A couple years ago Steven Soderbergh made a movie called The Girlfriend Experience with now-retired adult film starlet Sasha Grey. It wasn’t terribly good or successful, but that movie rocketed the idea of “the girlfriend experience” or “TGE” or, simply, sex work with intimacy into popular culture.
Quartz hit up Nevada’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel to talk about TGEs for a mini-doc. It’s their “most expensive service” and just as transactional as *actual* sex work, except it includes dinners in Vegas and all the intimacy of a normal relationship. Like cuddling! And *probably* eating carrots naked in bed watching Netflix.
Overall, it’s a little sweet, very commerce-driven, and a little heart-breaking.
At the end of the day, everyone just wants to be loved, even if there’s a price.