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Salon Life:
"Boob play," "pics of kitty," "topless housecleaning" and "hypno role play." The list, scribbled in a lined yellow notebook, is followed by a double-underlined figure: $725.
Teen recounts horror of sex slavery - TODAY People
Sex slavery: Living the American nightmare - Crime & courts- msnbc.com
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Hmm, I'm of two minds about this issue. On the one hand, I lean towards legal prostitution and think that most of the problems associated with it come from social stigma. I also think I should be able to sell what is mine. However, anyone who is *forced* to go into prostitution has my sympathy. I can well imagine these women's horror and shame and feel bad for the women who burst into tears in the article. Taking $75 bucks to have sex with someone you don't want to? How sad! And that's an issue...if you are hard up enough to become a sex worker, you usually have to take what you can get for it. I don't think most of them can afford to price gouge.
Also, many marriages are just glorified prostitution with some church’s seal of approval.
During a very bad time in my life, I posted a reluctant ad on a site that I didn't know was a front for sex workers. I got like 30 emails a day, and at first I was confused by the cash offers, then finally a guy told me most of the women on the site were either sex workers or web cam girls. I felt both emotions- relief that people still found me desirable enough to pay for it, relief that if it came down to it I could survive that way...
And absolute revulsion, shame and horror. I took the ad down soon after.
That was my only point. You, as an adult, get to choose whether you would or would not decide to have sex for money. (OBVIOUSLY, nothing I am saying applies to anyone forced into prostitution.)
As a woman, you do have that fallback option. That "ace in the hole" for lack of a less pun sounding term.
A man who is in the same financial situation does not have that option.
Although, I am waiting for Singermuse to hook me up with all of those women she knows who want to pay for it.....still waiting....
The article was about women who felt forced, wasn't it? They were either horrified or not happy about it. I've come close enough to not having the choice myself, from medical bills, but yes I guess some fallback is better than none. There is an alternative for men, but it's more complicated. One, they can become gay sex workers- after all, what's the difference between having sex with a person of the opposite sex you don't want, and having sex with a same sex partner you don't want? There is a pretty good market for gay male sex workers, apparently.
Second, there are a lot of older women who are either in a loveless marriage or are divorced, widowed, etc. who are quite well off. Those women like to have boy toys- it's like being a kept women for a rich guy except reversed.
If you truly want to get paid for sex, you are young enough, you could do it.
Personally I don't see much difference in being a male and being an unattractive or overweight woman- options are there but harder to find. Honestly, I know a few male model types who are so used to being in demand, this one guy wouldn't even DRIVE to another town to sleep with me. There was too much available action for him in his hometown, I guess. It's probably more an issue of youth and attractiveness than gender.
I agree that people should be able to sell what is theirs. People can work in whatever labor they are capable of, if they choose to -- from digging ditches to having sex.
Requiring membership in either a union at a minimum, or -- if one is lucky enough to be especially beautiful -- in a licensed brothel run by upscale hotels like the Ritz would help ensure that people have to be serious about this line of work to enter into it.
I agree with you, those things would be helpful, but first it would have to be made legal, right? Maybe the recession will encourage them to make it legal, if for no other reason than so they can tax it.
Meanwhile, other kinds of sex work would benefit from some of the organization you suggest. Realistically, though, of all the people I know who became 'exotic dancers' ALL became either full on prostitutes, or addicts, or ruined their lives. Some were smart, too. The plan to 'keep it business' and just make the money and then get out never seems to work, even for the best women.
"I felt both emotions- relief that people still found me desirable enough to pay for it"
If guys are hard up enough they will pay for ugly woman with light off.
It never fails to pzz me off royally that men have all this extra money to pay for sex. How many of these men owe for child support? How many are bringing home disease to their unsuspecting wife? Why is it that nearly half of this country's families are headed by women who can barely make ends meet and men are off doing whatever they want. Now, thanks to all those men who destroyed the economy, women are expected to drop to their knees or backs to service men for money to keep surviving. Disgusting.
This is sad. So much has been placed on favouring education, but the last decade of sexualization in media and entertainment has made sex so mainstream, it's almost a logical choice for educated people to fall back on. It's absurd. This is progress? This is elitism biting people back in the butt.
Except for puritanical views towards sex, what is the problem?
If educated people make this choice, why is that setting back "progress"?
LOL! Sex has been mainstream since we first walked on the Earth.
I have seen a 55 year old who works out with P90-X.. and she was HOT!
Who wants to see an over the hill 55 year old nude?
Do the research - you would be surprised.
Surprised? Try....
Shocked.
Stupified.
Hot, nude 55 year olds...MAYBE...big maybe.....
BUT, You think there is a lot of demand for OVER THE HILL 55 year old nude women?
Where would I research this?
Let's be honest: All of this is a direct result of the policies of the Bush administration. Joseph Stiglitz explained how the Iraq War spending led to a shortage of capital, which the Federal Reserve decided to try and alleviate by instructing the banks to raise capital by lending to everyone and anyone. The result was economic chaos.
Reading some of these posts, I wonder if some of the guys who write some of the stuff are trying to put a positive 'spin' on this because they are actually working for the government and are trying to prevent people from becoming agitated. This is BUSH's fault! This is CHENEY's fault! This is the GOVERNMENT's fault!
We are really one of the most beaten, demoralized peoples on Earth. Getting Obama into the White House was a positive thing, but he is still surrounded by people like Biden the plagiarizer and Hillary the meanest woman on Earth who caused this economic downturn by voting us into war. I am sure Cheney has some of his people in place, too, in the administration; Biden and Hillary certainly did his bidding when it came down to a vote for war. Few people in this country fight back or demonstrate, and I admit I could fight back more, too. This phenomenon is atrocious albeit unsurprising.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve could cough up some change for all of these poor prostitutes. They certainly had plenty of money for their buddies on Wall Street.
Wow. I have never read such inane nonsense in my life. So now Bush is to blame for the world's oldest business too?
Banks were over extending back in the 90's, not just during the Bush years. That doesn't mean Bush was at some fault, but hardly all to blame.
"We are really one of the most beaten, demoralized peoples on Earth." We live in the most wealthy, productive, and healthy country in the world (not that there not problems, no society is prefect). You enjoy these freedoms everyday, one is your right to post baseless nonsense on a website.
That said, if men don't cheat on their wives and act like children. And women did not try to sell their bodies for profit, this problem would not exist. Hence this problem goes back 1000 years or more.
And, just like we were promised, "free trade" has indeed benefited some industries.
At great human expense, of course - but what is the suffering of Americans to Wall Street and their puppets in the Republican Party?
I strongly recommend this small indie film "Irena Palm". It's about a mature sex worker in London.
IMDB link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762110/
The film where Marianne Faithfull plays the woman with the remarkable hand. A definite must-see.
Of course a man could go into this kind of work just like the women. Men don't choose this because they find it demeaning and humiliating, also, their egos get in the way because they would never want to service women who might be less then their standard of beauty. But in our still sexist society it's still ok to demean and humiliate women, and the women in the sex trade don't usually have a choice as to the appearance of the "johns". Women turn to this kind of occupation for the very reason there is still a "glass ceiling". In a recession it's last hired first fired...women in the lower echelons are the first to get let go.
When there is acute competition for jobs, it will be the qualified men who are first, hired, then the attractive and young women, and THEN the qualified women at the bottom who get the left overs if there are any and right now there aren't any.
Guys don't tend to go into this kind of work because...most women don't need to pay for sex and they don't want to do it with other guys. Has nothing to do with humiliation, sorry.
I disagree,
There are MILLIONS of women who are not "getting it". Most (if not all) of them are married.
There are tons of older, married, financially ok women who'd pay for sex.
It is a stereotype to think women wouldn't pay for it.
Mind you, there is the legal issue in this country.
Having worked in the past with women trying to get out of the sex trade, I can attest to the pain and danger to their lives so many women go through when they try to get out. Sex slavery is alive and well here as in other countries. These women have had no choice.
Ehrmm...there is a gay community...or men that would want male prostitutes....possibilities are endless.
ok so you are willing to provide this service?Or maybe your brother-or dad?How bout some of your buddies?just one thing.Shut up and look pretty.
Everything single thing you said was either untrue or incorrect.
Men don't go into sex work because women don't pay for it.
As far as men finding it humiliating....sorry, go put an ad on Craigslist saying you want to PAY a MAN for sex...you'll get a couple hundred, possibly thousands of replies....
And, in this recession, the VAST majority of the layoffs have been men...
As I said below, men who are in the same dire financial boat as these women HAVE NO MEANS to make this kind of quick money...
These women can at least make a choice for themselves....the men are left to starve.
Everything single thing you said was either untrue or incorrect.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/mancession-recession-hits_n_229042.html
Here you go...
In spite of your rhetoric, here are the facts....
80% of the job losses in the current recession have been men.
80% PERCENT.
Also, you imply that attractive and young women cannot be qualified...I guess you believe only old, ugly, or bitter women can be qualified?
In some European countries , a worker who had been let go gets a significant severance package and a year or more of some percentage, say 70%, of their salary--not to mention universal health coverage. If such programs existed in the U.S. they would go a long way to mitigating the effects of the downturn, preventing foreclosures and keeping people out of sex work.
But Americans pride themselves on their freedom. We would much rather force our daughters in to sex work than to create a decent social safety net. No one should be forced in to sex work to make ends meet. This is national shame.
Excellent post! The only thing I would add is that if an adult woman (or man) should choose to work in the sex industry, they should be able to do so without braking the law and they should have access to a clean, safe working environment.
Breaking the law.
Second that.
agreed, both dosgatos and alieninvader!
Excuse me, go to any strip club...ask the girl there if she would rather quit that job to become the janitor at the same strip club.
Janitors, coal miners, construction workers, etc etc are all USED for their bodies because they lack the education to find other employment...
What makes sex work so different from these other exploited occupations?
BTW, I do agree 100% about the safety net.
But seriously, why cry for the $500 a night stripper, when there is a guy making $7.00/hr to clean up the same club?
I agree, it is a shame that honest work is not valued honestly. We have an arbitrary valuation system in this current paradigm.
Not to mention the millennia of UNPAID work done by women; so called women's work of raising children, raising crops, cleaning and tending homes, some of this work is backbreaking work and never recognized as such nor ever compensated.
Both men and women deserve better. Honest labor is honorable and all work needing to be done is valuable all the way from street sweeper to politician.
We still live in a stratified classist society where knowledge is being increasingly withheld and dumbed down for the "masses" by the elite who get the best education and the better jobs.
You're 100% correct. Any hot chick, whether a U.S. citizen, legal resident, illegal, or just a tourist can work in a strip club and make hundreds of dollars a night, up to $100,000 or more per year TAX FREE. No social security number needed. If I was a hot young 18+ girl, I would definitely work at a strip club for a few years, save my money, buy some homes and rent out to 9-5 workers, and be a mini real estate mogul, a mini donald trump. By the time I would be 30 I would have enough cash and rental income to retire.......and I could re-invest in more properties.
All true but the strippers life should not be glorified.I still have my soul at the end of the day.My factory day job can NOT have my heart and soul nor will it ever.I only give them my pair of hands for the duration of the day,But then the rest is MINE.
that's an excellent point, Malkin.
You are 100% correct. I have been to some 3rd world countries where women had to go into the sex trade because of no social safety net. The U.S. has degraded to 3rd world status.
European countries have a lot of safety nets for their citizens, including universal healthcare.
Americans have no idea how much they are getting used and abused by their government.
It's going to get worse people. Wake up!
Do something.
Before the flood of post about how awful it is that these women HAVE to do this to make ends meet...
Let me offer a different perspective...
How GREAT that these women are ABLE to do this to make ends meets...if that is what they decide to do.
Is there ANY way a man who finds himself in the same boat as these women (broke, unemployed, in debt) can make that kind of money?
No way.
They don't have to do it. They can do it. If they choose...
I understand what you are saying, but men have options to take jobs that involve tough physical labor, if they choose.
Women in the sex trade have a very short shelf life. What is a 40+ laid off woman to do? Sure, there is probably a market, but at much lower pay.
That tough physical labor destroys their bodies...the argument can be made that they are EXPLOITED far, far more than these women are...
Except for our puritanical view of sex, explain how these women have it worse than a coal miner or a roofer...
and BTW, even the highest paid physical labor still only pays maybe 25% of what sex work does....
Do you think it's great that these women also get to choose to break the law. Prostitution is illegal - Construction - road work - etc. is not.
Honestly...I believe that breaking unjust laws is your duty as an American.
You realize not paying the Tea Tax and then stealing the country from the British, etc. etc. was also breaking the law?
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First Posted: 07- 8-09 01:53 PM | Updated: 08- 8-09 05:12 AM