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In reply to the discussion: The unspoken issue at the center of prostitution is causation [View all]Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I've made that argument myself. No little girl wants to be a prostitute when she grows up. It's something that happens, not something they seek out. A prostitute is someone who has hit bottom, there's no other way out to make a decent living. The female "skid row." They are generally troubled people, and their lives will get worse as time goes on. There are no benefits, no paid vacation days, no Social Security in their futures. They are not regarded as people by their johns, since after all they're in the business of selling a service that has to do with body parts. Their interactions with men in that scenario, and the way that men in that scenario behave, leaves the women with a non-healthy view of men, naturally.
I saw a documentary on strippers, where sometimes some strippers were encouraged to provide services. This was as bad for those women as I imagine straight-out prostitution is. One ex-stripper in particular was marred for life, after she left the business (she was one of the lucky ones...she got married). But her view of men, she said, was forever ruined. She saw them in the sleezy, inconsiderate, uncaring, vulgar way they acted at the strip joints. I don't recall if she stayed married or not.