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Sex is a mutual collaborative effort.
Prostitution isn't, it is one person renting another's body.
Prostitution, by definition, is sex with someone who does not want to have sex with you.
Therefore prostitution is not sex, it is rape.
(Pornography, of course, is just prostitution on camera)
It is not perhaps as harmful as some other forms of rape, ( Read more... )
Prostitution isn't, it is one person renting another's body.
Prostitution, by definition, is sex with someone who does not want to have sex with you.
Therefore prostitution is not sex, it is rape.
(Pornography, of course, is just prostitution on camera)
It is not perhaps as harmful as some other forms of rape, ( Read more... )
It is not perhaps as harmful as some other forms of rape, but the basic feeling of wanting to have sex with someone who does not want to have sex with you is rape-thinking. It is a difference of degree, not kind.
Arguably, prostitution is even more harmful than other kinds of rape. After all, these are women who are being raped daily, and who have to deal with the physical and emotional trauma of this constantly.
Also, prostitutes are often expected to pretend to enjoy what they're doing, to get the man turned on, to make him feel all masculine and virile and special. (Yeah, really sick). So they're being raped, and made to act as if they like it.
But I also find it hard to draw distinctions with this kind of thing, to say one kind of violence is worse than another kind. Even minor acts of violence against women, e.g. being groped by a stranger, are part of a much larger network of intimidation and violence, meant to remind women that they have no right to bodily integrity, to spark the fear of rape, or to traumatically remind them of past acts of violence they've experienced.
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Keep in mind that I am for the most part talking about pornography - which is prostitution - and I suppose what I meant is - well, I have used porn and I have therefore contributed to the rape of the women in porn - but I haven't raped a woman in person, and I do see a difference in terms of what I did. Someone who has used porn (in ignorance) I think can be far more easily 'rehabilitated' than someone who has raped in person. I guess that's what I meant
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The New York Times reported... that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was diagnosed in 20 to 30 percent of the Vietnam vets, approximately half of whom suffer long term psychiatric problems. The article also reported that PTSD is found in less than 5 percent of the general population - but is found in two-thirds of prostituted women.
Prostitution is overwhelmingly more traumatic than war. That statistic really shocked me.
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I think that viewing men simply as 'users' of porn (meant in the sense of 'consumers') is a dangerous road to travel down. There are at least two good reasons for this:
a) It implies that the sexuality of men IS as it is depicted in porn, which furthermore infers a separatist mentality. Also implicit is that porn is therefore natural - or at least to be expected in any human society with audio-visual technology. This is an incredibly depressing view of life - and one which I do not think reflects reality. Remember too, that there is as much variation within each sex as there is between the sexes.
b) It tells only half the damaging story of porn, which reduces the strength of the case against it.
- Sean.
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