NCJ Number
110481
Date Published
1978
Length
186 pages
Annotation
The author hypothesizes that knowledge of the problems of the call girl may help illuminate the relationship between personality and the kind of occupation an individual chooses, and emotional factors involved in that choice.
Abstract
The author combines psychoanalysis and social psychology to understand the problems of the call girl. This issue is explored in four parts: (1) the social and professional life of the call girl, (2) a psychoanalytic study, using two case histories of call girls in psychoanalytic therapy, (3) a social psychological study of 20 call girls, and (4) the men in their lives, illustrated by two psychoanalytic studies, of a pimp and of a compulsive, frequent client of call girls. The first section examines income, expenses, sources of clients, working hours, language, code, status, association, and amusements. Lack of early nurturing was found to be a factor in feelings of rage and desperation expressed by the two call girls who were psychoanalyzed. Findings indicate that early deprivation and rage at this deprivation turned the subjects to self-abasement and self-degradation. The social psychological study used self-selected subjects, ranging in age from 19 to 43 years and in education from eighth grade to college sophomore. Three subjects came from upper class parents, 14 from middle-class parents, and three from lower class parents. Six had never been married, seven had been married once, six twice, and one three times. The study used a unique method of training 10 of the subjects to interview others. Six psychological and social factors influencing choice of profession discussed are anxiety, self-image, pseudoconformity, interpersonal relations, reality adaptation, and lack of controls.