The movie Zombie Strippers suddenly comes to mind.
Would you fuck/date/marry an (ex)stripper/prostitute/phone sex operator/porn actor/other sex worker?
Considering that the President of the United States has no trouble having intimate relations with sex workers of various types, I cannot imagine that any red-blooded American would have cause to object to such assignations, yes?
Given that I’ve dated one ex-stripper, one gogo dancer, and “cocktail waitress”, and two of those could have easily ended up in marriage if not for other things entirely unrelated to their former or current profession…yeah.
“We have no past we won’t reach back”
Found this interesting article on a stripper 50 year reunion.
Sex workers tend to have surprisingly lower levels of STDs than a lot of people seem to think, although that seems to be strongly affected by whether their business is legal or not. In jurisdictions where it’s legal they’re in a better position to insist on condoms, and so forth. In Australia, IIRC, sex workers have a lower HIV prevalence than the general population (although about twice as high as the general female prevalence), and in England it’s about the same as the general population. Senegal is one of the African countries with the lowest HIV prevalence and successfully avoided having an epidemic, and I’ve heard arguments that may be related to their being the only African country where sex work is a regulated legal industry.
Quite frankly most people, male and female, go thru a stage in their 20’s when they they have the good looks and can use them. Now I’m not talking the extreme cases here like strippers but I know many people who worked in positions like models, sales, actors, or receptionist, and part of the reason they got those jobs is they look good.
or perhaps Frankenhooker?
reading what I wrote then is sort of interesting.
Today, I’m not opposed to the idea cause it sounds like fun possiblities abound, but the reality is still not one I’d likely delve into without a lot of serious questions and a medical screening
I picked “Only if (s)he were retired” because you used the subjunctive.
Really, I’ve been married too long to really know, but I suspect I would make a distinction between the sex work that involved physical contact and that that did not.
A lot of the answers, old and new, assume only logic and fact would be used to make the decision. Which some people do in their romantic (especially if not actually so romantic) relationships.
Hypothetically when I was young (not already married 35 yrs to none of the above and happy with it) I could see myself, especially that younger self, non-rationally falling for a sex worker. But rationally, women (the relevant ones for me) in those fields more often than not have serious emotional/mental issues, particularly hatred of themselves and men. If the comeback is to cite somebody who is barely a sex worker (phone sex, soft porn, etc) that just tends to prove the point, as does citing anecdotes of the inevitable individual exceptions, IMO.
Also rationally and with some self knowledge I have now I might not have had when young, assuming the sex worker was one who wasn’t messed up, I’m not sure I could deal with society’s view of being married to a prostitute, porn actress etc. The ideal me in the ideal world (and other, ideal disembodied voices on the web claiming it wouldn’t matter to them) it wouldn’t matter. In reality I’m not so sure.
I don’t see much point in the question whether one would have a strictly physical relationship, for free, with somebody who sells sex for money. Would you take free samples at the store, or would you feel empowered if you could talk the store into giving you stuff for free? So I’m limiting it to serious relationships.
I voted hell no.
But it’s not as if Asia Carrera and Jenna Jameson are ever going to give me the chance to turn them down!
Hmmm, let’s see…
>> Would you fuck/date/marry an (ex)stripper/prostitute/phone sex operator/porn actor/other sex worker?
No / no / no, and no / no / no / no and no.
I think that about covers it. No?
I’ve had a good friend before who was a part time sex worker, and I would have totally dated her if she’d been into me, so I don’t see why not.
The only specifically sex related issue might have been that as someone who made money from her looks she was always insanely insecure about weight, and I was always arguing with her about how she should eat more. That’s not an issue specific to sex workers though and it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker.
Whatever, man. I’m 45 and I still look good.
You’re basically talking about “window dressing” jobs. Not so much models or actors, as their job relates specifically to their looks. But sure - sales, marketing, receptionists, consulting, investment banking, really a lot of entry level professional service jobs - companies tend to want armies of young, attractive people.
Still a bit different from someone who sucks dick for money.
As are strippers, phone sex workers, and other sex workers.
I think there was a similar exchange in the long ago part of the thread. The all seeing eye could clearly distinguish stripping and prostitution, I agree. But in the real world of limited and not always reliable information a woman you meet who acknowledges working as a stripper might very well be a prostitute also but less willing to acknowledge that.
That said I also agree there’s a continuum and people can argue it forever. Where does modeling for hyper-sexualized ‘clothed’ (according to convention) pictures fit in? Although it’s more extreme IMO to put the general advantage of good looks (to land a job with public contact) on the same spectrum as being a sex worker. But yeah, it’s hard to draw an absolute bright line anywhere that 100% of everyone agrees with. Having actual sexual physical contact with somebody for money might be one, but that might include ‘lap dances’, so back to endless (and fairly pointless) argument where to draw that line.
I have one bright line - I will not judge people for sexual behavior involving consenting adults of the same species.
One could argue that providing sex after selling one’s sexuality is more honest.
In Detroit “stripping” is completely synonymous with “prostitution”. Don’t you dare call them prostitutes tho! They are strippers! This compartmentalization is, in part, what allows girls who otherwise wouldn’t do the deed to be able to function as hookers inside the clubs.
Even girls who start stripping adamantly believing they will be honest to goodness strippers and nothing more end up becoming prostitutes because it’s the only way to make money. Detroit is a special place tho. Not typical of most cities.
No, I am not into it.
But you you don’t have to ‘judge’ in the sense of feeling superior* to assess whether certain behavior tends to be associated with emotional problems which compromise non-monetary romantic relationships, whether the emotional problems are the cause or effect of the behavior, whether the damage is caused by other people ‘wrongly’ ‘judging’ the behavior or not.
Which is again where I’d see a difficulty in drawing a bright line. Women who sell themselves tend to end up hating themselves and men, making it arguably reasonable to steer clear of them for serious non-paid relationships. But it’s some kind of sliding scale, the more the women makes herself into an object, and depending the individual. And leaving room (with a lot of skepticism from my POV) that selling sex can instead be ‘empowering’ and ‘more honest’ in some exceptional cases. Being wary of the damage selling oneself seems to cause, empirically in society as it exists doesn’t mean you have to ‘judge’ the person (assuming there’s even a consensus what that actually means).
*which is perhaps also the reason some people insist they don’t ‘judge’…to feel superior; joy in feeling superior seems difficult for humans to escape no matter how ‘progressive’ their thinking.