Bedpage is dead - New app allows local users to find and fuck each other within 24 hours.
We want it, we miss it: Backpage. Nothing will ever be the same since those harsh new laws swept through the sweet world of escort services, leaving our hands as empty as our loins as we hunt for something to replace that discreet hookup we so desperately desire. When Backpage disappeared, the sex industry took a big hit.
But the end of Backpage doesn’t mean the end of the oldest profession in the book, does it? There are new sites like Bedpage that promise to fill that void. But is it legit, or is Bedpage just a waste of your time?
Oh, nostalgia. The first glance at Bedpage has you flashing back to the mid-2000s on the internet. To be honest, I love it. With a long list of cities organized by country, state, and region, all you need to do is click on the city that’s closest to you and start exploring. A riff on Craigslist more than Backpage, this site looks innocent enough – but don’t be fooled. The (sexy) devil’s in the details.
The features on this site are pretty diverse, but it’s hard to tell how many of them are genuine and how many are just facades – store fronts with nothing going on behind the doors, so to speak. For instance, you’ll see on the main page advertising for child care, musicians wanted, services, land for sale, and accounting positions, to just name a few. However, clicking on anything not related to, well, sex yields nearly-empty pages. Some of them, such as the ones featuring administrative jobs and garden services, are completely empty.
Romantic searches, however, are a whole different story. To find what you really came to Bedpage for, look under “Adult” and explore several different search categories:
Unlike the other ghost town sections, these are bursting at the seams with different opportunities for connection. Ads feature contact information and a general run-down of what each different provider offers. To get even more fun, feel free to check the “personals” section for whatever style of romantic connection you want to explore.
One frustrating thing about this site is that there are little to no parameters for what a provider has to post on their ad. Unlike other sites that make providers give details, a picture, or even rates, most ads have vague phrases with poor spelling – and often don’t even have a picture. In one way, this kind of calls us back to the glory days on Craigslist and the intrigue that came with the mysteries of the personals. On the other hand, when we have access to sites that give more details, like Switter and Tryst, you wonder why anyone would go with the ads that have you questioning if the posters are sex professionals or just horny randos.
What’s not to love about a little free love? Like Backpage, this site doesn’t have any payments to worry about, meaning you’re off scot free if you’re looking for a little fun. Because sites with such sensitive material are subject to hacks and danger, everything for potential clients is anonymous, so all you have to do is call that number in the ad and arrange a time and price. And if they value anonymity, you know they’re not about to ask you for your credit card information.
If you’re looking to post an ad, however, be prepared to get your wallet out – and according to the sex workers’ Reddit, Bedpage costs a pretty penny with little to no reward.
Free is pretty amazing, and it’s nice to be able to browse the pickins without any risks involved (as long as you keep your browser incognito). Plus, a site that doesn’t make you sign up is one that values your privacy. Best of all, having more, ahem, personal options kept quiet and nestled between other harmless offerings like job postings gives Bedpage an air of safety that made Craigslist Personals so damn appealing in the first place.
One of my first issues with Bedpage was that the divisions by region were too detailed. For the right connection, aren’t you willing to travel? When a site separates San Francisco from Oakland (which are only 20 minutes apart) it can make finding the dream dominatrix more than a little tricky. After all, what if my fantasy dominatrix lives only forty minutes away, and I miss them because they’ve posted in a different city than the one I’m looking in?
Also, although this site is free, there are a lot of lower quality ads that look slapdash compared to other escort sites like CityxGuide and MegaPersonals. Because of that, it’s a little hard to wade through and find out who’s the real deal. Be prepared to do your homework. When you find someone you’re interested in, ask them to send you other links to their ads or Twitter, so you know they’re a real person and not just a catfisher.
Finally, Bedpage asks people posting the ads to sign up with Gmail, provide a phone number, and even give a physical address – practically begging escorts to get tied up in a sting. This total disregard for worker anonymity and safety makes Bedpage a pretty disappointing site overall. How much can workers trust their jobs and safety will be intact when their ads are linked back to all their personal information?
I want to like Bedpage. I really, really do. But between the total disregard for professionals’ privacy on the site, the messy ads, and the hyper-organization of their cities to a fault, you have to wonder if you’re actually going to find something worth your while on this site. While it provies an alternative Backpage, it's still nowhere near the sex worker paradise which Backpage offered.
According to the sex workers whose opinions I’ve read, they hardly have any luck meeting clients on Bedpages, and I wonder if clients can find escorts there at all. It’s worth browsing your city’s Bedpage, just in case – but keep your expectations low. You'll get better results if you search on Switter or Adult Search.