Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Girls Girls Girls

I've just got back from Amsterdam. It's possibly one of the most surreal places I've ever been - a fusion of sex, drugs and beautiful architecture.

Amsterdam is so liberal that it even makes me, with my beardy-lefty-onward Comrade views, question myself. The prostitution debate keeps going full circle in my head. I fully accept that legalising prositition can mean that the government can protect women working in that industry. I understand that it's going to happen anyway, so it might aswell happen out in the open. I think that sex is natural and not something to be ashamed of.

Window prostitution in Amsterdam (which accounts for about 20% of all prostitution there) allows women to make their own choices. They rent the appartments themselves on a 12-hour basis. There are no pimps involved. They decide who, what and how much. It all seems quite laudable when you've been there a few days and are fully used to walking down a street with red-lit windows either side of you in which there are women in white bikinis, smoking a cigarette and talking on their mobile.

I think there are two main things that bother me about it. The first is that many of these women (you could argue all, but I'm too scared of them to do that) are vulnerable, poor or have mental health issues. Would anyone really chose to do that as a profession?

My other issue is that so much of prostitution seems to be about men paying for women. Why? Because men don't want to be prostitutes? Because there isn't a market for male prostitution? I think the answer has much more to do with a long-standing attitude towards women: that their primary function is to serve men. Well, if that's the ethos behind prostitution, then suddenly it becomes something I'm not happy with at all.

8 comments:

I'm Over The Moon said...

Ah! So that's why your email bumped back my bragging about thinking of a good xmas gift for the husband! You've been away and leo's filled up your mailbox with shite! I'm glad you had a nice time.
Do you wanna have a drink this week after work? I'll make it worf yor while darlin...

David said...

There's no real shortage of male prostitutes either, however the vast majority of these still cater for men.

The truth is that it's difficult to find women who are interested in paying for sex (and God knows I've tried) because there is no perception that casual sex with a man has value.

When a man goes out on the town, he probably wonders if he's going to get lucky. When a woman goes out, she already knows. If she wants sex, all she has to do is offer it.

In a carefully monitored experiment (BBC Worldwide) on a university campus, a man and a woman deemed to be equally good looking were asked to proposition a hundred strangers. The man received about a hundred rejections and the woman received about a hundred acceptances.

Which means that, since the average man would happily jump any woman who offered herself to him, there is no value in male sex. Conversely, since a man is unlikely to find a willing partner, the value of sex with women, an unattainable commodity, is much higher.

You can't sell what's free. And if something isn't given away it becomes valuable. Supply and demand.

I'm Over The Moon said...

In which case I DEMAND TO HAVE SOME BOOZE!
what is it in the bible "oh where can i find a virtuous woman, for hers is a pice above rubies." pussy may be valuable, but historically it's provable legitimate heir provision that's the really bankable commodity.
Now you couldn't pay me for sex, but i'm with meg on the 'is it me that gets to tell other women not to' front, but effcetively paying women to give birth, that's one of mankind's really choice pieces of revoltingness.

Shizue said...

I agree that there is a general feeling amongst women that if you want sex, all a woman has to do is go and get it, and while it is also true that most male prostitutes are rent boys, there are a few select male prostitutes that cater towards the female market.

I watched a documentary a few years ago about this one guy in Australia, married with 2 children, who is a professional prostitute with over 30 female clients and a waiting list of over 14 months. He charged - wait for it - $230,000(Aus)!

His clients were almost all highly powered professionals, execs and the like, and they paid him because 1) he was apparantly mind-bogglingly good in bed and 2)they couldn't be bothered with one-night stands and were definitely not interested in relationships.

These women obviously view sex as a commodity much as certain men do. Whether it is morally wrong or right is another matter. Personally I would feel squeamish in the extreme paying for sex, but that's just my own feelings, not a judgement on others.

I'm Over The Moon said...

Sorry, was that per hour, per session, what? cos for that, no matter how lonely and busy I was, for that money he'd have to stay all week and build me an extension with a heated pool, and do all the house work and cook dinner AT LEAST.
Or is he made entirely of swaroffski crystal, cos if so it's totally understandable...

Shizue said...

per session. Really.

I'm Over The Moon said...

To be worth that a man would have to be worth marrying!

Katrina said...

And he IS married according to Becky - with kids too!! Did the documentary give any insight as to his family's views on his chosen profession?

And as to whether prostitution's morally right or wrong? Well I'm sure you can guess what my view is on this whole business so I won't bore you with it!