Prostitution may be the world’s oldest profession. Before this year, I was a proponent of legalizing it. Anyone with eyes can notice the call girls with no phones on certain streets in Dayton.
The sex work industry is one that I believe to have all too often been the answer to economic coercion—and one that no doubt, students current or past have relied upon. Truly facing this issue is a severe, complex task that I can only hope to provide a dialogue for.
Before this year and the iconic sex scandals like Oakwood’s own Brock Turner, I have had a pretty up-close and personal perspective of prostitution. Nothing like hiring an escort or something of that nature, but to say I have not known individuals of both sexes who have resorted to sex for money would be untrue.
I’ve seen it nation wide. I’ve seen sex workers in Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, North Dakota, Dayton, New York City, Chicago, and most importantly in Vegas.
In Vegas, escorting is legal. Not on the Strip, but outside it prostitution is legal. Anyone who’s walked the Strip in Vegas has probably collected a few ads for call girls that are pilfered 24/7.
I’ve had my perspectives sincerely challenged by so many forces on this sensitive topic. On one hand, I aim to support men and women who otherwise would not be able to make ends meet.
Who am I to say someone cannot have bodily autonomy? If someone wants to engage in legal prostitution, shouldn’t they? They are free to captain their own ship.
I’ve spoken with sex workers in Vegas. Some make absurd amounts of money. Their insights fascinate me not dissimilar to a train wreck. I cannot look away from the uncomfortable position of what to make of prostitution—having looked in the faces of those that rely on it as a livelihood.
Still, I have had my thinking challenged. With the incidents nationwide and abroad that brought sexual assault to the headlines, I had to ask myself something.
“Is economic coercion consent?” My heart tells me no, it is not. Sex workers have been reported in overwhelming majority to choose that avenue because of lack of other options.
Consent has been the focus of a lot of national campaigns against sexual crimes. To many others, and me consent means that one is willing in sound mind and body to engage in whatever sexual act the proposed consent pertains to.
Can someone consent to sex that they would not have if not for economic gain? Money is power. This sets the dynamic that too often results in violence against said sex worker.
Can a human be treated like a service and still be respected? What about protected? As much as I struggle to support prostitution—I am not ignorant. Perhaps legalizing the act is the only avenue to provide a pathway for sex workers to have any claim to safety.
I vocally decry rape and those that perpetrate it, so how can I deal with an industry that condones if not flirts with rape, while wanting to protect as many people as possible?
Don’t get me started on pornography either. I’ve dated an individual in the business and their insight aligns closely to my thoughts on prostitution. How can society decry prostitution, yet enjoy the product of when those same acts are performed for the same reason on video?
Those millions of views are a testament to the forces of sexuality and those conflicts we have as a society to really pick a stance on what is or is not consent.
This grey area is truly terrifying. I don’t have an answer, but I can attest that the reality I see on dating apps, on the streets and on those escort cards is alarming.
If it weren’t for the money, they would not have done it. But, at the same time, what good does throwing a man or woman in jail do when they’re already in an economic prison to the point they’re selling their own body do?
We certainly do not have the money or the space to suddenly jail every prostitute and just tell them they broke the law and their family is just going to have to deal with having no money, then wish them the best of luck getting a new job with even more forces on them than when they were on the street.
All I can really gather so far is that “It’s okay because the money says so” has not been the best policy for addressing social and economic issues.
Please, if you have something to say about prostitution in our community, write in.
Barton Kleen
Executive Editor