That said, he just now maintained publicly that he never disrespected, assaulted, or abused any woman, which IMO leaves room for paying them for the "rub & tug". That's how it adds up for me and I'm okay with it, but at the same time, I don't have access to interviews and evidence, so my guess is irrelevant.
There's also some in-between on that spectrum. He may have had consensual relations with some. Whether that constitutes prostitution, or merely cheating on his g/f might be a bit of a gray area. He also may have assumed that because he had consensual relations with some (by either definition), that others would be receptive to his advances.
Unfortunately, definitions being subject to interpretation, "respect" is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps he believed that he "respectfully" put his penis in contact with them. Perhaps "flirtatiously" would be a good way to interpret what Watson felt he was doing. Now, I struggle to reconcile a respectful way to non-consensually ejaculate on someone's face, but again - I am not Watson. What I consider disrespect might differ from how he defines disrespect. In his eyes, all of these women might have been presumed to be prostitutes, and in some circles, people treat prostitutes with a different level of respect than they do others. For example, in the old days it was legally impossible for anyone to "assault" one's wife, as she was chattel, and thus considered to be one's property. One cannot assault a tractor or a tea kettle, thus one could not assault one's wife.
What I struggle with is the number of massages by different women, coupled with the statements that their qualifications as a masseuse were a low priority.
To me, that means he likely has a sexual proclivity / kink for happy endings, and based on the descriptions from the women who were not receptive to those advances, it seems likely that their unwillingness may well have been part of that kink.
That allllll said, I am not judging Watson - I am only using Occam's Razor to attempt to interpret what the most likely scenario is based on what we know. In that light, I can pretty well rule out that *nothing untoward* happened to many/most/all of these women. I also find it very difficult to believe it's a collective conspiracy to shake him down, as was the dominant narrative early on. And based on some of the more harrowing accounts, there likely was some kind of sexual assault, whether Watson believed that his actions constituted sexual assault or not.
Someone many many pages back suggested that there is a possible scenario where Watson truly believes he did nothing wrong, and that in his eyes all of the women invited his behavior. That is actually not a terrible theory, in light of how some view prostitutes, and if indeed, Watson believed he was 100% engaging in acts of prostitution as the "John".
It's going to be interesting to see the outcome of the civil suits, whether more will crop up, and how the NFL handles this trainwreck.