I've read no books on this Mick, nor have any personal experience, either from myself or from those I know, but here is what I feel...and I'm only talking about those whose whole life has become one of prostitution.


"....exercising power?"

No...even the lady at the top of her profession must lie there very often, sobbing her heart out, on the nights she's alone. She may have a wallet stashed full of money, but I bet she'd trade every last coin of it to be loved, truly loved, no matter how hard or calculationg she may seem.

"Or is it those that seek to make money by exploiting women?"

Yes.

"Are bodies just commodities?"

Once they weren't. Now, sadly, they so often are.

Even children's bodies have become 'commodities' as 11/12 year olds have 'sex' in a world where they are now surrounded by those who seek to 'groom' them, get them ready for a life of 'sex-industry sex' where love, real love, is barely touched upon. Our bodies should be very special, to us and to the other person involved.


"Is a woman pimp on higher moral ground than a man pimp?"

A woman who exploits other women in this way is beyond words. She is beyond anything I can possibly think of to say....but then, men who are pimps leave me speechless too. Women though, know how it feels, so how they could put another woman through that? They are morally, spiritually and humanly wrong, in every way, as are men who are pimps.

There are many different reasons, I should think, why a woman abandons everything inside her soul and becomes a prostitute.

Maybe she has no self-respect, brought about by a terrible childhood, or a vicious struggle to stay afloat in an education system that now brands you 'Success' or 'FAILURE' by the time you are just a teenager. If you are branded the latter, then life is so often very hard and unkind. You may have no pride in yourself, no belief, no inner happiness, just turmoil, anger and an emptiness, where the word 'FAILURE' bounces around inside you.

Maybe, like thousands of others who've been branded 'FAILURE' by those who apparently think they know better, she took to drugs first, to numb the pain of so many years of unhappiness and confusion, just before she gave her soul away.

But as she lies there in the darkness, afterwards, how does she feel, with no arms to turn to which will encircle her lovingly? How does she feel when there is no-one to kiss the tears away? How does she carry on, day after gut-churning day, allowing complete strangers to use her body, often so harshly? A body that once belonged to her and her alone. Maybe, just maybe, she longs for her body to have just one person who loves it, one person who sees it, one person who loves HER. One person who loves the inside soul of her. But that is probably never going to be possible, not any more.....and so she carries on.

Maybe she has children that she's desperate to feed and clothe, bills to pay, a house to keep running, and there is no other way that she can cope. So she lives a secret life, mother in the day, fantasy to a stranger in the night. Maybe she is able to separate herself into two people, for a little while, but the cracks will soon start to show.

The young prostitute has her looks to keep her going, at least seeing the lust in the eyes of the men who take her. But what of the older prostitute? The one who knows that even her looks have gone? How does she cope when the men don't want her anymore? How does she feel, as she faces a future of utter loneliness, whilst looking back on a past where she has been used, literally, 'used' for most of her life? How does she cope?

Were there times when she held a man who was a client, and she knew she could love him, really love him, but he didn't 'see' her, because of the problems in his own life? Maybe he treated her so kindly, maybe, just for a little while, he shared something of himself with her, treated her like a human being. How did she feel having to let him go, having him give her the money at the end of it all, for something she would have given to him freely, with her heart? How that must hurt.

I don't believe any woman goes into this 'profession' with a smile on her face. Yes, some may love sex, to start with, but with money and time, eventually comes the degradation, even if the money is knee-deep around her.

So what's the solution?

To show her love, at the start of her life. To have a society that cares. For her to have parents who hopefully love her dearly, but if not, then people around who are willing to step in and give her a better chance. To make sure that all children and young people are branded 'Success!" when they leave school, for every soul in this world has something they are good at...it just may not be on the school's curriculum.

To show her love when she becomes a prostitute, to be there to pick up the pieces and realise that she doesn't need to be 'legalised', she simply needs to be 'humanised'

To give her back her self-respect, for with that comes self-love, and once she has that, and a society that cares for her, then she has a chance of ending up in those arms that will love her, protect her and support her.

We have much to learn...and prostitutes have much to teach us, the most important thing being, that they are not 'just a word' but, they are women. They are someone's daughter, someone's mother, but above all that, they are just like you and me, and they hurt in the same way.