Girlfriend experience

The girlfriend experience is a commercial experience that blurs the boundaries between a financial transaction and a romantic relationship. Within the sex industry, GFE is a common term for a sexual encounter in which both the escort and the john are willing to engage in reciprocal sexual pleasure and some degree of emotional intimacy. The "girlfriend experience" generally involves more personal interaction than a traditional call girl or escort offers; it varies widely from person to person, however. There is a focus on not just having sex, but also having more of a comprehensive experience. Within this particular realm of sex work, prostitutes embody a sense of authenticity in order to make the experience more pleasurable for their customer, as well as to make a more lucrative outcome for themselves. If the sex worker is male, the service is called the boyfriend experience.

Girlfriend experience and prostitution

The Girlfriend Experience

The Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 American experimental drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring then-active adult film actress Sasha Grey. It was shot in New York City, and a rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand as a pre-theatrical rental.

Soderbergh mentioned Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert and Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers as influences. The film is also notable because it was produced for $1.3 million and was shot with a relatively inexpensive Red One camera.

Synopsis

A drama set in the days leading up to the 2008 presidential election, and centered on a high-end Manhattan call girl meeting the challenges of her boyfriend, her clients, and her work.

Chelsea (real name Christine) is a New York escort who specializes in offering the girlfriend experience. She finds that lately her clients are spending less and less on her services, and are troubled by the financial crisis, a topic they raise frequently in her company. She is also interviewed by a journalist, who quizzes her about her work and personal life. She goes from client to client performing her services.