Screening - but why?

People screen for many reasons and for any reason.
Psychologists, allied health professionals, personal trainers, counselors and even music teachers screen.
When they do this, they are finding out information about you to see if you’ll be a someone who they can support. In the case of psychs and allied health, this may not be called screening per se and may instead refer to an Assessment of some sort. Whether you know it or not, you’ve been assessed in some way if you have accessed any Australian healthcare system. All of this is ‘screening’ to make sure diagnoses, interventions, medicines and referrals are pertinent to you specifically and match up to your medical, psychological and sometimes age related needs - no one’s sending a geriatric specialist to care for a child, obviously.

I know personal trainers who screen for specific health issues, triggers, aversions - perhaps as above, this is less about screening and more about how to develop a fitness plan or some goals.

Perhaps some may know this about me, but I used to play music when I was younger. A music teacher had me play at length while she listened. She mentioned later to me that she would refer me to a different music teacher, as her style was based on memory and theory, whereas I was more interested in playing music creatively by ear as opposed to memory. Looking back, I find her screening method to be a timesaver and similar to a workplace trial: we both got to see if we were a fit and no one lost anything, in fact i found a teacher suited to my needs as a result.
I screen for many reasons, which I will go into now.

1) I would like to make sure you are over 18 or preferably over 21 - Legal Age

If you can’t understand or don’t care about this, we will never get along. Why? Because what kind of evil fuck doesn’t care about child safety?

2) I would like to feel safe about meeting with you.

No explanation needed.

3) Screening tells me you are serious about meeting me - with full knowledge that I am age + image verified across 8 sites.
*at the time of writing this, I am nearing 30 (yay!)

More on this here: Verification Fatigue

4) Screening shows me that you trust my process and you are not wasting my time; in some cases, it assures me that you care about my safety and will not try to hurt me during the booking.

I could go into obvious stuff too - to end this post, I’ll mention somewhat facetiously, that it would be useful for me to know that you’re not someone I’ve worked with, gone to school with or have married my cousin/aunt. Although this stuff seems mega obvious to me, it may not be to you. In fact, as I’m writing this, a family member of a former co-worker has tried to book me.

I hear from guys every day who make assumptions about who I am as a person, my life, education level and my skillset.
I understand people make these assumptions, it’s a human condition to do this and it doesn’t concern me.

What does concern me is men who don’t realise the danger that goes into not just this job but any job where you meet different people in a place of vulnerability.
Mitigating (navigating) the risk of harm is what many workers do every single day.
Maybe you assume it’s a cakewalk, maybe male privilege are poop stained glasses you have to take off to see the world differently.

I take my livelihood and my life seriously.
I want to be able to see my family and friends after seeing you.
Screening makes me feel safe to see you.

Thanks for reading :)

*If you are a parent or caregiver reading this, my message to you is this: Please teach your children about boundaries, touch consent and safe sex; your children should NOT be trying to access escorts, however they are doing this in record numbers.
Whilst this might concern you, you are best placed to do something about it in a gentle non judgemental way. Talking with Children about Consent