Bon Ton (brothel)

Last updated
Bon Ton
Company typePrivate
Industry Sex industry
Headquarters New Zealand
Number of locations
1 agency
Area served
Queenstown
Key people
Jennifer Souness
Products Escort Agency
Services Sexual services
OwnerJennifer Souness
Website www.bonton.co.nz

Bon Ton is a high-end escort agency chain in New Zealand. [1] It initially operated two escort agencies - one in the capital city Wellington and a second in the nation's largest city Auckland. It now operates in Queenstown. [2] [3] Bon Ton is a French term which means "good taste". [4] The luxury escort agency is owned by Jennifer Souness, [5] a former model who modeled for various European fashion labels. [3]

In a feature story on prostitution in New Zealand, the BBC News Online described Bon Ton as "an ideal showcase for New Zealand-style liberalisation". [1] The escort agency is characterized by quality rooms resembling luxury suites and a professionally maintained office. [1] Louise Jolliffe writing in The Wellington Guide asserted that Bon Ton looks closer to "a luxury lodge than a brothel". [3]

All the women working at Bon Ton have other occupations and work as prostitutes on a part-time basis. During employment testing, applicants are asked whether they like sex. Escort agency owner Souness asserted these women like their work. [3] According to the BBC News Online, the escorts working at Bon Ton say they find the work environment respectful. [1]

Bon Ton bills itself as "a boutique agency for a select clientele" and states that it intends "to provide a tasteful and discreet haven for gentlemen to enjoy the attentions of elegant, beautifully groomed, intelligent women". [4] The website of the escort agency makes invitation calls to potential clients to come into what is described as a "safe and secret oasis where the outside world melts away". [6]

The Bon Ton website publishes biographies of their prostitutes – whom they refer to as "courtesans" – which include their age and brassiere measurement. As per the requirement by the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, Bon Ton has a safe sex policy that requires customers to wear condoms. [7] [1] [5]

Two members of the United Kingdom-based Women's Institute (WI), who visited various brothels throughout the world to check their quality and were featured in a BBC documentary titled The WI And The Search For The Perfect Brothel , voted Bon Ton the world's best. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in New Zealand</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in New Zealand

Prostitution in New Zealand, brothel-keeping, living off the proceeds of someone else's prostitution, and street solicitation are legal in New Zealand and have been since the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 came into effect. Coercion of sex workers is illegal. The 2003 decriminalisation of brothels, escort agencies and soliciting, and the substitution of a minimal regulatory model, created worldwide interest; New Zealand prostitution laws are now some of the most liberal in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street prostitution</span> Soliciting prostitution from a public place

Street prostitution is a form of prostitution in which a prostitute solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, etc. The street prostitute is often dressed in a provocative manner. The sex act may be performed in the customer's car, in a nearby secluded street location, or at the prostitute's residence or in a rented motel room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Call girl</span> Type of sex worker

A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency. The client must make an appointment, usually by calling a telephone number. Call girls often advertise their services in small ads in magazines and via the Internet, although an intermediary advertiser, such as an escort agency, may be involved in promoting escorts, while, less often, some may be handled by a pimp. Call girls may work either incall, where the client comes to them, or outcall, where they go to the client. Some porn stars are known to escort as well.

An escort agency is a company that provides escorts for clients, usually for sexual services. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room (outcall), or at the escort's residence (incall). Some agencies also provide escorts for longer durations, who may stay with the client or travel along on a holiday or business trip. While the escort agency is paid a fee for this booking and dispatch service, the customer must negotiate any additional fees or arrangements directly with the escort for any other services that are not provided by the agency involved, such as providing sexual services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Germany</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in Germany

Prostitution in Germany is legal, as are other aspects of the sex industry, including brothels, advertisement, and job offers through HR companies. Full-service sex work is widespread and regulated by the German government, which levies taxes on it. In 2016, the government adopted a new law, the Prostitutes Protection Act, in an effort to improve the legal situation of sex workers, while also now enacting a legal requirement for registration of prostitution activity and banning prostitution which involves no use of condoms. The social stigmatization of sex work persists and many workers continue to lead a double life. Human rights organizations consider the resulting common exploitation of women from East Germany to be the main problem associated with the profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in the Netherlands</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in the Netherlands

Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. Operating a brothel is also legal. De Wallen, the largest and best-known Red-light district in Amsterdam, is a destination for international sex tourism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Male prostitution</span> Act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment

Male prostitution is a form of sex work consisting of act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male prostitutes have been far less studied than female prostitutes by researchers. Even so, male prostitution has an extensive history including regulation through homosexuality, conceptual developments on sexuality, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic impact. In the last century, male sex work has seen various advancements such as popularizing new sexual acts, methods of exchange, and carving out a spot in cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in the United Kingdom</span>

In Great Britain, the act of engaging in sex as part of an exchange of various sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, pimping and pandering, are illegal. In Northern Ireland, which previously had similar laws, paying for sex became illegal from 1 June 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in India</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in India

Prostitution is legal in India, but a number of related activities including soliciting, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, prostitution in a hotel, child prostitution, pimping and pandering are illegal. There are, however, many brothels illegally operating in Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, and Nagpur, among others. UNAIDS estimate there were 657,829 prostitutes in the country as of 2016. Other unofficial estimates have calculated India has roughly 3 million prostitutes. India is widely regarded as having one of the world's largest commercial sex industry. It has emerged as a global hub of sex tourism, attracting sex tourists from wealthy countries. The sex industry in India is a multi-billion dollar one, and one of the fastest growing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in the United States</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in the U.S.

Prostitution is illegal in the vast majority of the United States as a result of state laws rather than federal laws. It is, however, legal in some rural counties within the state of Nevada. Additionally, it is decriminalized to sell sex in the state of Maine, but illegal to buy sex. Prostitution nevertheless occurs elsewhere in the country.

The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) is a campaigning group which supports the decriminalisation of prostitution, sex workers' right to recognition and safety, and the provision of financial alternatives to prostitution so that no one is forced into prostitution by poverty. The group works against the social stigma that is associated with prostitution, and the poverty that is sometimes its cause. It provides information, help, and support to individual prostitute women and others who are concerned with sex workers' rights, civil, legal, and economic rights. The organisation was founded in 1975, and its first spokeswoman was Selma James.

Prostitution in Ireland is legal. However, since March 2017, it has been an offence to buy sex. All forms of third party involvement are illegal but are commonly practiced. Since the law that criminalises clients came into being, with the purpose of reducing the demand for prostitution, the number of prosecutions for the purchase of sex increased from 10 in 2018 to 92 in 2020. In a report from UCD's Sexual Exploitation Research Programme the development is called ”a promising start in interrupting the demand for prostitution.” Most prostitution in Ireland occurs indoors. Street prostitution has declined considerably in the 21st century, with the vast majority of prostitution now advertised on the internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Australia</span>

Prostitution in Australia is governed by state and territory laws, which vary considerably, although none ban the selling of sex itself.

Prostitution in Turkey is legal and regulated. The secularization of Turkish society allowed prostitution to achieve legal status during the early 20th century. Known as "general houses" (genelevler) in the country, brothels must receive permits from the government to operate. In turn, the regulatory agencies issue identity cards to sex workers that give them rights to some free medical care and other social services. However, many local governments now have a policy of not issuing new registrations, and in some cities, such as Ankara and Bursa, brothels have been demolished by court order.

Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or sex worker, but other words, such as hooker, putana, or whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work as prostitutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Europe</span>

The legality of prostitution in Europe varies by country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex industry</span> Field of business

The sex industry consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related services, such as prostitution, strip clubs, host and hostess clubs and sex-related pastimes, such as pornography, sex-oriented men's magazines, women's magazines, sex movies, sex toys and fetish or BDSM paraphernalia. Sex channels for television and pre-paid sex movies for video on demand, are part of the sex industry, as are adult movie theaters, sex shops, peep shows, and strip clubs. The sex industry employs millions of people worldwide, mainly women. These range from the sex worker, also called adult service provider (ASP), who provides sexual services, to a multitude of support personnel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Healy (activist)</span> New Zealand activist

Dame Catherine Alice Healy is a New Zealand sex workers' rights activist, field researcher and former prostitute working for decriminalisation of prostitution and generally for the improvement of the sex work profession. She is the national coordinator and a founding member of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective (NZPC).

The Internet has become one of the preferred methods of communication for prostitution, as clients and prostitutes are less vulnerable to arrest or assault and for its convenience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Oceania</span> Legality of prostitution in Oceania

Prostitution in Oceania varies greatly across the region. In American Samoa, for instance, prostitution is illegal, whereas in New Zealand most aspects of the trade are decriminalised.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Selling sex legally in New Zealand". BBC News Online . 17 March 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  2. "Official Website of Bon Ton" . Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jolliffe, Louise (Autumn 2009). "Thoroughly Modern Madam" (PDF). The Wellington Guide (24): 28–33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-26.
  4. 1 2 "Brothel sues banker over bill". Stuff.co.nz . 1 January 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. 1 2 "School's cash went on sex and high living". The Dominion Post . 16 November 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  6. Jane Warren (5 November 2011). "SHOULD PROSTITUTION BE LEGALISED?". Daily Express . Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  7. Tracey Tyler (29 September 2010). "Legalized brothels 'fantastic' for New Zealand, prostitutes say". Toronto Star . Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  8. PAUL EASTON (20 February 2010). "Legal prostitution hot topic at Oxford debate". Stuff.co.nz . Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  9. "NZ brothels get thumbs up from UK grannies". The New Zealand Herald . 30 July 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2012.