In a conversation with some family friends this weekend, she picked up an SF weekly and started looking at the escort ads pictured there. A shame that they go so low and allow their bodies to be degraded like that, exc... the same old shame story. I was shocked into silence and wondered how I could defend these girls without attracting attention, without making waves or revealing my secret.
I stayed silent for many moments, judging the hostility of the room. Mostly, they just pitied these women because they assumed their lives were filled with abuse and debasement, that they were not in control. It really is a shame, I confessed truthfully, because the occupation has honorable roots: the temple harlots and priestesses. And it wasn't until patriarchal religions took over that the practice was looked down upon. In this culture, it is not seen honorably, and hardly practiced so either.
Oh, it was a wonderful reaction! Part puzzlement, part agreement. I realized something in that moment too: that as an occupation, we've got some major PR to do if we'd ever want it legalized. These weren't old conservatives, but modern feminist women.
In a semi-related note, I got a random e-mail from some sort of "fan." This is his second or third note of random insults from a random source. It's a just a shame some people will seek out negative attention this way. And oh-so grade school to make fun of people. I guess some people are just mean-spirited in that way.
I'm not sure what compelled me to try and work during the weekend. I guess I have just been more business/money focused lately. Perhaps it's Pride. Or maybe the economy. But either way, it ended up being a pretty lonely weekend.
The economy worries me a lot. It's one of the reasons why I'm doing this. And of course, no job is safe from the slowing and the shrinking we are experiencing. I wonder where the bottom lies. I don't worry about surviving, but I do wonder what it will look like. I tend to think it will be worse than some think, but I hope that I'm wrong.
That temple harlots were seen as honourable is not something based on evidence, it's sadly just romantic speculation. Today there's still temple prostitution in india, where 12-year old girls are sold to temples by their parents. Ancient temple prostitution could have looked just like that. However, hetaeras in ancient greece were quite respected, as much as women could even be respected in a society that was extremely patriarchal. There's evidence that in early greece, the system was matriarchal, maybe whores were respected more in that system, but we don't know for sure even if we hope so.
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