It Is Rape (a prostitute’s POV)

Crossposted from my blog, Whore Is A Compliment .

No, not prostitution itself. But that’s another post.

What I’m talking about is customers who have sex with us and then refuse to pay and/or steal the money back.

There was a post on Feministing a while back where someone asked if it’s RAPE or THEFT if customers refuse to pay prostitutes. Several people claimed that, by turning their bodies into a service, prostitutes turned the stealing of sex with them into theft instead of rape.

That is fucking bullshit.

There may be prostitutes out there who actually agree with that, and far be it from me to say they can’t define their experiences in any way they want, but that’s not how I define it.

If my necessities of consent are not met (whether that involves using a condom or cash payment), it’s fucking rape.

Lemme make this clear: I like my job, but only comparatively. I like it better than working at Starbucks or something. But I’d rather stab myself in the eye than have sex with someone I’m not at all into just as a charity service.

I remember the first time I had a good bit of money from whoring. I told my partner how much I had, and he said, “Oh, you know, I need a new pair of pants.”

I lit into him. I was ON MY BACK for that money, and though the money makes it worth it [to me personally], it still is not a little thing. It is a big fucking deal. And if I get nothing in return for it, it’s fucking rape. It’s letting me do a thing I’d never do otherwise simply for the other person’s pleasure. It’s taking advantage. It’s cruelty. It’s stealing, sure, but there’s no such thing as sex being a totally simple commodity. Sex is not a car. It is not a pair of diamond earrings. It is entrance to one’s body.