Paraded like cattle
In Ireland, four former sex workers tell their stories.
Ne’cole Daniels
I was taught from the tender age of seven that my worth was between my legs. How I knew this was that I was raped repeatedly by a family member at the age of seven.
It was only reinforced by my mother, who was a prostitute, that my value was between my legs. As long as I had a vagina, I should never be broke. I believed this.
So when I was poached at the age of 15 by yet another family member, I had already been groomed. I lied to myself and stayed in the life until my own daughter was sexually assaulted.
What I know now is that coming from my dysfunctional family home, I didn’t choose this life, this life chose me.
As a frontline service provider, I witness first-hand the damages of the sex-trade – the damage that is caused to women who are bought and sold.
Bridget Perrier
I was lured and debased into prostitution at the age of 12 from a group home. I remained enslaved for 10 years in prostitution. I was paraded like cattle in front of men who were able to purchase me. And the acts that they did to me was something that no little girl should ever have to endure.
Because of the men, I cannot have children normally because of trauma to my cervix. To this day I still have nightmares, and sometimes I sleep with the lights on. I feel damaged and not worthy.
I was traded in legal establishments, street corners and strip bars. The scariest thing that ever happened to me was being held captive for 43 hours and raped and tortured repeatedly at the age of 14 by a sexual predator who preyed on exploited girls.
My first pimp was a woman who owned an illegal brothel. I was groomed to say I was her daughter’s friend if the police ever asked. My second pimp made me prostitute for money. He was supposed to be my bodyguard, but that turned out to be one big lie. They are both still out there, doing the same things to other little girls.
I believe prostitution is not a choice. It’s lack of choice that keeps women and girls enslaved. Most of us were children who were forgotten, neglected, abused, and not protected.
A huge majority of women and children in prostitution have experienced pimp violence. This is far from the pretty picture that is often painted. We have been afraid, raped, beaten, sold and discarded.
It’s not just another job.
The best comment I saw over there:
“The money is very good even when circumstances force you into it.”
Ugh! No amount of money is worth being tortured for.
Also, not a large percentage of the women and children get much (or sometimes any) of the money.
My God, the comments……
Many of them about how women buy sex too? I guess it happens but I don’t know one woman personally who has ever purchased sex. I can’t say the same for my male acquaintances and those re only the ones who will admit it.
I would venture to say that 99% of the time the buyer is male although he may be paying to violate a woman, man or child of either sex.
Noele, didn’t you get the memo? Anytime you mention anything about oppression of women by men, it is absolutely required BY FEDERAL LAW that someone mentions that women do it, too. Men are oppressed and mistreated by women. So there is no need at all to notice the extreme amount of abuse administered to women at the hands of men, because somewhere, sometime, some man was abused by a woman.
There, I have done my duty. I can go about my day with a self-righteous feeling of being “inclusive” of the group that has oppressed me from birth, and know that I am at least acknowledging that there is some small chance, somewhere, that I might have done some small action that made a man feel less like a master of the universe.
/s
I’ve managed to live to 60 without knowing any man who admitted to being a trick/punter.
Obviously, the whole industry functions in a fog of lies and deception.
So, today’s Sinfest is pretty on-topic:
http://www.sinfest.net/btphp/comics/2016-09-21.gif
(For those not familiar with the series: The woman is a stripper; the zombie “Story Time” is a recurring character who escaped from Hell because the woman who used to read him stories to keep him calm down there stopped coming by, and PimpBot is just that–a giant robot who has been brought in to enforce the right of men to exploit ‘sex workers’.)
For those who are interested in the comic from that segment–be aware, the artist was originally a douchebro of the highest order, doing a gag-a-day strip that featured a lot of casual sexism and racism, often clearly using the ‘irony’ defense. Then he woke up, looked in the mirror, didn’t like what he saw, and began a massive changeover that has led to a very pro-feminism, anti-racist take, which includes being extremely critical of “sex positivity” and other foibles of the modern era.
Sinfest is so much sex-positive critical as it is dripping all kinds of anvilicious sex-negativity (at least when I quit reading it), so I’m not sure that the Sinfest guy “got better”. There are some pretty good threads throughout the work though.