Forget the fact that it is illegal for one second.
I always grew up with the notion that women who sell thier bodies for money were not to be tolerated (no not killed, just to be looked down upon). I guess these ideals come from where you were brought up and how you were raised (people all around me - teachers, parents, friends - note I said parents second… wierd).
Everyone around me would tell me of the loose morals they had, and there would be jokes made based upon their status (you remember all those “yo mamma” jokes right?).
Right up until last year I shared the same ethos with these people. Right up until last year. Then I met one. No, not propositioned off the street. Amazingly enough, she was the sister of an old friend (he died in a car crash).
At the time I didn’t know she was in that “business”. All I knew was that she walked into my life and helped me with family problems (that’s another story) that not even my close friends would sit and take the time to help me with. It was wierd seeing someone who barely knew me for two months go through all that shit just to catch a falling soul. It made me wonder.
When I found out what she did, I aimed to make her stop. Try as I might, I couldn’t to it. At first her initial reaction was “I make good money”. It got to “as long as it’s safe, would you still have a problem with me selling my body as a job?”. Her analogy was that actors do the same thing. Well, mostly with thier clothes on.
At this point note that I do not (or did not) have any sexual attraction to this girl what-so-ever (she reminds me of Lon Chaney if you’re still having doubts). It’s just that, barring safety issues, I couldn’t think of why it should be that a grown woman cannot “rent” out her body if she so wishes (my only qualm is shaking her hand or giving her a peck on the cheek afterwards).
What do you guys think? I know we say it is “degrading” for a woman to prostitute herself, but what do we mean exactly? And if it’s of her own free will?
I think that prostitution is a bad thing, but I don’t think that the government should outlaw it. I understand why it is illegal; I simply disagree that those are sound reasons. It certainly spreads diseases, which is bad for society. However, I feel like it should be a matter of personal preference.
I think the “degrading” part may be based in religion. IMHO, as long as she fully understands and accepts the consequences of her actions (arrest & possible imprisonment, disease, severe injury or possible death), leave her alone.
This has probably been done to death in GD, but since I don’t play there I will give my 2cents here.
Prostitution is one of the least black and white issues around.
I can’t give a blanket answer “yes” or “no”. That some countries have legalised prostitution I have no problem with. It is not a career choice I would choose, nor wish for for anyone I care about, but I have no problem with the “utopian” version of prostitution, that is with women working in safe, hygenic environments, earning well, paying taxes, doing it by choice and with at least a small modicum of respect from their clients.
The thing is that no matter how legal prostitution is, no matter how protected sex workers are by law, society, etc, there will always be the sort of men who don’t want to go to a “nice clean girl”, but who are out after what they can only get from a “beaten down junkie in a back alley”.
I had an aquaintance who told me proudly of the little “geurilla action” she and some buddies had pulled at one stage. This involved dressing a bit tarty and hanging out on a certain street in the city. When men would slow down to speak to them they would throw raw cod in the window (cod in Swedish being the slang word for John). She was surprised at how little impressed I was, and didn’t seem to get that she had probably changed nothing, just frightened the crap (at most) out of some guy who, at the outside, might wait two weeks before heading back to that street. She didn’t seem to get my point either that she would probably have had a greater impact by spending those 2 hours helping out at a training center for runaway teenage girls.