Sons should be educated to reduce demand, and daughters educated to see their sex as a gift not a commodity. They should be organised and have a voice about their conditions. While it exists, women should not be punished for it. My view of prostitution is that it should be morally mandated out of existence. That does not invalidate my analysis that it is a bad job. But there are people who choose all kinds of things that are bad for them and others. I think there are some women who would stay in prostitution, given the choice of a nice office job. Anyone who actually shows up their brand of ‘helping the less fortunate’. Of course they can’t stand anyone who declares the emperor has no clothes. I’ve seen this kind of progressive support up close – the bleeding hearts building up people they see as needing help just so they can be seen as helping the less fortunate. The supporters of sex work often do so at a distance.
They can consent to move up incrementally from bad to slightly better. People consent to things that aren’t great for them. Most find their way into prostitution by force, coercion and grinding poverty. Some commit and make it their livelihood long term. This includes politics of it and also the experience of women who are prostitutes. I have read widely on the pros and cons of prostitution. There is no similar calculation for men’s bodies because men (for the most part) are buyers not sellers. It is property, and as property it can be bought or even stolen. Prostitution tells men they it’s OK to buy the inside of a woman. Women who haven’t signed up for a risky profession. She also sets a standard for how all women are treated. She is exposed to hazardous fluids, bodily damage, abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace. But even the best-kept prostitute is playing a dangerous game. She might command a good fee, choose her hours and love her coworkers. It does nothing for the slaves who are not gladiators, but who suffer because their masters see human death as entertainment.Īn individual woman might choose to be a prostitute. Many have no choice (or no economic alternatives). While a good gladiator might choose a fight and expect to win, gathering fans and increasing his fee, that isn’t true of all gladiators. They make death a spectacle to be cheered, booed and wagered upon. In doing so they cheapen human life for society. Spartacus didn’t choose to be a gladiator, even though many didĪs individuals they choose to make human life a spectacle. They can choose to be trained like athletes and brought our to perform on cue like a K-Pop boy band. Gladiators can choose to live under the control of a keeper. Individual women (and a vanishingly small number of men) may freely choose it and even work under good conditions.ĭoes that mean it is a job that is good for society? Sex workers should have representation and collective organisation. He was happy choosing a risky profession, a life without control. He bought his freedom four times, eventually retiring to Sicily. There was one gladiator who sold himself into the life. Yes – they were treated like stud animals. Gladiators’ diets, schedules and sexual partners were controlled by their keepers. Engineers, mathematicians, logicians and managers.Īlthough free, these groups of people had little control over their lives.
Most were free and a good portion were skilled knowledge workers. In a similar fashion, last week I learned that very few of the workers building the pyramids were slaves.
They courted fame and fortune – earning money and becoming celebrities. Gladiators formed unions to bargain for good conditions. Fatal battles were rare and pre-arranged.
It wasn’t as bad a life as we might imagine either. Many were slaves, but most chose the life. Among other facts I learned that most gladiators were volunteers. Today I listened to a kid’s history podcast about ancient Roman gladiators.