Last night, after the news, I was surprised to see that CNBC had a much-advertised special on high-end prostitution.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26869953

The prices for some of the girls were impressive. $10,000 for a night. $25,000 for a weekend. Wow. And to hear them talk, there’s a steady flow of business in all the big cities.

There are even websites where johns rate the hookers. Only they aren’t johns and hookers anymore. That too has moved upscale. The guys are hobbyists, and the girls are providers. Anyway, on these sites the guys rate the girls on various features. Some, like looks, are to be expected. But the biggest rating factor in the high end was a total shock to me. It’s called G F E.

What’s that, you ask? It stands for Girl Friend Experience. Here’s what the show’s producers say: “The most popular item offered by escorts today is called the Girlfriend Experience, known by the acronym, the GFE. The definition varies but most agree that it involves some facsimile of real romance.”

These johns (hobbyists) are rating hookers on the quality of a fake romantic experience?? Are they nuts? Wouldn’t you think any guy who could afford twenty five grand for a weekend with a hooker could get the real thing, not a bought imitation? It seems like everything today is some kind of “experience.”

You can go to Disney World and Busch Gardens for a jungle experience, or a scuba diving experience, or whatever else you see. The thing is, they are nothing like real jungles or real scuba dives. You can go to Aspen and buy a log cabin, and live the pioneer experience for two million dollars. But the jungle experience is at best very weak and glamorized, and nothing could be father than the experience of living in a log cabin in the Colorado wilderness 100 years ago.

Somehow, our society has embraced the concept of “experiences” – sanitized, glorified, or stylized versions of some real thing. I can understand that for something truly exotic or dangerous. But dating and romance? Isn’t something wrong with that picture? I am sometimes struck by fake displays of emotion in other people. It seems like this is sort of the ultimate fake . . . going though life with a string of bought “fake” romances.

What happened to searching for the real thing? Are these people that lost of clueless? I would have thought that most people who could afford the rates shown in the show would have developed the ability to attract a desirable mate. I guess I was wrong, or maybe it’s them that are wrong. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when people are buying romantic experiences and then rating how “real” they feel. If they have to buy them, can they even know what real truly feels like?

One of my friends suggested that the focus on a "girl friend experience" might be an attempt to make the overall behavior feel less shameful to the guys. Perhaps there is some of that going on. But if they are sensitive to that, why wouldn't they seek more conventional relationships?

Do these people really believe they can have a good life plugging in bought "girlfriend" time amidst bought time at the personal trainers, or at work, or elsewhere that money and people's time change hands. Maybe they can. Maybe it's me who's all wet. There is no shame to paying a personal trainer to be your friend and whip you into shape; few people would criticize that. So maybe society should not be condemning this either. But it just feels like there's something missing.

I should say that I am not personally opposed to prostitution. If people want to exchange sex for money, I don't see any reason to outlaw it. I don't feel an urge to try it, but if you do, I would not criticize you for it. What I question is the "paid girlfriend" concept, and the idea that any guy who could afford those rates should have more conventional relationships available. I wonder what's going on behind the scenes in these people's minds.

The producers go on to say, “Many high-end escorts today consider themselves to be modern day courtesans, carrying on a role popular during the Italian Renaissance. Historically, courtesans were described as “a higher caliber of prostitute -- a woman who was not only young and beautiful, but who could grace with wit and charm.” I always thought wives or girlfriends performed that function for most people. Do they mean to say these guys have wives at home but they pay a provider ten grand to accompany them to a party for their wit and charm? Could that be for real? Did these people all make profound errors in mate selection originally or something?

And how do the providers feel about the whole thing? Are they fake too? You have to wonder how all these people feel about the whole thing at the end of the day. Could it really be all great and rosy like they say, or is it really kind of sad and shallow?