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OUR
BODIES, OURSELVES READING ROOM
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Many
women earn all or part of
their living as sex workers
or in other areas of the
sex industry, including
pornography, nude dancing,
telephone sex, and computer
pornography. Contrary to
the ugly stereotypes of
prostitutes as fallen women,
dope addicts, or disease
carriers,* sex workers are
women at work--supporting
children as single parents,
trying to save money to
go to school, surviving
economically in a job market
that underpays women at
every economic level.
Once politically voiceless
and isolated from other
women, sex workers have
organized over the past
25 years for support and
political action.* As adult
sex workers speak out, they
expose the many forms of
violence that they experience:*
-
Poverty that forces
women, especially women
of color and runaway
teenagers, into work
as sex workers
-
Sexism
in the job market that
means that even middle-
and upper-class women
can earn more in sex
work than in most other
jobs available
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-
The
arrest and prosecution of
prostitutes while clients
go free
-
The
racism and class bias that
lead to the arrest and imprisonment
of far more prostitutes of
color and women with low incomes
than white, middle-class women,
even though the majority of
sex workers are white and
middle-class
As
a middle-class white woman, trained
as a registered nurse, I could
work in a private call business
instead of hitting the streets.
I was arrested but never did time
in prison; the system isn't aimed
at putting me in jail. Women of
color have less easy access to
places like upper-class hotels,
where if you're a black woman
and alone you're automatically
tagged as a hooker. So they're
in the streets and in the bars,
where they are more visible and
more vulnerable to exploitation
and arrest--and they're the ones
who end up in jail.
Some feminists have been critical
of prostitutes for reinforcing
sex-role stereotypes by allowing
themselves to be sex objects or
for participating in the sex industry,
which many think contributes to
violence against women. Many see
sex work as violence in and of
itself, especially when children
and young girls are involved.
(See chapter 26, The Global Politics
of Women and Health, for more
information.) Others insist that
it is a legitimate way for women
to earn money from men. As one
prostitute said, "It's my body;
why shouldn't I be the one to
decide how I should use it?" Some
sex workers find that the experience
is generally positive, and the
negative parts arise from the
violence and harassment that they
may be more at risk for because
of their profession. Others enjoy
parts of the work and hate other
parts. Still others name their
experience as violence. Prostitutes
point out that they are no different
from most women in having to sell
their services to men. In the
words of an ex-prostitute:
I've
worked in straight jobs where
I've felt more like I was prostituting
my being than in prostitution.
I had less control over my life,
and the powerlessness wasn't even
up front. People didn't see me
as selling myself, but with the
minimum wage so little and my
boss so insulting, I felt like
I was selling my soul.
Prostitutes have organized in
the U.S. and Europe to demand
decriminalization, the abolition
of all laws against prostitution.
With decriminalization, prostitutes
would have more control over their
work and the money they earn.
Most of all, they would no longer
go to jail for providing a service
that society itself puts in such
high demand and for choosing the
highest-paying work available
to them.
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Copyright
� 1984, 1992, 1998 by the Boston Women's
Health Book Collective. All rights
reserved. Published by Touchstone,
a division of Simon
& Schuster Inc.
To
order Our Bodies, Ourselves for
the New Century
CLICK HERE
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