves first.
No no, if there was confusion it was probably mine.
There is the idea here that there is one "true" reason why the person joined the profession that a discrete-item questionnaire could unravel. In a qualitative approach the interviews would be long, in-depth, and multiple, preferably over time, and whatever multiple reasons the women had could be explored at greater depth and, I would suggest, in much more satisfying detail. Along with a whole lot of other things.
My main issue with questionnaires as opposed to interviews is exactly this. As you say, people lie. Or questionnaire questions don't take contexts into consideration sufficiently to produce answers that are, in the end, meaningful in any way. Piloting questionnaires to get them to have any sort of validity (to say nothing of reliability) is a fine art, and even if you have a good questionnaire tailored to your subjects, when they answer it, how much time they take thinking about it, to what degree they rush through it or take it seriously, all of these influence the outcome. Personality tests in my experience are troublesome in this way, particularly the abbreviated ones. I'm not a grand proponent of them, despite insistence of their validity. Psychometrics as a field, particularly statistical, really interests me, but seems to have a lot of blind spots. Which is not to say qualitative inquiry produces completely satisfactory data, but done right I find it richer and certainly more interesting to read.
I'm not out to convince anyone, this is just my view and, were I ever to mount such a study, this is how I would do it. I do not intend any pun using the word "mount," I promise.
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