(no subject)
Just a quickie (oooh-errr! Very appropriate considering the content of this post!).
Prostitution has long been considered the oldest profession in the world. This is, simply, NOT TRUE.
Prostitution at its simplest is the payment for sex with cash or goods. Now, the first currency (the shekel, also a measurement of weight... long story, not going to bother here) was introduced by the Mesopotamians in 3000 BC, with the first actual coins produced by the Lydians around 650 BC. Clearly by this point many civilisations had flourished - in fact the first Sumerian civilisation began before 5000 BC, so clearly we had professions before this point!
So we must disregard money as the original method of payment for whoring, if we wish to decide whether it truly is the oldest profession. Bartering then, as payment. Yes?
No.
To barter, you need goods of value. To have goods of value, you need to gather (profession) or produce them (profession). At first small familial groups of humans would have spent most of their time raising the children or gathering food for the group. Once groups began to coalesce and become tribes, the gatherers would collect more than enough food, children were raised communally, and the first objects were produced. For example, clay pots and bowls for food and water. Once these items of value were produced and exchanged for a roll in the hay (or mud, or whatever), then and only then can we consider this prostitution. And as I've said before, trading in items of worth, which as I've proven had to be gathered or made.
Ergo, Prostitution is NOT the oldest profession in the world. Yes, it can be traced back at least 7000 years, but prostitution could not come about until people had items of worth to trade for sex.
And as we all know kids, without the transaction it's just sex!
Prostitution has long been considered the oldest profession in the world. This is, simply, NOT TRUE.
Prostitution at its simplest is the payment for sex with cash or goods. Now, the first currency (the shekel, also a measurement of weight... long story, not going to bother here) was introduced by the Mesopotamians in 3000 BC, with the first actual coins produced by the Lydians around 650 BC. Clearly by this point many civilisations had flourished - in fact the first Sumerian civilisation began before 5000 BC, so clearly we had professions before this point!
So we must disregard money as the original method of payment for whoring, if we wish to decide whether it truly is the oldest profession. Bartering then, as payment. Yes?
No.
To barter, you need goods of value. To have goods of value, you need to gather (profession) or produce them (profession). At first small familial groups of humans would have spent most of their time raising the children or gathering food for the group. Once groups began to coalesce and become tribes, the gatherers would collect more than enough food, children were raised communally, and the first objects were produced. For example, clay pots and bowls for food and water. Once these items of value were produced and exchanged for a roll in the hay (or mud, or whatever), then and only then can we consider this prostitution. And as I've said before, trading in items of worth, which as I've proven had to be gathered or made.
Ergo, Prostitution is NOT the oldest profession in the world. Yes, it can be traced back at least 7000 years, but prostitution could not come about until people had items of worth to trade for sex.
And as we all know kids, without the transaction it's just sex!