History is full of stories of women who have pledged their lives to becoming the companions of important male figures. "Memoirs of a Geisha" recounts the story of such a woman. Well educated, talented and stunning ladies who chose to be beside powerful men, as ornaments as many have referred to them, than to live their own lives.

Their fate lay in accepting this future. Maybe it was because that was how they were born and that was what they were raised to become. These women are not prostitutes -- and should never be mistaken as such. Rather they are escorts. At the same time there is no getting away from the fact that prostitution was one of the oldest professions in the world.

The need to correct other people's misconceptions about paid escorts and high class hookers stems from prejudice against women who are trying to earn a decent living. Sex is not a given when one goes on to hire an escort from one of the many escort services in town.

Paying a prostitute in return for an hour's pleasure does not constitute companionship. To clear things up, the Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines an escort as a person accompanying another for whatever purpose, usually for protection or courtesy. Examples could be bodyguards, medical assistants and temporary secretaries.

One more meaning of an escort would be a person going out on a date with another -- just like prom escorts. Even then, people just cannot bring themselves to accept that a lot of escort services do not offer sex as an option

However, much of this attitude must be blamed on the escort services themselves. By this I mean especially those who offer more than an hour's company as part of the company's offering. Escort services are one reason why many a time, prostitutes and escorts have been equated. For companies who offer decent and straightforward services, escorts usually stay for an hour or two in a client's home or hotel room to help entertain guests.

I have heard of wedding escorts, funeral escorts, business escorts as well as holiday escorts. Every escort service seeks to provide a different kind of escort depending on the occasion. Even if intercourse happens between escorts and clients, it is really based on the discretion of the escort and not because it is part of the "package".

Let us explain the difference between the two professions through this example. Cindy works for an escort agency. Her aim was to make some extra money to take care of the fees that were charged by her college. Since she is smart, most of her clients opt to take her to business functions to help entertain corporate heads and foreign diplomats.

Pam also works for an escort agency, but her clients mostly stay in cheap hotels and do not need her social skills to help accommodate investors, relatives or college buddies. She just has sex with them, gets paid and then leaves. Even though both these women offer their services as escorts, clearly, their jobs are completely different.

The prostitute offers sex for a fee while the escort provides only temporary companionship for a fee.