General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)I know prostitutes [View all]
One I met at a strip club and we're good friends. A couple of others I met through her, another I met the old fashioned way.
All of them are in it because they like sex. The money is a side benefit. My friend, she is an office worker by day, a stripper and escort by nights and weekends. She has a bachelors degree and lives a happy, normal life. Her clients are screened, and tend to be middle aged professionals in unhappy marriages.
The other two -her friends- are of similar mind. One has a boyfriend who is ok with what she does. She is in school, working on a masters degree. She told me the money is good and that she enjoys her work. The other is not in college, does not have any plans to go back to school, and is happy with her life as well. She works in a department store and strips and escorts on the side, again because the money is good.
All of them say they wouldn't do it if they didn't enjoy it. They like the sex, sure, but they also like meeting new people, they like the idea that they're fulfilling someone's fantasy, they like the money. They see themselves as professionals, doing a job. They're comfortable with their sexuality and don't care about the prudish views of society at large.
They also acknowledge that there is a dark side to their profession. This dark side, we all agree, comes from the illegality of it: sex slaves, trafficking human beings, child victims, brutal abuses. These victims are not protected by the law. They can't go to the cops because then THEY will be arrested. They live in a society that shames them.
Maybe others here have similar experience with escorts as me, maybe not. I don't know, but this is my anecdote. I haven't ever met a sex worker who was forced into it. I think there are two groups. And I think we all agree that the group of women who are forced against their will into prostitution are victims of rape, plain and simple. I do not deny their existence, nor do I pretend that they are anything but victims here. They are victims of their pumps, but they are also victims of their government, and victims of a puritanical society.
Long story short: it needs to be legalized and legitimized.