On Nov 23, 2004, at 6:12 PM, Erik Reuter wrote:
On Tue, Nov 23, 2004 at 03:30:09PM -0600, Dan Minette wrote:
So, I'd conclude that a preliminary review of the evidence indicates that legalization does not remove problems with prostitution.
Surely you meant "does not remove ALL problems with prostitution"?
When you say prostitution is unhealthy, do you mean to say that the "problems" are inherent in prostitution, and the best way to eliminate the "problems" is to eradicate prositution?
One might argue that the "problems" are caused by cultural views, that
as long as prostitution is perceived as dirty or immoral, that primarily
people who have lots of other "problems", and therefore are less
concerned about the stigma, will participate in prostitution.
Erik, this is a much more articulate and direct argument than the one I was vaguely alluding to in my missive. The arguments about prostitution promoted by those who want to see it eradicated are very, very similar to those promoted by anti-gay agitants.
I've come across almost exactly the same arguments over the years about the negativity of the gay "lifestyle" (whatever that is) -- that gays have higher drug/alcohol abuse rates, higher suicide rates, and don't engage in long-term relationships (need I mention that in 11 states now they're forbidden by law to define such relationships as heterosexual couples can?) -- and of course the fact is that every symptom listed above can be attributed directly to bigotry.
Social hatred is the cause of depression in gays, not homosexuality. I would be very surprised to discover that things are significantly different with prostitution.
To the question of childhood sexual abuse -- is it a trigger for later promiscuity and possibly self-destructive behavior? Almost surely, in *some* cases. But to say that any child abused is doomed to a life of prostitution or homosexuality is as foolish as asserting that anyone who smokes pot is doomed to become a crack user, and for the same reason: Again, a mistake of correlation with cause. (It's as backward to suggest that prostitutes are surely victims of abuse just as one would not submit the argument that all crack addicts were once pot smokers.)
There is some research (I'll have to dig up the citation) that seems to show that sexual promiscuity in women is linked to homosexuality in their male children (!), and that those same male children are much more likely to engage in sexual exploration and behavior at a much younger age than their peers. This is a chromosomal characteristic, IIRC, not a psychological one.
This suggests to me that at least *some* cases of very young (as young as eight years old!) VOLUNTARY experimentation might well be precursors of adult homosexuality in men. Thus I would expect to see a positive correlation between childhood sexuality and adult homosexuality, but I would be very cautious about drawing the conclusion that sexual exploration (or even what is legally defined as abuse but is potentially ambiguous -- i.e., a teenager and a young adult) is itself a cause of homosexuality, or even a symptom of some kind of maladjustment.
Short form: Yes, I'm sure there's a higher percentage of "early adopters" of sex in the gay male population than in heterosexual men.
As for women who were abused as girls -- Erik, you suggested one reason why we might see an increase in victims of abuse among prostitutes. Others might be that living in an abusive family normalized this kind of sex to these women; or they were so completely indoctrinated by their abusers that they believe they're engaging in satisfying -- even legitimately intimate -- activity. This does not, however, suggest that all prostitutes harbor such histories or difficulties; it could well say a great deal about our own societies, but it doesn't point to any universal truths.
Nor, again, does it mean that abused girls will become prostitutes, but we can stigmatize them into it anyway. I've dealt in the past with male sex offenders, and one of them made a very interesting comment to the effect that "Abused become abusers" was a *curse* to him -- that is, after he'd realized he was himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse, he became sure he'd do it himself. Later, after he had, he used it as an excuse to justify what he'd done.
That's striking but not, I suspect, very unusual among male sex offenders. I would not be very surprised to learn that, of the abused girls who became prostitutes later, many justified it in part by believing they were somehow doomed to the life.
In all these cases sex, when it is misused, indubitably does damage. But we need to be very careful about defining sexual misuse, about tossing around words like "healthy", and *particularly* cautious when suggesting possible consequences. Statistical correlations can, in effect, become dogmatic pronunciations of inevitable futures, and that could end up having exactly the opposite effect intended by sex-abuse victim advocates.
In other
words, perhaps a good way to eliminate the "problems" of prostitution is
to eradicate religion(s) which teach that prositution is immoral?
I wouldn't necessarily go that far myself, but I would suggest reducing their social relevance or impact, at least in part by questioning the very premises they put forth, and trying to understand the social context in which those premises arose.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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