“prostitution
the oldest profession
in the world
that’s what they say
from their tax deductible
penthouse apartments

washing off
the semen
of another extended
business day
bathed in the stench
of forced labour
masquerading
as a pleasing smile
as a willing hole
to be used
abused
and filled…” an excerpt from the poem globalisation: it’s good for the world by cunt

The issue of prostitution is a divisive one that often falls into two camps fighting it out against each other- the arguments are

1. Prostitution is a choice

or

2. Prostitution is exploitation of womyn

My opinion. Prostitution is legalised violence against womyn perpetuated by the patriarchal arrangement of inbuilt sexism and paradigms of power we call gender “norms”. As Shelia Jeffreys points out “the more men become involved in prostitution behaviour, the more impossible the ideal of egalitarian relationships between men and women inevitably becomes.”[1] This is so because the act of prostitution, that is, purchasing a woman’s body, is akin to sexual slavery.

On the surface though it may be argued that a woman is choosing to sell her body, in a society where the power structures are so unevenly distributed towards men and the maintenance of male privilege and power, “even if women express their ‘consent’ to prostitution sex this will not be real consent. Under worldwide conditions of male supremacy and endive male violence, women are essentially unfree.”[2]  Unfree you say- no way. But when women feel they have no other choice but to sell their bodies and we say that’s ok, it’s legal, you can do it if you want to, there is something terribly wrong with the way in which we view women and men.

“From a radical feminist perspective, prostitution should be addressed as rape and to do otherwise is to falsely separate prostitution from rape.”[3]

As O’Connell Davidson notes, “if prostitution is rape, then it is logical to define prostitutes as women who are publicly available to be raped, and this is precisely the position taken by many police officers, judges and jurists around the world who refuse to accept that a woman who works as a prostitute can ever be raped.”[4] In actual fact, the burden of proof is placed on the victim to prove that she was raped, and not on the perpetrator to prove his innocence, so unlike other crimes, it is the victim, rather than the perpetrator who is the target of interrogation. Does anyone else see the blatant sexism and suggestion of the age old but she was asking for it defence here? It is blaringly obvious to me that built into the legal process is the understanding that men are entitled to sex whenever and however they desire it. Spew.

 The reality is that prostitutes are publicly available slaves who can be purchased to satisfy any whim as long as you’re willing to pay. Civil rights bus ride anyone?

Who are the majority of prostitutes? Women who are struggling to make it through the week, women who are desperate for money in a system that won’t support them, that willingly exploits their need for money; and says- open your legs- you’ve got a goldmine in there. Women who are usually disadvantaged across multiple categories. That is, gender, race and class. The triple whammy of our heterosexual, white, middle class male world.

Give us your cunt and we’ll take your mind, play dead, lie there, pretend you like it, don’t forget to smile and you better cum, oh yes you better appeal to my ego and tell me I’ve got a big dick, no matter what, otherwise, I’ll call you scum, right to your face, cos that’s what you are- no man would want a whore like you, no man, no woman, no one. You slut.

In a society where women were valued there would be no prostitution because the notion that it was a right and a choice to pay for the use of someone’s body would be null and void. It would be deemed abuse and exploitation. Prostitution is not a career choice, it’s a downhill course to mental and emotional disconnectedness. Imagine, just image what it’d be like to service 600 men and not get paid, to have to pretend you like the stench of his ass, and the twist of his fingers around your nipple, just so you can eat tonight. Imagine the shell of a person you’d become… There is a shame associated with prostitution, it’s not something you’d proclaim at the dinner table, it’s silenced, it goes unsaid.

The industry is based on a power structure where the women are sluts and the men can use their inherent power under the patriarchal arrangement to possess and use them as they please- are even encouraged to do so as a rite of passage into manhood. Sick. Sick. Sick.  

No father or mother would want their child to be a prostitute or a stripper, so why do we deem it ok? Why does society continue to condone such blatant exploitation in the name of a career choice? Cos that’s the way it’s always been- always has been always will. No more. No more. No more. Equality can only function when all people are seen as human- when no person is deemed less than another, when no person is seen as an object to be used. Humanity must prevail, even in these dark ages.

Love and respect is the answer, the need for power and domination is not. Our current environmental demise is the perfect example; look how it shivers under the weight of our egotistical domination. Slavery still exists. It must end. We must tap into our right brain where the site of unity is manifest to overcome our right brains trained process of objectification where we can rationalise anything and make it ok, cos exploitation should not be normalised should not be a matter of choice, should not be the only justifiable economic way. 

So let’s take Sweden’s lead and prohibit the purchase of sexual services, “to do otherwise is to allow that a separate class of female human beings…who are economically and racially marginalised, is excluded…from the universal protection of human dignity.”[5]

Tags: discrimination, equal rights, prostitution, sex, sexuality, slavery