I can only speak for myself on this one and I'm assuming you're referring to clients perceptions of escorts in general, rather than an individual escort.
Before my first visit, my perception was very much coloured by the media and various vague stereotypes I had picked up over the years. The reality was completely different, not least the professionalism of the escort experience.
It sounds bizarre and slightly insulting to say it now, but I hadn't been expecting a spotless apartment, soft music and an immaculately dressed lady greeting me with a genuine smile and a warm kiss on arrival. I hadn't expected to be offered a drink and a shower and to be made to feel so relaxed.
Now in fairness that hasn't always been the case -- there have been minor problems and distractions, but nothing remotely serious or worrying, nothing that made me think that any of my original stereotypes or the hysterics of the current abolitionists were in any way justified.
My own perception of escorts themselves is that they are providing a service like many others, a service requiring not only sexual skills, but psychological and organisational skills as well. One thing that has really surprised me is the willingness, in most cases, of escorts to talk openly and honestly about their work and experiences.
I have huge admiration for the ladies I've met, not just for what they've done for me, but for the various challenges and largely unnecessary hassles they face on a daily basis. I'm thinking here particularly of time wasters, the constant need for secrecy and the ridiculous stigma attached to the work.
My own perceptions have changed 100% since I became a client, and it's the fact that so many sex work critics continue to argue from the ignorant position I was in originally that really annoys me. Perception and reality are two different things and there are few subjects where the difference is more pronounced than in sex work.
2014 in Northern Ireland:
Number of reported attacks on sex workers 70
Number of sex trafficking cases ZERO