Are surrogate partners considered to be prostitutes?
A surrogate partner is a professional who works in a three-way relationship with a sex therapist and his/her client. The sex therapist assists the client in therapeutic matters, while the surrogate partner assists the client in a more sexual fashion. For a surrogate partner, the goal is not primarily physical. Rather, the objective of the surrogate partner-client pairing is to achieve the goals set by the sex therapist and the client. Because of the counseling rather than hedonistic aspect of sexual surrogacy, courts have often upheld the legality of their work. California, for example, protects the rights of surrogate partners. Not all courts have agreed though, and surrogate partnering remains an illegal profession in Florida. In most states and countries the courts have not ruled on the subject.
