Crazy Horse

By Annonymous

When the first half of this essay ended I had left the issue of ethics and morality till later. This very idea might seem strange that we would like to ask a prostitute about morals- (and ethics) who by definition is doing what the society considers immoral.

But the reason behind this mode of questioning is to try to find the human being behind the face of a prostitute and to intrude on her thoughts, which she does not get to share with most of her customers or her managers.

I simply brought the topic of morality and asked her to comment on that. Once I had asked the first question – I pretty much left her to speak at length.

Here it is.

Have you ever thought about the immoral nature of your

Work.

This is a very strange question.

To ask a known prostitute about the morality of the business.

Everyone knows or thinks that they know that prostitution is immoral.

But when you ask me that question in such a specific manner-

I must ask you could you define immorality or for that matter what is morality anyway?

It is said that all morality comes from religion and we are told that Islam our religion forbids prostitution.

But I would like to ask one more question before I go forward.

The Shia faction says that Islam permits Muta’a or temporary marriage which other Muslims call legalized prostitution and thus immoral from a religious standpoint.

(A lot of the prostitutes claim that they are Shia and they therefore do not consider this activity immoral from their own version of religion.)

And may I ask why is it that only the prostitutes (women) are held to be immoral and no such indictments are leveled at their customers? Shouldn’t they be considered as immoral as those women that they go to?

If we accept prostitution to be immoral- is there anything else that is also immoral and about which society gets upset and angry?

Is poverty immoral?

Are those that cause and exploit the poor for profit immoral?

Is the death of a child who cannot get medicine due to poverty immoral?

If it is and I feel it certainly is- then are we willing to blame and hold accountable those that have it in their power to prevent that from happening.

In a country where every day a lot of people go hungry- are those that are having feasts in their If tar parties immoral in the same manner as the prostitutes?

Are those that cause people to kill in the name of religion as immoral as a prostitute?

Or those that use human beings as slave labor in the brick kilns in Pakistan?

Or those that exploit other’s hard work for their own profit while paying them little immoral too?

Are the big landlords who use the dirt farmers and their families to do the work and grow the crops while the landlord get all the money from the crops.

And when politicians who get elected by the voters by promising them all kinds of stuff and then steal the people’s money and stash it away in foreign banks– is that considered as immoral as prostitution?

So I would venture to say that to call prostitution immoral might be OK but it is just one of the many immoral activities which our Islamic society in Pakistan tolerates and accepts as a way of life.

And I have just mentioned only a few of those. So the issue is not whether prostitution is immoral but what is not?

And what about the immorality of the society itself when it looks at women and men in a different way when it comes to sex. Everyone expects their wife to be a Virgin but is that also expected and prized in a man? I do not think so.

As to the subject of repeated sex for profit – well it is just like any work where you do the same thing again and again.

It is no different than making carpets for the weavers or making doors and windows for a carpenter and so on.

Instead of using cotton threads or wood we use one anatomic part of our body again and again to make a living and it must be emphasized that we make a living in the only way it is possible for us to do so. I do not have any other options left to me. If I go a leave this profession and try to find a job somewhere- who do you think will knowingly let me work in their factory or other place of business. Unfortunately in our society the technique of character assassination is practiced against women anyway quite often- even against women who are not prostitutes.

And it did on purpose and by design.

And it damages the woman forever. How moral is that?

And as to the issue of sex- it is the only biological activity of human beings that is taboo and is frowned upon in our as well as other societies.

And it is a biological activity for sure. And while providing this service to our customers we do put ourselves in danger because of sexually transmitted diseases but that is part of doing this business.

And now how to prevent this activity called prostitution.  I do not think that in the social dynamics of today’s world that is possible. Just look at the population explosion alone. Add the fact that when you are talking about women- you are talking about HALF a Human Being. We are de-valued the day we are born even in the hearts of our parents and grand parents.

It seems odd that I – a prostitute -am supposed to provide the answer to that question.

First and foremost you have to accept one simple fact.

And that is some people- both men and women just like this activity just like some people like playing cricket.

So you cannot do anything about this group.

About the rest- the simple answer is that they should be provided economic where with all to live and then certainly they would not be forced into this activity.

You would have to dismantle the so to say, “ infra structure” of prostitution-

The agents who kidnap the poor girls and then sell them to the madams;

The pimps who are the commission agents;

The landlords of the houses where this business is conducted.

And a very effective way would be to educate every girl everywhere in the country without her parent’s ability or capacity to pay for the education. It is unlikely that an educated girl would become a prostitute because she can make a living and she can have respect and honor. But all of this just talks for the same of talk and to make one feel better. It has very little possibility of working out. How can someone who is on the outside of the world of prostitution even beginning to understand the torment and experiences that we go through in our wretched lives? You are born and raised in a social milieu and are given a set of values and therefore you think that any other system of value is abnormal. And as yet you who know nothing about me want to bring me back into your world and transform me back to the clean, pristine and moral world.

Do you know what poverty does to poor people?

The father of a family must go in order to give dal and bread to his wife and children. And every day his family worries if he will return or if he will come back with no bread and no dal. This goes on for years and has the expected impact on the minds of the kids and that effect is not good. And yet the same society, which creates these conditions, wants them to grow up to be kind, humane and moral and religious people. Do you see what I am trying to say?

If you wish to end prostitution- you have to end poverty first.

And you have to stop the exploitation of the poor by the rich and powerful.

Can you do that?

You say NO. I had thought so too.

I spoke with a psychiatrist once and this is what he told me.

Women are monogamous by nature. They wish to restrict their sexual relationships to just one man and they want to own him from an emotional standpoint. That is what women want. So prostitution is the very antithesis of womanhood.

And no matter what religion might or might not say about polygamy- from every woman’s standpoint it is immoral.

What do I think about prostitutes?

We are the equivalent of the pipes under ground that carry and convey the rubbish and sewage of the society. The sewage is rotten and smells bad but it comes from the society. It does not come from Mars.

What will happen to you when you get old ?

Of course everyone does get old as time stops for no one.

And for prostitutes time travels very fast indeed. I am just about in the sunset of my life already.

Prostitutes are discarded like a used sanitary napkin.

This is a very harsh business . There is no retirement or pension or such.

We do not have a provident fund or a savings account .

Once we get old, no one wants us and so we depend for our food and shelter on the kindness of those that have used us for all of our lives.

Like everything else in life, some of the managements are humane and some are not.

But we are no differences in this for us  than any other segment of society .

In our society the older people who happen to be poor are not treated very well and that is quite well established and well known .

Also whatever is bad for everyone is always much worse for women and to think of despised  and hated women such as a prostitute- it is hell.

But to get back to the question of getting old – in Pakistan if you are poor it is very bad and it can only be described as shameless .

But how can we talk about old people when we live in a society where the new born poor have no better treatment.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 4:47 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.