Craigslist may have officially shut down its Erotic Services section in favor of a less prostitution-friendly "Adult" area, but what prostitution did exist on the site is still alive and well. Not only that, but the changes may have made the world's oldest profession a little more dangerous for working girls, at least according to those who do business on the site.
The Erotic Services section used to be rife with listings containing nude or semi-nude pics and explicit descriptions of the available services. To those who have ever seen it—or the back of practically any local magazine over the last several decades—it's obvious that these listings ultimately amount to the exchange of money for sexual gratification.
The new " adult " section link NSFW barely changes this. A quick browse through the adult section in the Chicago area shows that prostitution listings are still widely available, just with more vague, toned-down language and PG images.
The ladies and men, when you can find them who post listings here are still trying to play by the new rules despite the illegality of their profession.
We confirmed with one provider who calls herself Maureen that her "erotic massage" services listed in Adult is really just a code for a whole menu of sex acts.? Maureen says that there aren't any real checks in place under the new system—Craigslist merely charges more per listing and takes longer to post them to the site. Maureen has bigger things to worry about than Craigslist forcing her to change her wording, however. It has changed the type of clients from businessmen to back down to the blue collar worker that you can't really count on.
