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Stubborn and competitive. A man of stature and quality. I have known pain, discouragement and fear and out of this came special dignity of a person who has seen a lot and...

South Africa
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Dear prostitutes, I object to your trade being legalised

13 years ago | 9080 Views
I am mindful, as I write this letter, that there could be a family member of mine, a colleague, a friend or an associate that actually practise prostitution without my knowledge, but that will not stop me, as they deserve no special treatment.

Forgive my backwardness for not addressing you, as you have become affectionately known, as ‘sex workers’. In fact, upon pondering, I am content that I cannot address you as sex workers because people who actually work have an address where we can send letters such as this one.

Now I may have to drop a copy of this letter at every street corner. Nonetheless, let me write and worry about that after being done.

There are many people who see your sordid ‘profession’ as disgusting, immoral, demeaning and everything else that is negative under the sun. To be quite honest, I do not blame them.

However, you may be justified in what you do given the rampant unemployment, the increasing cost of living; the growing attachment to materialistic belongings and the never ending yearn for more money.

This ‘profession’ is widely found; be it I am roaming the streets of Durban, be it I am enjoying the lofty roads of Sandton, be it I am in the midst of hard working men in Mining towns or even in the peripheries of Industrial areas, this ‘profession’ is found.

Some men call you stress relievers, others see you as toys to satisfy their wild sexual fantasies, others feel that you rescue them at a time of shortage due to being far from their women and concubines. Whatever they view you as, you women care very little as long as they pop the cash.

Applying for this job of being a ‘sex worker’ must be very easy. I believe there is only one requirement – have a vagina and only one job description – fulfil a man’s sexual needs for cash.

There are no types of men, no preferences, well the saying goes; “beggars cannot be choosers”. There is no one who corrects the other; the lost sense of societal values is well displayed in your ‘profession’.

Women who are in their 40s stand in street corners with girls old enough to be their daughters and even fight about spots. I cannot help but wonder who is to blame for your situation? Is it the government? Is it the men that actually pay for sex?

Is it you for doing what you do? How do we even begin to call what you do work? What is work? Why has it become a taboo for us to question the work that you do? Well some boast that this is the oldest profession known to mankind.

Anyway, I write to inform you that I have stood for many things in my short lifetime, but I will never stand up for the legalising of ‘sex work’. Not in my lifetime.

Sex over the years has growingly been devalued, given the multiplicity of sex partners that people have in their lifetime and the kind of frequency at which people have it, there is sort of an oversupply of sex.

Nevertheless, interestingly there is still a market for prostitution. I must say that this is quite a complex thing to understand as to why are men buying something that they can have absolutely free. Some men argue that prostitutes are the best, there are absolutely no strings attached, it is a thing of the moment and you go home fresh.

Anyway, as devalued as sex might have become at this day and age, in my heart of hearts sex remains a precious gift to human beings for as long as the only way to naturally bring another life to earth is through sex, then sex is a precious resource.

It is a resource that should be guarded jealously, but I suppose that the pleasure and satisfaction derived from it thwarts the possibility of sex being treated with the honour and dignity it so much deserves. However, making a business and drawing money through this precious resource sure gives another meaning to the devaluation of sex.

Many men that end up buying sex are those who have partners but are just frustrated at home because the girlfriend or the wife is being too much to handle and therefore they require your services to find peace.

My dear ‘sex workers’ in essence that is infidelity and by legalising ‘sex work’, I would be normalising infidelity – an act that is deemed highly immoral would actually be made a legal part of our society.

Prostitution is not a job; it is a doing that continues to tear apart many families across the world. The reason why men love prostitutes is that they get sex without having to take responsibility to the ‘sex worker’. If we were to legalise prostitution, it is possible that there would be an increase in the number of men who buy female bodies for pleasure.

Oh, where art thou thy pride oh woman?  Money that should be taken to households in order to care for children and old parents gets to be spent on your irregular and unregulated industry.

Legalising prostitution would mean legalising the growth of irresponsible men who do not want to take care of women in their lives properly. It would mean legalising disorder across many families.

Let me tell you something ‘sex workers’, the state has a duty to protect; social, economic, and political aspects of its nation. Whilst you may feel that your industry would generate economical wealth for the country, it probably would disinterest you if you were to be taxed.

Currently, you get an income that is tax free, but no matter how much of a money loving nation we may be, there is no way we can be seen as propagating for the legalisation of immorality and the continued trampling on the dignity of women.

I have heard many reasons why you want ‘sex work’ legalised, but I am still not yet convinced by them. Whilst there are genuine cases where prostitution is a direct baby of unemployment and poverty, there are growing cases whereby University students and young professionals who cannot meet their bills are selling their bodies.

Surely, there is a deeper social ailment in our nation and legalising ‘sex work’ would mean legitimising the existence of disease in our society and in the long run this plague would sprawl to other spheres of society and create a vicious cycle of disorder.

We are on the eve of celebrating the women month August, a month whereby we celebrate the pride of women, a month whereby we remember the toils and struggles fought for the liberation of women from patriarchy and marginalisation.

Every woman who has a sense of pride and preserves her dignity should speak out against prostitution. There are many women who are pushing for ‘sex work’ to be legalised but you will find that those women would never take pride and joy in their children being known as ‘sex workers’.

Things that occur during the night are usually secretive things that people are not so proud to be seen doing. This ‘sex work’ is one such thing. There is no way that we can refer to prostitution as work because it is not decent.

One condition, according to me, that must be met in order for us to consider any form of work to be decent – and thus qualify to be called work – is that people doing the job are actually not scared to be associated with their profession or work.

Once your work starts to be a secret, such as prostitution, being an assassin and other things, then such work can never be made an accepted part of our society.

I will stand on the side of people who denounce the calls for ‘sex work’ to be legalised, lest we find people taking pride in prostitution and openly recruiting our future daughters to participate in what would be a booming industry that fuels and heightens social disorder.

MyNews24

1 Taliyana
Tags: mynews24,prostitute

Comments

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Malema 13 years
Mouthfull: as devalued as sex might have become at this day and age, in my heart of hearts sex remains a precious gift to human beings for as long as the only way to naturally bring another life to earth is through sex, then sex is a precious resource.
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