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Pondering Profesional Prostitutes

from JoeUser Forums
       Supposably prostitution is the oldest profession out there. I don't see how it can be, at best it can be the second oldest. In order for the prostitute to be paid someone had to produce payment, hence there had to be another profession around first.
       Dictionary definition of prostitute is someone that is paid for sex, or someone that degrades a skill/talent for money. Leaving aside degrading of talent, since it seems rather subjective, I see little difference between prostitutes and any other profession. Yet prostitutes seem to be looked down upon (not to mention being illegal, at least where I live).
       So lets say your a prostitute, your going out, working hard, and getting paid for what your body can do. Some people take offense at this (which is fine, they are entitled to their opinions), but that doesn't make sense to me. How is it any different then say playing a sport. Work hard, paid for what your body is good at. Or an actor(ess), who might even have sex as part of the job. Do we look down on those occupations? Quiet the opposite, many people that play sports or act become celebrities (which has it's own problems).
       What about a profession where you use your mind and training over your physical attributes? Say your a lawyer, it doesn't matter what you look like or how hard you can kick something, what matters is the knowledge in your head and what you can do with it. And while there are some negative feelings towards lawyers, not so for doctors, teachers, and any number of other occupations.
       Where is the difference between spending long years in an office, using your brain for the gain of someone else (although you do get paid too), and walking the street offering pleasure to others? You'd think giving pleasure would be held in higher regards then thinking in cubicle land. Yet it's an illegal occupation. Which could explain why it's also dangerous. One illegal act brings others towards it.
       Wouldn't it be nice if prostitution was just another job out there. The people that were really good at it would be famous, courses would be offered at school, you could get certified at it, and best of all, those following this profession would be contributing to society, instead of being outcasts from it.

       And no, to the best of my knowledge I have never met a prostitute (if I have they didn't tell me what they did for a living). Which also means I havn't spent oddles of time studying them. What little I know about the occupation comes from various sources that may be misleading. And for that matter, someone else probably had the same ideas before and I'm stealing them without being aware of it. Such is life.
philosophy
4,560 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think it's in the degradation.

Accountant for a reputable non-profit charity organization? Not degrading your skills for money.

Accountant for a Colombian cocaine cartel money laundering operation? Prostitute.

Or take almost all the characters in Strange Days. One degrades his impressive social skills to earn money selling black market services. Another degrades his investigative skills and experience working for jerks. The main character's girlfriend degrades herself in exchange for the security offered by those jerks.

About the only character in that movie who isn't degrading themselves (and the only character whose name I can remember offhand) is Mace, the limo driver. Her job is hard, and she takes a lot of crap, but she maintains her dignity and does not trade her hard work or her self respect for anything.

I guess it only makes sense to call a "sex worker" a prostitute if you believe that it's possible to degrade yourself by selling physical intimacy to strangers for money.

Professional athletes are kind of a gray area for me. On the one hand, you could probably find all sorts of degradation in pro football. But on the other hand, physically talented people need to eat, and send their children to college. And I don't think Lance Armstrong is degrading himself, for example.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
I believe the quickest way to destroy a society is to destroy the family unit.

Prostitution is def a way to break down the family unit. Not many women will tolerate their husbands frequenting a ho-bag. Not to mention the money it takes away from the family, as well as potential diseases when couples are trying to pro-create.

In every aspect this "profession" breaks down the family unit. Without the family unit there is no familial culture and without that there is no society and therefore no country.

That's my take on it.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Women who work in sex services (strippers, prostitutes) most often come from a background of sexual abuse and trauma. They are used to being abused and are often unable to see their value outside of being used for sex. It's not enjoyment for most of these women, but rather an inability to crawl out of the sad and stifling place where they've been confined by their abusers at a younger age.

If it were this healthy, go-to-work-and-come-home job that was not so psychologically damaging (not to mention often physically dangerous), then I might feel differently.

Prostitutes are at risk of physical violence from the people who manage them. They are at risk for physical violence from the men they serve. They are at risk for a myriad of diseases and reproductive trauma. They are expected to perform services that they may find disgusting or harmful, and are told through that, that they are not worthy of respect or boundaries. And often times they work in neighborhoods where drugs and violence are occupational hazards.

Prostitution is very anti-woman. I oppose it...not just for that reason, but that's the biggest hurdle you'd have to get me over before I could claim acceptance.

It's a damaging, inhumane way to survive. No overdue rent payment, no broken down car, no college tuition, and no Gucci shoes are worth enough for me to disrespect myself by allowing careless strangers to abuse my body for their perverse and selfish pleasures.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
stutefish: I was trying to leave the degrading aside, but your comments with what Texas Wahine said did explain some things.
Tova7: Agreed, families are important. And prostitutes can hurt families, no argument there.
Texas Wahine: I think you answered the question I was pondering. Currently sex workers have various bad things associated with the job, which could also explain where the degrading aspect of the definition came from. Thanks for the helpful comment.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
'Prostitution is def a way to break down the family unit. Not many women will tolerate their husbands frequenting a ho-bag. ... In every aspect this "profession" breaks down the family unit.'

Tova7, how is this the fault of the prostitute or her profession? Who put a gun to the husband's head and forced him to cheat on his wife? Perhaps what breaks down the 'family unit' is those who choose to seek sex outside it, not those whom they seek it with.