An educational article written about TOB

[Caressa Duval]

I stumbled across this article that was a project of:
THE AVERY CENTER INTERN
Sociology Major - University of Northern Colorado

 

"Learning about The Other Board

When first starting this project, I had only a little bit of knowledge of sex trafficking and all it entailed. I gained an internship opportunity with The Avery Center inputting data from TheOtherBoard.com (TOB). I had never heard of this site before and had only a general idea of what it was. TOB is an online forum and review site where buyers of commercial sex can leave a review of the person they paid for along with the details of the encounter. It’s also home to a forum where TOB members can post about almost anything. My job was to search down active members on the site and gather as much information about them as possible. I looked for demographic information, preferences, geographic locations, careers, and even hobbies. All of this information is posted by the individuals on the public site, for anyone to find. Between the reviews they left and the posts left on the forum boards, I learned a lot about these anonymous members."

https://theaverycenter.org/taking-a-look-behind-the-other-board/

Looks like we were all were a science project being studied, and didn't even know it    I might start calling clients " buyers of commercial sex", but only if I can get a CSL like a commercial trucker can get a CDL

I really liked how she went into detail, about how supportive we were to each other during the pandemic. When we were losing income.  She tries to understand sex workers, but doesn't quite get it in the end...or understand the client/provider relationship. A relationship that is so dear to many of us!

 

 

 

[Bit Banger]

Thanks, Caressa, for pointing this out.

What she didn’t seem to get was the differences between trafficked, pimped sex workers, and the independent business owners of this board. Yes, reviews can be objectifying, but so can those of mechanics, lawyers, and restaurants. That said we still build relationships with each other over the years. What she missed about support during the lock downs was often just helping friends get through some tough times (at least for me).

But those opinions would not be welcome in her community. They don’t fit the “common wisdom” of her ivory tower.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Bit Banger

[Fenrir373]

What a joke of an "article." It's presented as if it's actual academic research but there's literally no analysis or science of any kind in it. It's just "I looked at this board and read some stuff and here is one example that kind of supports my pre-existing agenda." The author added no real insight or anything. Just terrible writing on every level. It's bad even for an intern.

Of course, none of that falls on Caressa, who admirably found this and pointed it out to us. It is interesting whenever anyone outside of this community notices this board and it's certainly noteworthy whenever anything brings attention here. But man, this article literally says nothing.

[Madison Taylor]

Wow this shows how many people in the real world are so oblivious to the real definition of a provider and that this is a CHOICE that we all make. There isn’t one comment about the real friendships and connections. Atleast she saw that our community does help eachother but she fails to see in more ways than one. I do wish people would open their minds to things like what we do and realize nobody is forcing us to do this, it just so happens most of us love what we do 

[sunshinelovely]

wow! interesting... how did you come across this? 

[Phil-anderer]

On 1/27/2023 at 6:04 PM, Caressa Duval said:

 

Looks like we were all were a science project being studied, and didn't even know it    I might start calling clients " buyers of commercial sex", but only if I can get a CSL like a commercial trucker can get a CDL

I really liked how she went into detail, about how supportive we were to each other during the pandemic. When we were losing income.  She tries to understand sex workers, but doesn't quite get it in the end...or understand the client/provider relationship. A relationship that is so dear to many of us!

 

 

 

Thanks for posting!  It's not much of an article, nor does there appear to be any academic rigor applied.  That said... interesting.

[Mustang87]

On 1/31/2023 at 3:34 PM, Fenrir373 said:

What a joke of an "article." It's presented as if it's actual academic research but there's literally no analysis or science of any kind in it. It's just "I looked at this board and read some stuff and here is one example that kind of supports my pre-existing agenda." The author added no real insight or anything. Just terrible writing on every level. It's bad even for an intern.

 

And she claimed that "My job was to search down active members on the site and gather as much information about them as possible" but gives no first-had accounts. I wonder how many active members she actually searched down. I'm afraid this is what passes for journalism these days.

[Phil-anderer]

8 hours ago, Mustang87 said:

And she claimed that "My job was to search down active members on the site and gather as much information about them as possible" but gives no first-had accounts. I wonder how many active members she actually searched down. I'm afraid this is what passes for journalism these days.

then again... how would she find us?

[Phil-anderer]

9 minutes ago, Phil-anderer said:

then again... how would she find us?

Nevermind... I've had a moment to ponder.

[CountryGentleman]

Not much to the article, but the fact that people are checking us out, almost like lab rats, is funny, telling, and a little worrisome at the same time. 

[Kali Sensual Reiki]

3 hours ago, CountryGentleman said:

Not much to the article, but the fact that people are checking us out, almost like lab rats, is funny, telling, and a little worrisome at the same time. 

I also got a strange feeling, and I thought to myself, only if she would have lowered herself a bit down to a humanistic level, maybe even tried to interview Are a few of us involved here? Maybe that sounds like too much. it becomes a SUPER NOVA JOKE, when people can’t realistically look at other individuals without putting divisions into categories, hahaha, perfect little cookie-cutter categories!  As if?! 

 @Bit Banger claimed “Ivory Tower” THAT sums it up well. 

 

I like my life a bit imperfect; yeah, I see imperfect as being very sexy! I claim that as a rule. The imperfect trophy in all it’s glory! 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Kali Sensual Reiki

[Bit Banger]

Ah, but my ‘Ivory Tower’ remark placed her in a cookie cutter category.🥴

[sweetmoment]

Reflecting on this, the "educational" article does not seem to be educational. Instead, the author started with some broad assumptions and terms she used to label people in this community as well as human voluntary associations in general, and then attempted to find information supporting her assumptions. This is a phenomenon seen too often by supposed educated people on all sides. Consequently, I suspect actual incidences and frequencies would suggest a very different reality, as far as conclusions are concerned.

[Caressa Duval]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:43 PM, sunshinelovely said:

wow! interesting... how did you come across this? 

I put "The Other Board" into Google search. For some reason her "paper" was at the top of the list that day. Just now I searched "The Other Board TOB" and went to images. The entire fist row of photos all of this woman, and the article she wrote. I know on my website, I can log in and see where all my hits are coming from. Maybe The Avery Center will see a spike in the views on her article, and  bring it to her attention The responses here should serve as her feedback!! She could have crossed reference a lot of us on Twitter. Our strong personalities come out in our Tweets.  Who's careers was she looking at? The men or the women or both. She seems to overlook that many provider I know, have a higher education degree. A couple of ladies I know have their doctorates,  even more have their masters degrees. She also fails completely, in even noticing that SW is many women's second and third job! That a lot of us have careers other than SW.

At the very bottom she lists her references as :

Euteneier, Justin (2019). Engaging Male Bystanders to End Demand for Prostituted People by Cultivating Belonging. Kilns College.

IMO what strange references..... Maybe Amanda is still trolling TOB, and can learn few things!

[Phil-anderer]

Well said, Caressa.

[Kali Sensual Reiki]

9 hours ago, Caressa Duval said:

I put "The Other Board" into Google search. For some reason her "paper" was at the top of the list that day. Just now I searched "The Other Board TOB" and went to images. The entire fist row of photos all of this woman, and the article she wrote. I know on my website, I can log in and see where all my hits are coming from. Maybe The Avery Center will see a spike in the views on her article, and  bring it to her attention The responses here should serve as her feedback!! She could have crossed reference a lot of us on Twitter. Our strong personalities come out in our Tweets.  Who's careers was she looking at? The men or the women or both. She seems to overlook that many provider I know, have a higher education degree. A couple of ladies I know have their doctorates,  even more have their masters degrees. She also fails completely, in even noticing that SW is many women's second and third job! That a lot of us have careers other than SW.

At the very bottom she lists her references as :

Euteneier, Justin (2019). Engaging Male Bystanders to End Demand for Prostituted People by Cultivating Belonging. Kilns College.

IMO what strange references..... Maybe Amanda is still trolling TOB, and can learn few things!

@Caressa Duval, I sure hope she see’s your post on her article and reads what we think of her lack of research! 

[Happymon]

Truth is, the article is about the level of intellectual rigor that, sadly, I would expect from an undergraduate sociology major at UNC. I knew nothing more about TOB after reading her "article," than I did before. Human trafficking of all kinds is a horrible thing. Unfortunately, she shed no light on her intended target. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Happymon

[Elle Blake]

On 1/27/2023 at 8:04 PM, Caressa Duval said:

I stumbled across this article that was a project of:
THE AVERY CENTER INTERN
Sociology Major - University of Northern Colorado

 

"Learning about The Other Board

When first starting this project, I had only a little bit of knowledge of sex trafficking and all it entailed. I gained an internship opportunity with The Avery Center inputting data from TheOtherBoard.com (TOB). I had never heard of this site before and had only a general idea of what it was. TOB is an online forum and review site where buyers of commercial sex can leave a review of the person they paid for along with the details of the encounter. It’s also home to a forum where TOB members can post about almost anything. My job was to search down active members on the site and gather as much information about them as possible. I looked for demographic information, preferences, geographic locations, careers, and even hobbies. All of this information is posted by the individuals on the public site, for anyone to find. Between the reviews they left and the posts left on the forum boards, I learned a lot about these anonymous members."

https://theaverycenter.org/taking-a-look-behind-the-other-board/

Looks like we were all were a science project being studied, and didn't even know it    I might start calling clients " buyers of commercial sex", but only if I can get a CSL like a commercial trucker can get a CDL

I really liked how she went into detail, about how supportive we were to each other during the pandemic. When we were losing income.  She tries to understand sex workers, but doesn't quite get it in the end...or understand the client/provider relationship. A relationship that is so dear to many of us!

 

 

 

Awesome find!!!  Kudos!!

[frostyjack]

It reads like Ms Amanda walked into the project with some pretty heavy handed biases, and had a hard time viewing the site’s content past her own preconceived notions about sex work (i.e. it’s all sex trafficking) and the folks who partake. I don’t think she did much research past a couple of hours trolling the forums and reading a handful of reviews, found enough information to justify her already established point of view, and/or twisted it around enough to fit the narrative of a book she read. Regardless, it’s an interesting find. 

[sunshinelovely]

On 2/6/2023 at 0:02 PM, Caressa Duval said:

I put "The Other Board" into Google search. For some reason her "paper" was at the top of the list that day. Just now I searched "The Other Board TOB" and went to images. The entire fist row of photos all of this woman, and the article she wrote. I know on my website, I can log in and see where all my hits are coming from. Maybe The Avery Center will see a spike in the views on her article, and  bring it to her attention The responses here should serve as her feedback!! She could have crossed reference a lot of us on Twitter. Our strong personalities come out in our Tweets.  Who's careers was she looking at? The men or the women or both. She seems to overlook that many provider I know, have a higher education degree. A couple of ladies I know have their doctorates,  even more have their masters degrees. She also fails completely, in even noticing that SW is many women's second and third job! That a lot of us have careers other than SW.

At the very bottom she lists her references as :

Euteneier, Justin (2019). Engaging Male Bystanders to End Demand for Prostituted People by Cultivating Belonging. Kilns College.

IMO what strange references..... Maybe Amanda is still trolling TOB, and can learn few things!

yeah I better be careful what I post on the boards since people can come on here and write an article about us ! you live and you learn. it would be hard to rely on sw completely. been there and done that. Desperate times indeed. I feel so much relief knowing I don't have to survive off sw anymore ! I use to want to do it full time but it just didn't work out that way.