Prostitution: The future realm of female autonomy?

KELOWNA, B.C. (CUP) — In order to understand prostitution, it is necessary to first acknowledge the kaleidoscopic tendencies of the occupation: prostitution can be liberating or suppressive, lucrative or exploitative, gentle or abusive. Women may be “acquired” through the aid of a high-cost escort service, the lure of a glowing red light, or the easy access of a grimy street corner.

Some women enter willingly into the industry, some are coerced, and some feel they have no other choice. What these women have in common is that they are all human beings; they deserve to have agency over their bodies and the actions of these bodies.

Prostitution needs to be evaluated in terms of what it truly is: not lovemaking, but straight-up sex. That is all. A sociologist by the name of Zatz accurately defines prostitution as “attending to the sexual desires of a particular individual (or individuals) with bodily acts in exchange for payment of money.”

Manual labour is still acceptable in today’s society and is defined as “physical work done with the hands, especially in an unskilled job such as fruit-and-vegetable picking, road building, or any other field where the work may be considered physically arduous, and which has as its objective the production of goods.” Could prostitution in the form of manual stimulation not fit this definition?

It is imperative to consider that the definition of sex is shifting in conjunction with our metamorphic society. We have come to a time in history when sex can be experienced between two people who are thousands of kilometres apart. Does this not point towards the realization that sex can be experienced nongenitally between two people? So, if sex can be considered in a non-genital context, could genitalia not therefore be considered as non-sexual?

This mind-frame supports the idea that prostitution can, and should be, considered solely as an exchange of labour and money between individuals. This may sound brash to some, but it follows the ideologies that have created our current society. If we are to succeed in the world, it is vital that we become accustomed to the capitalist manner that has come to define all things tangible.

We also may want to take into consideration the economic position of women in our blemished past while assessing the issue of prostitution. To those who believe that prostitution only perpetuates the cycle of female exploitation, I ask: what do you propose prostitution would look like today if the women of our heritage had had equal authority over income and personal agency?

Prostitution is so universally received that it is hard to believe it would not have flourished in the same way as it has today. However, if there was an equal distribution of funds and personal freedom among the genders, we would most likely see a more diverse and acceptable system of prostitution outside the realms of gender inequality and centred in a protective system of personal rights. It is due to hegemonic sexual and economic practices that prostitution has come to be seen as a bastion of female exploitation. We need to change the discourse surrounding prostitution.

If prostitution was no longer contingent with the exploitation of women, ethnic minorities, and marginalized sexual groups, then what would be the problem? If we were able to provide protective sanctions for the people within the sex-trade industry, prostitution could reinvent itself as a domain of personal agency.

The abuse that female sex workers have suffered is infinite. If prostitution was legalized we would be able to establish a safe environment for sextrade workers wherein we could provide physical and sexual protection as well as teach alternative job option skills for those who wish to retire. We could enforce an age limit to protect the young, impressionable girls who find themselves lost in the sex-trade industry, as well as attempt to put a cap on the trend of immigrant sex-workers who are unwillingly introduced to the trauma of prostitution.

Enforcing regular STI testing for both the employees and customers of the industry while insisting upon condom use would further ensure the safety of the workers. It is obscene to waste government funds arresting these women, when in reality we should be investing these monies into the improvement of these women’s rights and work environments.

It is time to bite the bullet and accept the fact that this centuries-old tradition isn’t about to be eradicated. We need to shift our efforts onto the protection of the women in the sex trade, as well as those who are trying to escape it. We need to change prostitution from an obligation to a choice. If women are entering the sex trade based solely on their own free will and are making the choice based on educated reasoning, we have no right to judge their actions.