Comments on: Range of Experience

By: Bride of the Agitator « The Honest Courtesan

Bride of the Agitator « The Honest Courtesan — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 17:49:06 +0000

[...] contributions for the week started with “Range of Experience”, an argument that there is no such thing as a “typical whore” (supported by links to all of [...]

By: Elliot

Elliot — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:42:59 +0000

I agree that “vice” laws infringe on the rights of consenting adults and I don’t care what arguments the proponents of prohibition offer, the “consenting adults” argument trumps them.
While I can understand that a person who is part of “whoredom” or sympathetic may want to tell the story of those who aren’t the “rock bottom” stereotypes, Most of these stories and arguments of advocates strike me as an example of romanticism, not representative of the typical.
As a case in point: the HBO series “Cathouse” portends to be a voyeuristic “reality show” documentary. On the positive side, it shows how a legal enterprise offers a much safer environment, and it does give these women and their managers a means to tell their stories without being a dehumanized bit part in a movie or TV show. As with most “reality shows”, I am skeptical of selective editing and positive “spin”. For example, I suspect many of the women act as though they have a fun time because to show any negative attitude would probably hurt their sales. Most notably, I find their attitudes to be disingenuous when I consider the other side of the transactions: the Johns. I don’t believe that they aren’t bothered by being intimate with at least some of the men who are so pathetic they have given up on the challenge to pursue and seduce, to find someone else who desires them for themselves. Some of these guys have to be unattractive and even downright creepy, which probably makes the experience for the women rather unpleasant.
I’m a complete outsider to that world, and I’m sure that other people have rather different attitudes and values. I don’t even care for strip clubs. The pack behavior and of groups of guys who frequent such places offends me (rudeness, misogyny). But more than that, I’m annoyed by women who pretend to be interested only for money. For me, there’s nothing better than sincere attraction and desire.
On a slightly related topic, I watched an episode of the Howard Stern show, several years back when it was televised on E!, and among a group of adult film actresses, every single one admitted to having been molested as a child. While the experiences of those involved in the industry vary (e.g., the small fraction of producers who make female/couples-oriented movies), and plenty of actresses and models do not regret their choices, how much of the business itself (not the content, per se) involves depravity of which consumers are unaware? While it’s great that the laws against porn and erotica have been repealed/lessened so that most Americans are permitted the freedom to buy and view such products, how many would continue to buy them if they were aware of what went on behind the camera, or even cognisant of the probabilities that their cash might end up in the pocket of reprehensible people?

By: John Spragge

John Spragge — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 04:39:09 +0000

What Xenocles said. Just to take it a bit further, the whole conflation of sex work and human trafficking into sex trafficking not only erases sex workers who do not suffer from coercion, who work of their own free will, it also erases people trafficked, or enslaved, for purposes other than sexual exploitation. Boys enslaved as rug weavers don’t count as “sex trafficking”. Neither do people trafficked and exploited in ordinary occupations; not too long ago, an article detailed the plight of trafficked individuals forced into servitude as restaurant dishwashers. That kind of human trafficking ought to concern us, but as long as we keep the focus exclusively on sex work, we stand little chance of addressing it.

I’d also like to endorse what “GeneralGarbage” said, although I find the word “creepy” lacking in precision. Reservations about the age of consent seem inconsistent with a libertarian perspective. Only people able to make relatively informed and responsible choices can act as genuinely free agents, and I simply don’t believe that expecting children to make that kind of decision about sex work makes anyone free. I also believe that a system of freedom under law only works when the law draws a clear bright line between legal and illegal conduct. Granted the occasional absurdity in age of consent laws, I still consider an entry on a birth register a better guide to conduct, and a better guide to determining guilt or innocence, than a vague and ultimately subjective standard that attempts to account for the deficits of a disorganized twenty-five year old and the advanced capacity of a precocious sixteen year old.

By: Personanongrata

Personanongrata — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:46:43 +0000

In order to get around the “consenting adults” argument and negate the obvious symmetry between arguments for abortion rights and those for the right to have sex on one’s own terms, modern prohibitionists often argue that whores are incapable of rational adult decision-making.... I'd argue that modern prohibitionists are the folks incapable of rational adult decision-making as more often than not they speak from a set of pre-approved talking-points and when asked to elaborate on their "opinion" they're unable to do so as they truly have no opinion other than what has been shown to them in their closed-minded horse-blinkered existence.

By: En Passant

En Passant — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:25:29 +0000

#7 Brandon wrote on July 16th, 2012 at 11:41 am:

“False consciousness” is one of the most frustrating fallacies to argue against, because not only is it an attempt to invalidate your entire argument without ever having to consider it, it is an attempt to invalidate you as a human being, and an attempt to wrest complete control of your life and decisions from you by the accuser.

Best way to get past it that I’ve found is to own it.

“Damn right! I’ve been brainwashed and I have false consciousness. Now, what do you have to say about the facts and logic I’ve just presented?”

By: GeneralGarbage

GeneralGarbage — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:35:14 +0000

“…must therefore be “protected” as adolescents are supposed to be “protected” by age of consent laws (a subject for another day).”

Can we just skip that discussion? The obsession that a certain segment of libertarians have with this issue is just creepy.

The scare quotes are creepy enough.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:41:27 +0000

“False consciousness” is one of the most frustrating fallacies to argue against, because not only is it an attempt to invalidate your entire argument without ever having to consider it, it is an attempt to invalidate you as a human being, and an attempt to wrest complete control of your life and decisions from you by the accuser. And while it is used by both sides of the statist coin, it seems more prevalent on the left the past 3 years for some reason (I know). It also seems to be used much more often on the internet and in print than it ever is in person, probably because anyone using it in person is liable to get punched in the face.

By: PermaLurker

PermaLurker — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:59:49 +0000

Hey Maggie, this should be familiar :
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/opinion/distributing-then-confiscating-condoms.html

By: Yizmo Gizmo

Yizmo Gizmo — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:26:20 +0000

Not a single word about the whores who call themselves “Politicians.”
After Polly Titian, a famous hooker in 1850′s Amsterdam.

By: Mattocracy

Mattocracy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:52:11 +0000

Xenocles is exactly right. It’s a common tactic in the culture wars. In a similar fashion, those that rant about the evils of pornography often compare it to rape in order to make former sound more sinister.

By: The Other Dan

The Other Dan — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:25:23 +0000

In the late 1970′s (1978 I think) I was working at a high-end stereo store in Rapid City, SD. A very pleasant woman walked in one Saturday morning. After a few demos and negotiating a price, she purchased a modest system and notably, paid for it in cash, using mostly $10 and $20 denominations.

When I was filling out the warranty forms (we did that for customers in those days), she gave her name as Pam Holiday. After she left, the owner of the stereo shop informed me that was the Deadwood, SD resident and (locally famous) owner of Pam’s Purple Door.
I asked why (if her business was illegal) did the local authorities look the other way? The answer was; that for the people in the mining towns of Lead and Deadwood, she is considered to providing a valued community service.
A few years later, I read that her business was raided and shut-down by federal agents, and a that a majority of residents there wanted to keep her business open.

By: Weird Willy

Weird Willy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:25:07 +0000

Wow! Fantastic essay, Maggie. You seem to have hit every nail on the head in exposing the soft, vulnerable underbelly of those who would make moralistic reductions of all prostitutes to helpless, unwitting, and unwilling captives, incapable of exerting any sense of self-determination. Well done, indeed!

By: Xenocles

Xenocles — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:52:56 +0000

A similar effect I’ve seen is to refer to women in obvious conditions of slavery – kidnapped/trafficked and/or underage – as prostitutes. It seems to me that there is a clear break between prostitutes and sex slaves, and trying to merge the groups is likely an attempt to do what you described above.