Sex work is often treated like it’s a one woman (or man, go off either way) show. Sex workers are constantly shamed by people young and old for being whores and selling away their bodies but their customers are never shamed. It is known that presidents, ambassadors, representatives, governors, senators, secretaries, lawyers, doctors etc use escorts but nobody says anything about it. Men and women alike go to strip clubs for their bachelor and bachelorette parties but look down upon the same workers who they ask to put their crotch on their face. Sex work cannot exist as an industry if other people do not consume it, but people do, and at a very high rate. Globally, porn is a $97 BILLION dollar industry, and things are only looking up, according to NBC News. An average escort in New York City can make upwards of $2,000 dollars per HOUR. 50% of internet traffic is sex related.
It’s a known fact that most people enjoy having sex. But most people are afraid to talk about it. Millennials are slightly different in this regard because there is a large population of them that proudly wear the word hoe as a badge and have thousands of followers who are interested about their many sexual escapades. People my age enjoy hearing their friends “hoe stories” and are overall more sex positive.
But I don’t think we can have a conversation about sex workers without talking about the world’s relationship with sexuality. Sex is a taboo subject that most people participate in but won’t talk about. In many places within America, mostly in the South, children need their parent’s consent in order to learn about sex education in their health classes and even if they do get educated, they are simply taught not to have sex. Very few health classes actually teach about STI’s, condoms, contraception, and sexuality. Even though schools that teach more detailed versions of sexual education are statistically proven to have lower rates of STDs and teenage pregnancy. Without this knowledge, many children grow up feeling ashamed about their sexual fantasies and embracing their sexuality in general. This feeling of being ashamed follows us to adulthood because we see how people who embrace their sexuality (celebrities, strippers, escorts, porn stars) are shamed by our parents and the media alike. When Kim Kardashian posts a nude on Instagram, websites and experts come gunning for her, saying how she’s a horrible mother and role model for women everywhere. But it begs the question…why? Why is her entire morality hinged on what she does with her body? Are you saying that all women have to offer are their bodies? I believe that this is one of the reasons why people are so disgusted with sex workers. But due to this mentality, it is also why sex workers make so much money.
Sexual education is important. Not only does it help students understand their own bodies, it helps them find out who they are. Parents can only present what they know and it’s often biased by their own opinions about sex. We cannot count on parents to teach children about their own bodies. Some parents don’t know and some kids don’t have parents at all. States that don’t have a comprehensive sex education have higher teen pregnancy and STI rates because students don’t know anything about how to prevent pregnancy. Until we start embracing our sexualities and see women as more than just their bodies, sex workers will continue to be shamed and abused. And that’s not anything to be proud of.
Due to repression of our sexualities, most people still want to explore their sexual fantasies and limits but not with people that they know or in their real world. In many states that are traditionally racist, the mot searched topic is ebony or black. Many states are against gay marriage, their most searched topic is lesbian or gay. Sex workers provide an important service but since they are constantly shamed, the industry is left alone because it’s a hard topic to speak about. This in itself is problematic because porn directors can get away with raping their actors and forcing them to do things that they don’t want to do without getting any flack for it because if someone is a sex worker, their consent is never-ending, apparently. If prostitution was legalized, we could have clean and regulated brothels and laws that hold madams and johns accountable. Taxes made off of it could be used for education or rebuilding communities.
Prostitution isn’t called the world’s oldest profession for a reason. People have wanted sex since the beginning of time but because of our mentalities about it, they have to do it behind closed doors. It’s not going anywhere so why don’t we find a way to make it productive for society by legalizing it? Legalizing prostitution will help sex workers become normalized in society, taking away the stigma of sex and making it an overall safer world for everyone.
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