Melissa Farley quote: “U.S. prostitution can be understood in the context of the cultural normalization of prostitution as a glamorous and wea…”

“Sexist and racist economic policies in the United States such as a lack of educational opportunity for poor families and a lack of sustainable income from many jobs contribute to women’s and girls’ entry into prostitution.”

Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist

Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia (2006)
Context: Sexist and racist economic policies in the United States such as a lack of educational opportunity for poor families and a lack of sustainable income from many jobs contribute to women’s and girls’ entry into prostitution. The economic and legal vulnerability of undocumented immigrant women in the United States is exploited in prostitution/pornography.

“Feminists are often asked whether pornography causes rape. The fact is that rape and prostitution caused and continue to cause pornography. Politically, culturally, socially, sexually, and economically, rape and prostitution generated pornography; and pornography depends for its continued existence on the rape and prostitution of women.”

Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer

Pornography and Male Supremacy http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/WarZoneChaptIVH.html (1981), Letters from a War Zone, p 230.

“Postmodern descriptions of prostituted women as sex workers promotes an acceptance of conditions that in any other employment context would be correctly described as sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, or rape. Women’s experiences of violence and their psychological response to it cannot be theorized away.”

Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist

Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia (2006)

“The prostitute is not, as feminists claim, the victim of men, but rather their conqueror, an outlaw, who controls the sexual channels between nature and culture”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

“Across widely varying cultures on five continents, the traumatic consequences of prostitution were similar.”

Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist

"Prostitution and Trafficking in 9 Countries: Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder" in Journal of Trauma Practice 2 (2003) http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/c-prostitution-research.html, p. 33-74; co-written with A. Cotton, J. Lynne, S. Zumbeck, T. Spiwak, M. E. Reyes, D. Alvarez , U Sezgin
Context: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), commonly occurs among prostituted women, and is indicative of their extreme emotional distress. PTSD is characterized by anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and hyperalertness. In nine countries, we found that sixty-eight percent of those in prostitution met criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD, a prevalence that was comparable to battered women seeking shelter, rape survivors seeking treatment, and survivors of state-sponsored torture. Across widely varying cultures on five continents, the traumatic consequences of prostitution were similar.

“Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), commonly occurs among prostituted women, and is indicative of their extreme emotional distress.”

Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist

"Prostitution and Trafficking in 9 Countries: Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder" in Journal of Trauma Practice 2 (2003) http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/c-prostitution-research.html, p. 33-74; co-written with A. Cotton, J. Lynne, S. Zumbeck, T. Spiwak, M. E. Reyes, D. Alvarez , U Sezgin
Context: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), commonly occurs among prostituted women, and is indicative of their extreme emotional distress. PTSD is characterized by anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and hyperalertness. In nine countries, we found that sixty-eight percent of those in prostitution met criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD, a prevalence that was comparable to battered women seeking shelter, rape survivors seeking treatment, and survivors of state-sponsored torture. Across widely varying cultures on five continents, the traumatic consequences of prostitution were similar.

“We are all murderers and prostitutes — no matter to what culture, society, class, nation, we belong, no matter how normal, moral, or mature we take ourselves to be.
Humanity is estranged from its authentic possibilities.”

Ronald David Laing book The Politics of Experience

Source: The Politics of Experience (1967), p. 2 of Introduction
Context: We are all murderers and prostitutes — no matter to what culture, society, class, nation, we belong, no matter how normal, moral, or mature we take ourselves to be.
Humanity is estranged from its authentic possibilities. This basic vision prevents us from taking any unequivocal view of the sanity of common sense, or of the madness of the so-called madman. … Our alientation goes to the roots. The realisation of this is the essential springboard for any serious reflection on any aspect of present inter-human life.

“The painted, engraved, and carved images of prehistory are threads from past cultures, and we are foreigners trying to interpret their meaning. Perhaps more than anything else, art can be fully understood only in the context of the culture that produced it.”

Richard Leakey (1944) Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and politician

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human (1992)

“Prostitution gives her an opportunity to meet people. It provides fresh air and wholesome exercise, and it keeps her out of trouble.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch-22

“I considered acting an opportunity to express emotions—and I took advantage of every opportunity l got. It took me a long time to discover that restraint can be admirable. Restraint, however, does not mean lack of emotion. The thing that irks me is lack of emotion trying to pass for restraint. Lack of emotion is pathological; restraint is civilized.”

Leonard Nimoy (1931–2015) American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer

"Leonard Nimoy's Confessions About His Emotions", TV And Movie Play magazine (1967)

“U.S. prostitution can be understood in the context of the cultural normalization of prostitution as a glamorous and wealth-producing “job” for girls who lack emotional support, education, and employment opportunities.”

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