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While the idea that someone was intrigued when offered a horizontal position instead of the real job she applied for is somewhat demoralizing, it's not like this kind of thing hasn't happened for forever and a day. And never before have women in these kind of arrangements been seen as or called prostitutes. They weren't "respectable" by any means. They were "kept women."
In the eras when a woman couldn't be respectable unless she avoided sex with anyone but her husband, it was reasonable to look down on such arrangements where money and gifts greased the sexual wheels outside of marriage. It's not reasonable now. Women are not judged by whether or not they have sex. If they could choose to have sex and be "kept" by a rich man before at the price of their respectability, they sure as heck can choose it now.
It wasn't "prostitution" before and it's not now.
