Thursday, January 4, 2007

Claude Jaget, ed. Prostitutes: Our Life (1980)

The book is prostitutes telling of their lives and their choices in becoming a prostitute. Although the book is a little old and discusses only the lives of street prostitutes (not those in the windows like we have here), it was fascinating to hear their stories - and their strong argument that they were ordinary people who had often taken this choice because there was limited other choices available to them. and they only did it for the money. and although they´d get out of it soon (and didn´t want their families involved) that the rules against them in France (and England) made it very difficult to lead normal lives once they´d been convicted - or even to have friends, as anyone associating with them could be charged with some kind of association with prostitution (like pimping). they seemed to be saying that this was their choice as a way to survive in a world that doesn´t give a lot of choices to women, especially single moms.

even though i know much was not said, i appreciated being able to see the real-ness and ordinary-ness of people who have felt the need to make such different choices than i. and i feel like my eyes are opening up a bit more to the world around me here.

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