Ohlala — ‘Paid Dating’ Uber For Escorts

I love the techcrunch URL 😁 http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/03...

This is so fascinating. Yes, there are several other web-first companies that facilitate similar "paid dating" scenarios like Seeking Arrangement or good ol' Craig's List, but Ohlala seems to be one of the first that is mobile-first (not like we can expect to see this in the App Store any time soon, though!). Checking any stigma against paid sex, then it shouldn't be surprising or morally offensive that this exists. Ohlala is merely facilitating a "marketplace" — empowering people to make "liquid" an asset that heretofore hasn't been theirs to sell. (The "asset" in this case isn't necessarily sex, but time, companionship, and the ability to offer intimacy for a price). Of course, this kind of marketplace isn't without risk, which is why it's interesting to hear CEO and co-founder, @poppenreiter, discuss how safety is a primary concern: Ohlala would do everything in their power to provide the information needed for a police investigation [into an alleged sexual assault or rape]." Furthermore, there are other aspects of the system that dissuade bad actors: "Male users not only have verified profiles but the app also has their credit card information as well as their IP address. Additionally, female users are able to flag and report users as well as submit feedback that’s only seen by Ohlala staff, unless they choose to make it public. [Ohlala is] working away at a checkin/check out feature for the app so that the women using the app know that someone knows exactly where they are and is alerted if they don’t check in on time." If anything, it's interesting that apps like that continue to pop up, giving women (for now) more options to choose how they want to approach dating, and gives them options that previously would have been (and may still be) highly taboo.

Side note: whether it's true or not, the tagline of this hunt should maybe be changed to remove the word "escort" since their site states "Ohlala is not an escort service. Escorts are not welcome"