`The Social Embrace`
People who look into & critize sexwork usually are the eyes of viewers, a judges, and naives!
Granted when you look at the big area of prostitution, you cannot fail to see the pain and the suffering that can come in this underworld of stigma and poverty.
In any profession there is a degree of pain and suffering, some more apparent than others.
When we watch famous actors/actresses on the silver screen, we watch the illusion of success. The few we have elected for reverement hid the mass of strugglers; who`s lives are lonely, humiliating and hanging onto the thread of hope.
This is a fact of life, nomatter how impalitable it appears to others.
It is survival, the struggle for another meal, acknowledgement and purpose.
Thus prostitution is so affected.
The difference being is that prostitution has been `tainted`, `stigmatized` by religion, politics and morals.
The action of historical stigmatization is a major contribution to the isolation and fear of prostitutes. The male fear of feminine power.
Humanity is the collectivity of human beings. Whether you agree to the existence of prostitution is irrelevant. They, I, have always been here and always will. We have a right to our position in humanity as any other human being. Whether you understand that human being is your journey, not theirs. The rest is moral judgement of others.
prostitution is an `honest` relationship. It does not hid behind `small print` that can be a part of most other relationships between man and woman.
`Every` relationship is based on `need` whether we accept this or not. There is a human condition in our need for survival.
To assume and attach disease and `lack` in the motherhood department of femal prostitutes adds to existing `fear of contamination`, dumped on the doorstep of prostitution.
There are more STD`s and abortions amongst non-prostitutes. Though surveys are never done to support or favour prostitution. There is a fear in protecting our mothers, daughters and wives. Its a form of control and an assumption that women cannot be controllers of their own sexuality. That they can have `informed and free choice`, in their sexual adventures or preferences.
Sex is the action of procreation or gratifacation. It is an inevitable trait of all life.
Love is the bonding and nurturing of emotions that can surround any relationship we choose.
One can and does exist without the other. Occasionally they come together. Something most of us work towards or aspire to.
Though lets not confuse them!
Nobody is `cut out` for any profession. We find our course with what tools we have in life, gain experiences and utilize them in order to survive.
Some can get social acknowledgement and respect in doing so.
Not so, prostitutes!
Attitudes and fears keep them from the safety and social embrace others experience.
prostitutes are the social outlaws of humanity.
Society turns its back because it cannot control the images we so revere in our vision of what woman `should` represent.
Shame on your back, it is turned!
Why?
How could you be so heartless and unintelligent in your condemnation of women who are professional prostitutes?
At least the clients show their token of respect and value in acknowledging the worth of the lesson.
Much as people leave their `tokens` or payment for other help, beit at church, or in any other profession that helps or advises.
Lynne Tansey,
Writer/artist/human rights advocate.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
marriage v prostitution..good girl-bad girl!
When people say prostitution is the world's oldest profession, they mean that since the beginning of time women have not given their love away for free. Men are the opposite. Not only are they inclined to give their love freely, they are prepared to do or give anything to obtain it. This is the principal characteristic of sexual reproduction, which we share with other animals.
Girls learn at an early age that many men, young and old, are attracted to her. This thrills and frightens her. Her biological task, however, is to be fertilised by one man who is not only as healthy and as possible, but is willing to help her raise and protect children he made with her.
As it turns out, young, strong, prosperous men with a high social status have always been the most wanted on the marriage market. Their qualities are, as it were, entrance tickets to vaginas. This makes marriage the most popular and acceptable form of prostitution.
In the wider market of sexual desire and the search for gratification, marriage may be the top attraction, but there is a wide variety of sexual liaisons beneath that pinnacle of respectability. Girls recognise themselves as sexually attractive and experience satisfaction from looking at their own image in the mirror. Fashion, the make-up industry and the soft pornography of advertising exert a strong attraction.
Some girls start having sex at a younger age than others, but all discover that they obtain favours in exchange for the sexual satisfaction they provide. They may be looking for Mr Right and marriage and a a family of their own, but in the meantime they also want to have fun. They have affairs and are helped by their partners to get a nice job, a fine apartment, a better living-standard. Usually this occurs so naturally that the idea of 'prostitution' doesn't even arise, especially when there is only one man and he is truly in love and she likes him. Such 'mistresses' or 'lady friends' are usually kept in the background, but they may also become influential advisers and hold a high position in society.
If the number of contacts increases, and the price per meeting is set more explicitly it becomes more recognisable as prostitution, but here, too, there are ranks to be distinguished. The higher class of professional lovers are called 'geisha', 'hostess', or 'escort'. Essential questions are, of course: does the woman decide with whom she has sex and in what way? Does she have self-confidence and is she educated? Does she have enough knowledge about sex to make smart decisions and does she have the freedom to decide for herself what she wants? Recently, conservative religious feminism has begun to condemn prostitution as a crime against women. To support this claim, every sexual act for payment is considered 'rape'. The 'escorts' claim that they act out of free will, is dismissed as self-deception.
There is, as always, a scale of distinctions between the higher and lower ranks of prostitution. At the bottom of the scale are the victims of sex-trafficking who are sold like slaves, are nothing but objects and don't have anything to say about their lives. They see themselves as failures, as opposites of the successfully married middle class wives and mothers, a status to which they aspire.
But both extremes are somewhat fictional, and figure mainly in moralist discourse about prostitution. In reality, there exist all kinds of gradations of 'sex in exchange for something' in the sexual market place.
Prostitution is thus to be defined as a socio-economic phenomenon, illustrating the free market where everybody sells themselves for money or goods, exploits and is exploited, and where some make more profit than others. In that sense prostitution (including male prostitution) is an economic rather than a sexual phenomenon. On the other hand, prostitution illustrates clearly the gender difference which lies at the heart of the sexual system, and is therefore not a by-product, but the very foundation of our economy.
Definitions of marriage:
1. transforms the status of a man & woman.
2. stipulates the degree of sexual access the married partners may have to each other (exclusive, preferred).
3. establishes the legitimacy of children born to the wife.
4. creates relationships between the husbands & wifes kin.
5. specifies economic duties of husband & wife.
Isn't traditional marriage a form of institutionalized prostitution? A young lady agrees to provide sexual and reproductive services to a man, in direct exchange for financial support
Sex, like everything else, is up on the table for 'sale' within marriage and other relationships. It is not a foreign concept to anyone who has ever been in a sexual relationship over an extended period of time. Usually there is no direct exchange of money, but natural exchanges in a give-and-take situation do occur when things are normal and healthy. So long as there are no heavy demands and freedom of choice exists, sex is a commodity of sorts.
Lynne Tansey.
Writer & artist/human rights advocate
Girls learn at an early age that many men, young and old, are attracted to her. This thrills and frightens her. Her biological task, however, is to be fertilised by one man who is not only as healthy and as possible, but is willing to help her raise and protect children he made with her.
As it turns out, young, strong, prosperous men with a high social status have always been the most wanted on the marriage market. Their qualities are, as it were, entrance tickets to vaginas. This makes marriage the most popular and acceptable form of prostitution.
In the wider market of sexual desire and the search for gratification, marriage may be the top attraction, but there is a wide variety of sexual liaisons beneath that pinnacle of respectability. Girls recognise themselves as sexually attractive and experience satisfaction from looking at their own image in the mirror. Fashion, the make-up industry and the soft pornography of advertising exert a strong attraction.
Some girls start having sex at a younger age than others, but all discover that they obtain favours in exchange for the sexual satisfaction they provide. They may be looking for Mr Right and marriage and a a family of their own, but in the meantime they also want to have fun. They have affairs and are helped by their partners to get a nice job, a fine apartment, a better living-standard. Usually this occurs so naturally that the idea of 'prostitution' doesn't even arise, especially when there is only one man and he is truly in love and she likes him. Such 'mistresses' or 'lady friends' are usually kept in the background, but they may also become influential advisers and hold a high position in society.
If the number of contacts increases, and the price per meeting is set more explicitly it becomes more recognisable as prostitution, but here, too, there are ranks to be distinguished. The higher class of professional lovers are called 'geisha', 'hostess', or 'escort'. Essential questions are, of course: does the woman decide with whom she has sex and in what way? Does she have self-confidence and is she educated? Does she have enough knowledge about sex to make smart decisions and does she have the freedom to decide for herself what she wants? Recently, conservative religious feminism has begun to condemn prostitution as a crime against women. To support this claim, every sexual act for payment is considered 'rape'. The 'escorts' claim that they act out of free will, is dismissed as self-deception.
There is, as always, a scale of distinctions between the higher and lower ranks of prostitution. At the bottom of the scale are the victims of sex-trafficking who are sold like slaves, are nothing but objects and don't have anything to say about their lives. They see themselves as failures, as opposites of the successfully married middle class wives and mothers, a status to which they aspire.
But both extremes are somewhat fictional, and figure mainly in moralist discourse about prostitution. In reality, there exist all kinds of gradations of 'sex in exchange for something' in the sexual market place.
Prostitution is thus to be defined as a socio-economic phenomenon, illustrating the free market where everybody sells themselves for money or goods, exploits and is exploited, and where some make more profit than others. In that sense prostitution (including male prostitution) is an economic rather than a sexual phenomenon. On the other hand, prostitution illustrates clearly the gender difference which lies at the heart of the sexual system, and is therefore not a by-product, but the very foundation of our economy.
Definitions of marriage:
1. transforms the status of a man & woman.
2. stipulates the degree of sexual access the married partners may have to each other (exclusive, preferred).
3. establishes the legitimacy of children born to the wife.
4. creates relationships between the husbands & wifes kin.
5. specifies economic duties of husband & wife.
Isn't traditional marriage a form of institutionalized prostitution? A young lady agrees to provide sexual and reproductive services to a man, in direct exchange for financial support
Sex, like everything else, is up on the table for 'sale' within marriage and other relationships. It is not a foreign concept to anyone who has ever been in a sexual relationship over an extended period of time. Usually there is no direct exchange of money, but natural exchanges in a give-and-take situation do occur when things are normal and healthy. So long as there are no heavy demands and freedom of choice exists, sex is a commodity of sorts.
Lynne Tansey.
Writer & artist/human rights advocate
Sex Future.
I have been a sex-worker for 30 years now & am now semi-retired. Spending most of my time now writing & advocating the rights of sexworkers. I also am a woman who feels that it is important to begin to truly respect & understand the issues around sex/sexuality & sexual behaviours from sexworkers themselves.
Many sexworkers are just used by the media & organisations to flaunt the abusive side of sexwork & therefore uses `victims` of sexwork to press this point home.
I disagree with this methology. We all know about victims but have little time for those who have valid, wise & understanding attitudes about both sex & sexwork. Victims are there in life anyway & sometimes the time spent trying to focus on these, means that we can miss a bigger picture & a better way of helping those with problems.
In the mid-seventies, a client tried to kill me, but instead, I killed him. Was charged with murder & remanded, but after a trial by jury was acquitted on self defense. The law afterwards refused my application for criminal compensation, saying` that because I choose a career in prostitution, I put myself up for violent scenario`s`, so was refused.
This would not happen now, as afterwards I continued to petition to the Home Office for a change in law, appertaining to people in the sex industry who survived attacks by violent clients, & their right to criminal compensation.
This was changed & the victims that survived the Yorkshire Ripper were the first to get this compensation.
So in a way I did win for those that followed, but failed for myself.
This set my on a road to better understand violent sexual people, rather than wallowing in self-pity.
I became a Dominatrix, because this gave me the control, the power & the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of sexual behaviours & psychology of sex.
Also because I had always felt there was unacknowledged good within my own personality, I sort out a spiritual outlet, but failed due to morals of recognised religions.
I do though not see myself as a `Goddess` type but do know there is a spiritual content to all of us & within the Sacred Whore mythology, can see the corrolation to sexual pyche as well.
I am determined to try & get society to acknowledge the wisedom, experiences & healing that many prostitutes offer to society. There is aspects of sex & sexual behaviour which is not examined because those who hold that value (sexworkers) are not accepted, respected members of community.
If, society began to view these aspects of sex work from certain sexworkers viewpoints & educate themselves further into the essence of sex/relationships/history/sociology, as well as spirit, this I feel could affect the way society sees sexwork as a whole & in doing so could go some great way into beginning to understand the influence of violence in our cultures ,relationships & emotions.
Re-claiming the respect into prostitution.
I have seen you are or have been a sexworker yourself & have a degree of some sort. Your stance in sexwork has been profound & beyond what many sexworkers do.
I feel it is time that strong, intelligent people who have or are involved in sexwork to some degree or another, should now begin to have the opportunity to get a platform of sensible, intelligent discussion on mainstream TV, ie :C4 or BBC 2...not as a titillisation, but as straight & honest viewpoints that show valid reasons who prostitution should be more honoured than it already is...not just for the sexworkers themselves but the way it could help & affect society at large.
people are not bothered regards prostitutes safety, but if they think it affects them they are all ears.
I think sex education for children should go beyond what is already taught & involve real issues around relationships & emotions, which does NOT include religious morals.
There are few people in this country that I can find who have enough about them to begin to focus on these forward areas of thinking, they instead seem to spend their time healing those in abusive or sexual pain, instead of projecting real alternatives & real sex issues.
Lynne Tansey,
Dominatrix, writer, sexworker advocate & artist.
Many sexworkers are just used by the media & organisations to flaunt the abusive side of sexwork & therefore uses `victims` of sexwork to press this point home.
I disagree with this methology. We all know about victims but have little time for those who have valid, wise & understanding attitudes about both sex & sexwork. Victims are there in life anyway & sometimes the time spent trying to focus on these, means that we can miss a bigger picture & a better way of helping those with problems.
In the mid-seventies, a client tried to kill me, but instead, I killed him. Was charged with murder & remanded, but after a trial by jury was acquitted on self defense. The law afterwards refused my application for criminal compensation, saying` that because I choose a career in prostitution, I put myself up for violent scenario`s`, so was refused.
This would not happen now, as afterwards I continued to petition to the Home Office for a change in law, appertaining to people in the sex industry who survived attacks by violent clients, & their right to criminal compensation.
This was changed & the victims that survived the Yorkshire Ripper were the first to get this compensation.
So in a way I did win for those that followed, but failed for myself.
This set my on a road to better understand violent sexual people, rather than wallowing in self-pity.
I became a Dominatrix, because this gave me the control, the power & the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of sexual behaviours & psychology of sex.
Also because I had always felt there was unacknowledged good within my own personality, I sort out a spiritual outlet, but failed due to morals of recognised religions.
I do though not see myself as a `Goddess` type but do know there is a spiritual content to all of us & within the Sacred Whore mythology, can see the corrolation to sexual pyche as well.
I am determined to try & get society to acknowledge the wisedom, experiences & healing that many prostitutes offer to society. There is aspects of sex & sexual behaviour which is not examined because those who hold that value (sexworkers) are not accepted, respected members of community.
If, society began to view these aspects of sex work from certain sexworkers viewpoints & educate themselves further into the essence of sex/relationships/history/sociology, as well as spirit, this I feel could affect the way society sees sexwork as a whole & in doing so could go some great way into beginning to understand the influence of violence in our cultures ,relationships & emotions.
Re-claiming the respect into prostitution.
I have seen you are or have been a sexworker yourself & have a degree of some sort. Your stance in sexwork has been profound & beyond what many sexworkers do.
I feel it is time that strong, intelligent people who have or are involved in sexwork to some degree or another, should now begin to have the opportunity to get a platform of sensible, intelligent discussion on mainstream TV, ie :C4 or BBC 2...not as a titillisation, but as straight & honest viewpoints that show valid reasons who prostitution should be more honoured than it already is...not just for the sexworkers themselves but the way it could help & affect society at large.
people are not bothered regards prostitutes safety, but if they think it affects them they are all ears.
I think sex education for children should go beyond what is already taught & involve real issues around relationships & emotions, which does NOT include religious morals.
There are few people in this country that I can find who have enough about them to begin to focus on these forward areas of thinking, they instead seem to spend their time healing those in abusive or sexual pain, instead of projecting real alternatives & real sex issues.
Lynne Tansey,
Dominatrix, writer, sexworker advocate & artist.
Prostitutes are outlaws!
`Prostitutes are Outlaws who control the channels between Nature & Culture` (Camille Paglia).
In social terms they absorb all the excess semen created by mankind; being both the depiction of various feminine archetypes & the `cleaners` of unwanted seeds.
They are not bound by the sexual fears & conventions of civilisation & are there for the `birth` of sexual fantasy, as well as receptacles & disposers of millions of life forms that mankind does not need.
They deal in birth-life & death on a daily basis; not only in the physical form but also the psychological, sexual & spiritual form.
In psychology terms they are the intermediaries between the shadow, the anima & the ego or manna of mankind. They dance in & out of dark inner shadows, allowing access to mans vulnerable, ignored & imbalanced `other` companion, his feminine. The very thing that is predominant in his birth is the female Mother-his life consists of his search for identity, he looks for purity within his virgin & his death is nurtured by those who’s reality of death do not deter them- the wise-ones, the crones.
The archetypes of the virgin-mother-crone do not necessarily follow in that order, they interweave & compliment each other, when & where is needed.
The ego level within us is our sense of identity, it is `I`.
The manna is where our wisdom lies, it can be as healing as it can be destructive when it clashes with the ego-centric part of our personalities. It is where our man meets the Wise Old Man, or our woman meets the Great Mother.
To be possessed or overwhelmed by the force & identity of the Wise Old man or the great Mother can lead to `manic ` behaviour.
Men who succumb to the Wise Old man become self-descriptive guru’s or have super-human figures with perceived visions or insights that they feel may change the world. We see many examples of this constantly, either throughout history or as a fact now.
Women who embrace the Great Mother until She engulfs her sense of being, sees herself as being able to nurture or protect the world. This world may only stretch to one side of the house to the other side. They care & nurture as though their life depended upon them & sacrifice their very `selves` in the process. We again see many examples of this around us, especially now in society, as women search for their own sense of identity.
They are like great symbolic breast, heaving with milk, ready to feed their young, their partners or anyone they feel is in need. In sacrificing themselves, their very keenness for life is subdues & inertia becomes the seat for companionship.
Feminism has grown with the milk of the great Mother & from the hunger of the animus (male within). Yet women still demand further sacrifice, are still pushing the extremes for its freedom of expression after the social chains of repression. Man has its religious & historical martyrs like Jesus, sacrificed for the sake of mankind...women have yet to have theirs.
So the emotional & sexual sacrifices that women make daily are still seeking the ultimate acknowledgement, redemption & rebirth.
Some women enact this scenario & temporarily release themselves from the drama within.
In more extreme cases this can be by volunteering themselves freely to symbolise the feminine force within & when they can afford the services that provide such an expression, they do so. Usually these are women who have a deal of responsibility & power in their conscious lives.
A cross may be used or some similar restrainers. Where they offer their bodies up to suffering &/or blood letting/piercing.
The piercing is the symbol of transgression from one stage to another-from virgin to women, or maybe even a symbolic way to release the blood or inner life force that has grown stale or stagnant.
metaphorical energies that need release. Inner turmoil’s that can pollute have their own channels & have a need to express in one form or another.
I believe self-harming is another form of this phenomenon.
Women are the `bleeders` of humanity, the excess in women is blood.
In men its semen.
The sacrifice in men to their anima (inner female) is submission. The more you submit the closer towards the fear of women they are prepared to go. The further they are prepared to go, the more of their senses they have to have removed, as they commit themselves to their `Mother`.
They are blindfolded to remove visual interruptions, which take up a good 60% of our senses. They are gagged against their own verbal protestations of fear & are bound in latex, rubber or leather. These materials are embryonic memories of the birth-sac. The `child` then lies safely in its floating world bound within its membrane within this warm & safe environment of the Mother.
The world can be so demanding, insecure & fearful that the pressure both sexually, physically, psychologically & spiritually is overwhelming & the Mother calls him back for release of his earthly burdens & responsibilities. He is as much afraid as he is attracted. She calls him & is likened to the Sirens, tempting him to plunge to the depths of the Ocean (feminine) in order to find the treasures that may free his earthy commitments & choices. His personal journey to understand his conscious link’s to his shadows, his anima, ego & ultimately to his `Self`, begins.
Seeking oneness with the Self` for either men or women will only come through the individual journeys that help us to face our fears, in the Shadow lands there are emotional rubbish-tips or even valid burial grounds for emotional & indigestible experiences, but not all rubbish tips should be unearthed. Some emotions are recycled by natural process, others refuse to change form & return back into the conscious or into the lack of acknowledgement of the anima/animus existence.
Only through this process can men & women find their natural order & respect with each others positions.
As women explore these repressed boundaries & exalt in their new found masculine identities within, expressing their right to equality & gender balance, they too can be as guilty as men for total identification with their own needs & desires & in doing so, castigate & de-value the roles of women who are prostitutes in society, becoming themselves engulfed by the manna of the Great Mother in the disguise of the warrior.
It is imperative that women from all walks of life, from all cultures & creeds identify with each other despite personal choices; whether they are stay at home mothers, wives, sisters, religious, atheist, pagan, politicians, actresses, shop-workers, business women or sex workers.
Despite their choices or roles in life, they are ALL expressions of the feminine nature. To hold one back is to discontinue the wholeness of woman herself. Not one is higher, nor lower than the other. The reasons for this division & any demeaning of another’s, are subject to a multitude of social/gender expectations, as well as family/cultural or religious conditioning.
This we should remember when we consider our views. Remember where our prejudices originate & the implications of this to the overall picture of feminine unity.
Without unity & acceptance of the many roles women offer, how can we ever hope to succeed in the rights for gender equality, if we ourselves as women cannot at least agree to mutual respect of the choices & roles we make?
And humanity collectively, how can we also expect equal status when we create victim status, because we disagree with the perceived morals or ethics of others?
Patriarchy collected the feminine together, boxed them off into controllable roles. They identified the wives & mothers into male controlled households & family roles. The rest who refused to conform were castigated into outlaws & identified as being immoral, thus surrounded with stigma’s. The division of good girl & bad girl began its journey into the human conscious. Taboo’s holding them apart like deep & dangerous rivers. So the scene was set for male control bound together with the heads of families, the business world of commerce, the spiritual guidance of religions, the intelligence of sciences, the armies of soldiers & officers, the disposable strength of the masses, all these on the whole were male domains. Fortresses of civilisations, impregnated by the nurture & creation from women, then surrounded by deep rivers of stigma & taboo....with women who do not fall into any of these accepted categories, flung to the far shores of these kingdoms. The Outlaws in the wilderness.
All male domains & still are.
Though in recent years women have more & more pushed aside these boundaries. Due mainly to the brave & forceful actions of many women with their both male & female supporters have made their mark in history.
Feminism itself made huge inroads & we should never forget the contribution they have made to freer expression for women & equal rights; but this too has run its course to levels of extremism & is much to blame now in this radical form to women’s feeling still isolated from both gender, political, or cultural identity.
Prostitutes are still used as the whipping posts for sexual politics & are seen by some as being instruments for the continuation of Patriarchy. So much so, they even state that sexworkers do `not know` their oppression. This kind of statement rolls away any human rights to personal/business/sexual views or statements that sezxworkers may offer to either society or politics which may empower them in any way, or gain them any form of acceptance or respectability for their lives.
A bible statement comes to mind here: `forgive him/her for he/she knows not what he/she does`.
Setting therefore these radical feminists in a position of `higher authority`.
Many of whom have never even been involved in the sex industry at all.
Though what is equality?
This word equality needs to be further defined & rationalised.
Yes, women should have the right to vote & have equal income for the relative work at hand, as well as many other reasonable & rational expectations of quality of life.
The word equality though is banded about at every opportunity for a million unreasonable & irrelevant demands. It has become a cliché word. Like many other thoughtless spewing. As a bottom-line statement of belief I am going to stick my neck out & say women are never going to be equal to men & visa versa.
Though I have said before there is an element of `other` sex in all of us, to expect men to become as women & the reverse for women, is to gravely discredit, disrespect & dishonour the contributions & gender essences of each other. When women hot the business world with impact back in the 60`s & 70`s, they began to don the masculine mask & wore fashions like suits & padded shoulders `power dressing`, with forceful \& aggressive agenda’s thinking they had to be `like` men in order to succeed in the mans world. yet constantly faced frustration at still having a limit of promotion & success. Even now the percentage of power & wealth in the world of business/politics is still overwhelmingly male, yet at the same time the power & wealth of women, in all its definitions, is still unrecognised & an overlooked fact of life.......women themselves still run away from it & seek the male essence, instead of themselves praising & honouring their own. If women cannot see the part they play in the whole infra-structure of humanity, what chance do men have of recognising & acknowledging the anima (feminine within men) themselves? The `Mother` within women is a basic primal factor which cannot be taken away, because it is ours. There are women who for varying reasons cannot or choose not to utilise the physical Mother attributes (child-bearing). This does not though take away the fundamental drive to nurture in one way or another. This Mother nature is expressed in a multitude of ways, but basically it is all `creative` in its force. If this is repressed or confused it can have the tendency to flip on its negative side. At the same time though we can thank the feminine Mother nature for creation itself...for continue `birthing` of all that is nature. Though in all this power & wealth of natures abundance there was prior & after that another’s contribution...as valued for its own masculine essence as the feminine...that’s where true equality begins & there is an equal contribution. The dangers & struggles a sperm has to make to be successful is the essence of male personae..it involves massive competition, perils & dangers that `founds the fundamental nature of man`. The female creates the environment & reception for the heroic sperm winner...the egg has no competition, `she `reigns supreme, whilst her desperate & exhausted admirers fight the battle in the race for her honours, this `founds the fundamental nature of women`. When these two forces `accept` each other equally-that’s when creation begins!...& remember creation itself is `the beginning` & a move in the right direction. The egg does not try to become the sperm, nor visa versa...but the sperm pierces & is enveloped/swallowed by the egg...(I am asking you to use these thoughts as analogies to how men & women behave)....In sexual intercourse-the male organ pierces (again) & is consumed (again)...so everytime a man has sex with a women he is seeking `The mother/feminine)...he meets the same power that consumes him then releases him-the same force that bore him....this becomes his struggle for identity....(there is because of his primal struggle always an element of search & destroy in men...hence the ever present rape potential). So when women take the equality reins..they can use it positively to identify true areas of imbalance or negatively to limit their own respect of their inner animus (male within women) & therefore metaphorically symbolise their frustration in all that is masculine beating it unmercilessly to the ground with what they see as gender misdemeanours into a more agreeable & pliable form....adjusting men, as we feel we have been adjusted by men...see what I mean? The power of women is still latent, still waiting for its revealed salvation...men are still waiting for that time...this wait & confusion. Could` be the bones of much misogyny. Misogyny is a deep & desperate subject which deserves closer scrutiny, as does the female equivelent..it is I believe the basis of much sexual offending against women: The loss of the Mother The disrespect of the Mother Distain of the Mother & accumulated fear of the Mother. Women too have their own inner struggles with their animus (male within)..but this can come in the form of many stereo-types..whereas with men it is only ever one stereo-type (Mother). The male aggression-lust are energising factors in culture. They are men’s tools of survival in the pagan vastness of female nature....Male chase & Female flight maybe one of Natures fundamental organic laws
Lynne Tansey
In social terms they absorb all the excess semen created by mankind; being both the depiction of various feminine archetypes & the `cleaners` of unwanted seeds.
They are not bound by the sexual fears & conventions of civilisation & are there for the `birth` of sexual fantasy, as well as receptacles & disposers of millions of life forms that mankind does not need.
They deal in birth-life & death on a daily basis; not only in the physical form but also the psychological, sexual & spiritual form.
In psychology terms they are the intermediaries between the shadow, the anima & the ego or manna of mankind. They dance in & out of dark inner shadows, allowing access to mans vulnerable, ignored & imbalanced `other` companion, his feminine. The very thing that is predominant in his birth is the female Mother-his life consists of his search for identity, he looks for purity within his virgin & his death is nurtured by those who’s reality of death do not deter them- the wise-ones, the crones.
The archetypes of the virgin-mother-crone do not necessarily follow in that order, they interweave & compliment each other, when & where is needed.
The ego level within us is our sense of identity, it is `I`.
The manna is where our wisdom lies, it can be as healing as it can be destructive when it clashes with the ego-centric part of our personalities. It is where our man meets the Wise Old Man, or our woman meets the Great Mother.
To be possessed or overwhelmed by the force & identity of the Wise Old man or the great Mother can lead to `manic ` behaviour.
Men who succumb to the Wise Old man become self-descriptive guru’s or have super-human figures with perceived visions or insights that they feel may change the world. We see many examples of this constantly, either throughout history or as a fact now.
Women who embrace the Great Mother until She engulfs her sense of being, sees herself as being able to nurture or protect the world. This world may only stretch to one side of the house to the other side. They care & nurture as though their life depended upon them & sacrifice their very `selves` in the process. We again see many examples of this around us, especially now in society, as women search for their own sense of identity.
They are like great symbolic breast, heaving with milk, ready to feed their young, their partners or anyone they feel is in need. In sacrificing themselves, their very keenness for life is subdues & inertia becomes the seat for companionship.
Feminism has grown with the milk of the great Mother & from the hunger of the animus (male within). Yet women still demand further sacrifice, are still pushing the extremes for its freedom of expression after the social chains of repression. Man has its religious & historical martyrs like Jesus, sacrificed for the sake of mankind...women have yet to have theirs.
So the emotional & sexual sacrifices that women make daily are still seeking the ultimate acknowledgement, redemption & rebirth.
Some women enact this scenario & temporarily release themselves from the drama within.
In more extreme cases this can be by volunteering themselves freely to symbolise the feminine force within & when they can afford the services that provide such an expression, they do so. Usually these are women who have a deal of responsibility & power in their conscious lives.
A cross may be used or some similar restrainers. Where they offer their bodies up to suffering &/or blood letting/piercing.
The piercing is the symbol of transgression from one stage to another-from virgin to women, or maybe even a symbolic way to release the blood or inner life force that has grown stale or stagnant.
metaphorical energies that need release. Inner turmoil’s that can pollute have their own channels & have a need to express in one form or another.
I believe self-harming is another form of this phenomenon.
Women are the `bleeders` of humanity, the excess in women is blood.
In men its semen.
The sacrifice in men to their anima (inner female) is submission. The more you submit the closer towards the fear of women they are prepared to go. The further they are prepared to go, the more of their senses they have to have removed, as they commit themselves to their `Mother`.
They are blindfolded to remove visual interruptions, which take up a good 60% of our senses. They are gagged against their own verbal protestations of fear & are bound in latex, rubber or leather. These materials are embryonic memories of the birth-sac. The `child` then lies safely in its floating world bound within its membrane within this warm & safe environment of the Mother.
The world can be so demanding, insecure & fearful that the pressure both sexually, physically, psychologically & spiritually is overwhelming & the Mother calls him back for release of his earthly burdens & responsibilities. He is as much afraid as he is attracted. She calls him & is likened to the Sirens, tempting him to plunge to the depths of the Ocean (feminine) in order to find the treasures that may free his earthy commitments & choices. His personal journey to understand his conscious link’s to his shadows, his anima, ego & ultimately to his `Self`, begins.
Seeking oneness with the Self` for either men or women will only come through the individual journeys that help us to face our fears, in the Shadow lands there are emotional rubbish-tips or even valid burial grounds for emotional & indigestible experiences, but not all rubbish tips should be unearthed. Some emotions are recycled by natural process, others refuse to change form & return back into the conscious or into the lack of acknowledgement of the anima/animus existence.
Only through this process can men & women find their natural order & respect with each others positions.
As women explore these repressed boundaries & exalt in their new found masculine identities within, expressing their right to equality & gender balance, they too can be as guilty as men for total identification with their own needs & desires & in doing so, castigate & de-value the roles of women who are prostitutes in society, becoming themselves engulfed by the manna of the Great Mother in the disguise of the warrior.
It is imperative that women from all walks of life, from all cultures & creeds identify with each other despite personal choices; whether they are stay at home mothers, wives, sisters, religious, atheist, pagan, politicians, actresses, shop-workers, business women or sex workers.
Despite their choices or roles in life, they are ALL expressions of the feminine nature. To hold one back is to discontinue the wholeness of woman herself. Not one is higher, nor lower than the other. The reasons for this division & any demeaning of another’s, are subject to a multitude of social/gender expectations, as well as family/cultural or religious conditioning.
This we should remember when we consider our views. Remember where our prejudices originate & the implications of this to the overall picture of feminine unity.
Without unity & acceptance of the many roles women offer, how can we ever hope to succeed in the rights for gender equality, if we ourselves as women cannot at least agree to mutual respect of the choices & roles we make?
And humanity collectively, how can we also expect equal status when we create victim status, because we disagree with the perceived morals or ethics of others?
Patriarchy collected the feminine together, boxed them off into controllable roles. They identified the wives & mothers into male controlled households & family roles. The rest who refused to conform were castigated into outlaws & identified as being immoral, thus surrounded with stigma’s. The division of good girl & bad girl began its journey into the human conscious. Taboo’s holding them apart like deep & dangerous rivers. So the scene was set for male control bound together with the heads of families, the business world of commerce, the spiritual guidance of religions, the intelligence of sciences, the armies of soldiers & officers, the disposable strength of the masses, all these on the whole were male domains. Fortresses of civilisations, impregnated by the nurture & creation from women, then surrounded by deep rivers of stigma & taboo....with women who do not fall into any of these accepted categories, flung to the far shores of these kingdoms. The Outlaws in the wilderness.
All male domains & still are.
Though in recent years women have more & more pushed aside these boundaries. Due mainly to the brave & forceful actions of many women with their both male & female supporters have made their mark in history.
Feminism itself made huge inroads & we should never forget the contribution they have made to freer expression for women & equal rights; but this too has run its course to levels of extremism & is much to blame now in this radical form to women’s feeling still isolated from both gender, political, or cultural identity.
Prostitutes are still used as the whipping posts for sexual politics & are seen by some as being instruments for the continuation of Patriarchy. So much so, they even state that sexworkers do `not know` their oppression. This kind of statement rolls away any human rights to personal/business/sexual views or statements that sezxworkers may offer to either society or politics which may empower them in any way, or gain them any form of acceptance or respectability for their lives.
A bible statement comes to mind here: `forgive him/her for he/she knows not what he/she does`.
Setting therefore these radical feminists in a position of `higher authority`.
Many of whom have never even been involved in the sex industry at all.
Though what is equality?
This word equality needs to be further defined & rationalised.
Yes, women should have the right to vote & have equal income for the relative work at hand, as well as many other reasonable & rational expectations of quality of life.
The word equality though is banded about at every opportunity for a million unreasonable & irrelevant demands. It has become a cliché word. Like many other thoughtless spewing. As a bottom-line statement of belief I am going to stick my neck out & say women are never going to be equal to men & visa versa.
Though I have said before there is an element of `other` sex in all of us, to expect men to become as women & the reverse for women, is to gravely discredit, disrespect & dishonour the contributions & gender essences of each other. When women hot the business world with impact back in the 60`s & 70`s, they began to don the masculine mask & wore fashions like suits & padded shoulders `power dressing`, with forceful \& aggressive agenda’s thinking they had to be `like` men in order to succeed in the mans world. yet constantly faced frustration at still having a limit of promotion & success. Even now the percentage of power & wealth in the world of business/politics is still overwhelmingly male, yet at the same time the power & wealth of women, in all its definitions, is still unrecognised & an overlooked fact of life.......women themselves still run away from it & seek the male essence, instead of themselves praising & honouring their own. If women cannot see the part they play in the whole infra-structure of humanity, what chance do men have of recognising & acknowledging the anima (feminine within men) themselves? The `Mother` within women is a basic primal factor which cannot be taken away, because it is ours. There are women who for varying reasons cannot or choose not to utilise the physical Mother attributes (child-bearing). This does not though take away the fundamental drive to nurture in one way or another. This Mother nature is expressed in a multitude of ways, but basically it is all `creative` in its force. If this is repressed or confused it can have the tendency to flip on its negative side. At the same time though we can thank the feminine Mother nature for creation itself...for continue `birthing` of all that is nature. Though in all this power & wealth of natures abundance there was prior & after that another’s contribution...as valued for its own masculine essence as the feminine...that’s where true equality begins & there is an equal contribution. The dangers & struggles a sperm has to make to be successful is the essence of male personae..it involves massive competition, perils & dangers that `founds the fundamental nature of man`. The female creates the environment & reception for the heroic sperm winner...the egg has no competition, `she `reigns supreme, whilst her desperate & exhausted admirers fight the battle in the race for her honours, this `founds the fundamental nature of women`. When these two forces `accept` each other equally-that’s when creation begins!...& remember creation itself is `the beginning` & a move in the right direction. The egg does not try to become the sperm, nor visa versa...but the sperm pierces & is enveloped/swallowed by the egg...(I am asking you to use these thoughts as analogies to how men & women behave)....In sexual intercourse-the male organ pierces (again) & is consumed (again)...so everytime a man has sex with a women he is seeking `The mother/feminine)...he meets the same power that consumes him then releases him-the same force that bore him....this becomes his struggle for identity....(there is because of his primal struggle always an element of search & destroy in men...hence the ever present rape potential). So when women take the equality reins..they can use it positively to identify true areas of imbalance or negatively to limit their own respect of their inner animus (male within women) & therefore metaphorically symbolise their frustration in all that is masculine beating it unmercilessly to the ground with what they see as gender misdemeanours into a more agreeable & pliable form....adjusting men, as we feel we have been adjusted by men...see what I mean? The power of women is still latent, still waiting for its revealed salvation...men are still waiting for that time...this wait & confusion. Could` be the bones of much misogyny. Misogyny is a deep & desperate subject which deserves closer scrutiny, as does the female equivelent..it is I believe the basis of much sexual offending against women: The loss of the Mother The disrespect of the Mother Distain of the Mother & accumulated fear of the Mother. Women too have their own inner struggles with their animus (male within)..but this can come in the form of many stereo-types..whereas with men it is only ever one stereo-type (Mother). The male aggression-lust are energising factors in culture. They are men’s tools of survival in the pagan vastness of female nature....Male chase & Female flight maybe one of Natures fundamental organic laws
Lynne Tansey
Monday, December 1, 2008
Nothing To Say
On a hot and sticky evening the summer of 1976, I was meeting up with my prostitute colleagues in our usual spot on the corner of Union Street. We always conferred about clients and related any trouble we had, especially since the Yorkshire Ripper was on the loose.
Before long, a huge guy approached me, standing all of 17 stone and well over six feet tall. None of the other girls had met him before, so he was a new and unknown quality, but he seemed quiet and well mannered. We have to move quickly in our appraisals because of the police, so after our usual introductions, he and I agreed to go back to my place for business.
I lived with two other prostitutes and usually one or more of us were there at the same time, but this evening I was alone. We had settled on a price and were getting down to the business at hand when suddenly, while he was on top of me, he threw back his fist and smashed it into my face. The shock was overwhelming; there had been no indication of violence at any point prior to this. I threw myself off the bed while he crawled all over me, trying to strangle me. The bedside lamp fell to the floor, breaking, thrusting me into darkness and fear.
I tried to crawl into the next room, my small kitchen area, grabbing for the `lazy betty` switch, the long piece of cord attached to the ceiling light.
He kept trying to pull me in all directions, and the skin on my legs was burned off by the carpet tussles. He managed to get to my throat again and throttled me so badly that I had the most terrible flashes appear in my mind, like they say happens when you’re dying. I thought of my children, my parents, and all who knew me; the thoughts came as images of a newspaper heading proclaiming, "Prostitute Murdered!" It’s really bizarre, but even to this day I can still see that image.
All of a sudden a huge force came to me, a hidden strength that I never knew existed. It welled up over my body. I heaved an enormous reverse attack on him and managed to free myself for a moment, just enough for me to spot a carving knife on the kitchen surface. I grabbed it for my life.
Time had become static. We stood facing each other in this small and surreal space.
I had the carving knife in my hand and warned him repeatedly that if he attacked again, I would kill him. Throughout the entire event, he had never uttered a single word. He didn’t acknowledge any of my warnings but lunged at me again. I stabbed him in the stomach. He backed off momentarily, appearing shocked, but then resumed his violence.
I stabbed him again in the stomach. And again. But he still kept coming. He reached out towards my weapon, grabbing the blade, still completely silent. I pulled the knife back towards me, severing his finger tips. But he continued to mechanically attack. Still saying nothing!
I thought reality changed then. It seemed to shift sideways. I no longer knew what world I was in. He was my monster, an inhuman thing that wanted to obliterate me, no matter what the consequences. I felt like I was watching myself and this man from a different height, like on television. I was separate from fear now in the sense of fear as we know it. Survival was my paramount goal in this moment that seemed to be between worlds of life and death.
As he continued to attack, I stabbed him in the heart, the stomach and the lungs. No blood came from his huge torso, so bent on destruction. That only added to my feelings of unrealness. Suddenly he managed to grab me and draw me close, crushing my small frame against his cold, white belly.
Now, I thought, is the time you are going to die, Lynne.
With that thought in my mind, I reached around his bulk and stabbed aimlessly into his shoulder. He still did not speak. So I thought of the last place that might hurt him the most and thrust the knife into his temple. The blade ran down until it met the narrowness of his temple area. Then the blade stopped but my hand continued downward on the blade, nearly severing my hand off.
Finally, he pushed away from me, turning around to look, as if taking in his environment for the first time. The blood came then and he was like a colander. It shot all over the kitchen, over the walls, the ceiling, everywhere, mingling with my severed artery life-blood.
Then he spoke: "I’ve had enough."
He walked into the bedroom again and sat on the bed. I watched, frozen, in fear of another unreal attack. I wanted to be sure he couldn’t hurt me anymore before I would pass by him to go for help.
He urinated, and lay back dying. I watched, hating him with a cold anger and the knowledge that my life would never be the same again. I watched him sigh his last breath and depart this world. It was over for him, but not for me!
I had no telephone, but knew there was a public phone some 100 yards down the road.
I ran outside, naked and bleeding, screaming for help in the well populated area I lived in
I collapsed through loss of blood and shock. Nobody came, nobody helped. So I crawled the 100 yards down the road to the phone. I passed two sets of feet, male and female, a couple, but they only stood watching, so I finished my desperate journey to save myself unaided.
The police and ambulance came quickly and took over my struggle for survival. My entire body was black and blue, distorted and bloodied, and I nearly lost my arm from the elbow down.
My screams and nightmares began, and it was many years before they stopped.
While still trying to heal, I was charged with the murder of a chief petty officer in the navy. Apparently he was a family man who had a position of respect in his career. Prior to this time, I had no convictions for anything, not even prostitution, and had never been in prison.
I had several operations on my hand to save what they could. Thanks to brilliant surgeons, my hand and arm were saved, but some years later they had to amputate one of those fingers because my hand was curling inwards and rheumatism was setting in.
I spent nearly a year in prison awaiting trial. They gave me tests in a mental institution, trying to determine I was responsible for my actions. They really wanted to pin murder on me because there was a stab in his shoulder, making them think I’d attacked from the back initially.
My QC and solicitor were brilliant though, throwing out the first panel of jurors due to prejudice toward my profession. (My solicitor and QC became life long friends, though my solicitor has since died, sadly.)
I found out my client and attacker was a husband and father to two children. He also had two mistresses who came to court unwillingly, under enforcement, to tell their stories of a man who was occasionally violent to them. This quiet man had even threatened to cut off the head of one mistress with garden shears. The wife knew nothing of this Walter Mitty type’s double or treble lives, though they went well beyond a fantasy world. It’s often like that with prostitute killers. Their wives claim complete ignorance to their husband’s atrocities.
I eventually got a Not Guilty verdict due to self-defence, but when I tried to claim criminal compensation for the injuries I sustained, I was turned down. The Home Office said in their letter of refusal: "You put yourself in a position of danger, and therefore were responsible for actions taken against you." I couldn’t appeal unless I paid for the appeal myself. My mother offered to re-mortgage their house but I couldn’t gamble with money that didn’t belong to me, so I declined.
Instead, I petitioned to the government for a turn-around of the human rights of prostitutes to claim criminal compensation. Eventually this was approved. It was too late for me, but not too late for all the surviving victims of the Yorkshire Ripper.
Many questions came from this horrifying time in my life, questions that would follow me to this day still.
What changed this man from a loving, caring family man into the monster he became?
One can only guess!
Was it the trauma and ordeal he faced as a young boy, when his father murdered his mother for having an affair outside their marriage?
Imagine the suffering of a small lad witnessing the destruction of the most important woman in his life, his mother! Then losing his father who got life imprisonment as a result. His whole family was annihilated in one violent action as a result. His father died in prison.
Was he trying to re-enact the destruction and violence that was the legacy of his parents?
Or was he angry and hateful to any female who represented sexual permissiveness?
I will never know the answers to these questions, but I can try to understand, and in understanding give some meaning and freedom to my own life. Not only my life but the lives of other sexworkers & the clients that use us. So many experts & politicians try to either eradicate or sweep away the sexual nature of both men & women especially in the sex industry or in sexual offending behaviour, without truly knowing what they are facing. Sex workers have so much to offer on this level, for who else gets so close to the source of sexual nature as sexworkers do? Yet this valuable source of knowledge is either socially stigmatised or criminalised. Acceptance only comes with repentance or a victim label....therefore giving an unbalanced viewpoint.
I amongst others internationally have a huge pool of knowledge about the sexual insecurities of human nature..never asked for & never revealed!
Written by,
Lynne Tansey,
Prostitutes Human Rights Advocate and writer.
Before long, a huge guy approached me, standing all of 17 stone and well over six feet tall. None of the other girls had met him before, so he was a new and unknown quality, but he seemed quiet and well mannered. We have to move quickly in our appraisals because of the police, so after our usual introductions, he and I agreed to go back to my place for business.
I lived with two other prostitutes and usually one or more of us were there at the same time, but this evening I was alone. We had settled on a price and were getting down to the business at hand when suddenly, while he was on top of me, he threw back his fist and smashed it into my face. The shock was overwhelming; there had been no indication of violence at any point prior to this. I threw myself off the bed while he crawled all over me, trying to strangle me. The bedside lamp fell to the floor, breaking, thrusting me into darkness and fear.
I tried to crawl into the next room, my small kitchen area, grabbing for the `lazy betty` switch, the long piece of cord attached to the ceiling light.
He kept trying to pull me in all directions, and the skin on my legs was burned off by the carpet tussles. He managed to get to my throat again and throttled me so badly that I had the most terrible flashes appear in my mind, like they say happens when you’re dying. I thought of my children, my parents, and all who knew me; the thoughts came as images of a newspaper heading proclaiming, "Prostitute Murdered!" It’s really bizarre, but even to this day I can still see that image.
All of a sudden a huge force came to me, a hidden strength that I never knew existed. It welled up over my body. I heaved an enormous reverse attack on him and managed to free myself for a moment, just enough for me to spot a carving knife on the kitchen surface. I grabbed it for my life.
Time had become static. We stood facing each other in this small and surreal space.
I had the carving knife in my hand and warned him repeatedly that if he attacked again, I would kill him. Throughout the entire event, he had never uttered a single word. He didn’t acknowledge any of my warnings but lunged at me again. I stabbed him in the stomach. He backed off momentarily, appearing shocked, but then resumed his violence.
I stabbed him again in the stomach. And again. But he still kept coming. He reached out towards my weapon, grabbing the blade, still completely silent. I pulled the knife back towards me, severing his finger tips. But he continued to mechanically attack. Still saying nothing!
I thought reality changed then. It seemed to shift sideways. I no longer knew what world I was in. He was my monster, an inhuman thing that wanted to obliterate me, no matter what the consequences. I felt like I was watching myself and this man from a different height, like on television. I was separate from fear now in the sense of fear as we know it. Survival was my paramount goal in this moment that seemed to be between worlds of life and death.
As he continued to attack, I stabbed him in the heart, the stomach and the lungs. No blood came from his huge torso, so bent on destruction. That only added to my feelings of unrealness. Suddenly he managed to grab me and draw me close, crushing my small frame against his cold, white belly.
Now, I thought, is the time you are going to die, Lynne.
With that thought in my mind, I reached around his bulk and stabbed aimlessly into his shoulder. He still did not speak. So I thought of the last place that might hurt him the most and thrust the knife into his temple. The blade ran down until it met the narrowness of his temple area. Then the blade stopped but my hand continued downward on the blade, nearly severing my hand off.
Finally, he pushed away from me, turning around to look, as if taking in his environment for the first time. The blood came then and he was like a colander. It shot all over the kitchen, over the walls, the ceiling, everywhere, mingling with my severed artery life-blood.
Then he spoke: "I’ve had enough."
He walked into the bedroom again and sat on the bed. I watched, frozen, in fear of another unreal attack. I wanted to be sure he couldn’t hurt me anymore before I would pass by him to go for help.
He urinated, and lay back dying. I watched, hating him with a cold anger and the knowledge that my life would never be the same again. I watched him sigh his last breath and depart this world. It was over for him, but not for me!
I had no telephone, but knew there was a public phone some 100 yards down the road.
I ran outside, naked and bleeding, screaming for help in the well populated area I lived in
I collapsed through loss of blood and shock. Nobody came, nobody helped. So I crawled the 100 yards down the road to the phone. I passed two sets of feet, male and female, a couple, but they only stood watching, so I finished my desperate journey to save myself unaided.
The police and ambulance came quickly and took over my struggle for survival. My entire body was black and blue, distorted and bloodied, and I nearly lost my arm from the elbow down.
My screams and nightmares began, and it was many years before they stopped.
While still trying to heal, I was charged with the murder of a chief petty officer in the navy. Apparently he was a family man who had a position of respect in his career. Prior to this time, I had no convictions for anything, not even prostitution, and had never been in prison.
I had several operations on my hand to save what they could. Thanks to brilliant surgeons, my hand and arm were saved, but some years later they had to amputate one of those fingers because my hand was curling inwards and rheumatism was setting in.
I spent nearly a year in prison awaiting trial. They gave me tests in a mental institution, trying to determine I was responsible for my actions. They really wanted to pin murder on me because there was a stab in his shoulder, making them think I’d attacked from the back initially.
My QC and solicitor were brilliant though, throwing out the first panel of jurors due to prejudice toward my profession. (My solicitor and QC became life long friends, though my solicitor has since died, sadly.)
I found out my client and attacker was a husband and father to two children. He also had two mistresses who came to court unwillingly, under enforcement, to tell their stories of a man who was occasionally violent to them. This quiet man had even threatened to cut off the head of one mistress with garden shears. The wife knew nothing of this Walter Mitty type’s double or treble lives, though they went well beyond a fantasy world. It’s often like that with prostitute killers. Their wives claim complete ignorance to their husband’s atrocities.
I eventually got a Not Guilty verdict due to self-defence, but when I tried to claim criminal compensation for the injuries I sustained, I was turned down. The Home Office said in their letter of refusal: "You put yourself in a position of danger, and therefore were responsible for actions taken against you." I couldn’t appeal unless I paid for the appeal myself. My mother offered to re-mortgage their house but I couldn’t gamble with money that didn’t belong to me, so I declined.
Instead, I petitioned to the government for a turn-around of the human rights of prostitutes to claim criminal compensation. Eventually this was approved. It was too late for me, but not too late for all the surviving victims of the Yorkshire Ripper.
Many questions came from this horrifying time in my life, questions that would follow me to this day still.
What changed this man from a loving, caring family man into the monster he became?
One can only guess!
Was it the trauma and ordeal he faced as a young boy, when his father murdered his mother for having an affair outside their marriage?
Imagine the suffering of a small lad witnessing the destruction of the most important woman in his life, his mother! Then losing his father who got life imprisonment as a result. His whole family was annihilated in one violent action as a result. His father died in prison.
Was he trying to re-enact the destruction and violence that was the legacy of his parents?
Or was he angry and hateful to any female who represented sexual permissiveness?
I will never know the answers to these questions, but I can try to understand, and in understanding give some meaning and freedom to my own life. Not only my life but the lives of other sexworkers & the clients that use us. So many experts & politicians try to either eradicate or sweep away the sexual nature of both men & women especially in the sex industry or in sexual offending behaviour, without truly knowing what they are facing. Sex workers have so much to offer on this level, for who else gets so close to the source of sexual nature as sexworkers do? Yet this valuable source of knowledge is either socially stigmatised or criminalised. Acceptance only comes with repentance or a victim label....therefore giving an unbalanced viewpoint.
I amongst others internationally have a huge pool of knowledge about the sexual insecurities of human nature..never asked for & never revealed!
Written by,
Lynne Tansey,
Prostitutes Human Rights Advocate and writer.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Prostitutes view on feminism
A prostitutes perspective of feminismProstitution or sexwork has been a profession that has run on the outside of mainstrean society.
Full of stigma & taboo. The more we have tried to control or suppress it, the more attractive it becomes to those who are either predators or cannot identify & express themselves within the usual boundaries of society.
Governments & all its forces have not as yet come up with an effective way of dealing with this aspect of social indentity.
We are locked into an incomplete picture of what prostitution is all about. Based on the experiences of one aspect of this socio-economic group without examining the wider diversity of the experiences & beliefs of prostitutes.
The arguement that prostitution corrupts women is a position driven by highly charged emotions that ultimately corrupt its logic.
It oververbalises the issue & overemphasises statistical information in an attempt to paint a real-world picture of prostitution. There is a stereo-typical notion on what prostitution is.
prostitution is not a grim & humorless world of only pain, suffering & abuse. Though there are some examples of this.
The way prostitutes are examined in some instances-objectifies, dehumanises & strips them of any personality.
The issues are oversimplied. prostitution is an extemely diverse & complex issue. Lumping virtually all prostitutes into one general catergory will yeild an inaccurate & insensitive view of their lives.
There are many reasons why women go into prostitution. they seem to fall into 9 catergories. Which I will attempt to describe in a seperate section of this article. Understanding these different modes & reasons of entry into prostitution would help to identify those who are vulnerable. What their needs are & where their needs can be met.
This is important to know, because not all prostitutes have the same needs as others. There are those prostitutes too who can offer society as a whole some real insights into the workings of the human sexual identity. An area little capitalised upon by mainstream society, because of the lack of value given to those who work within this industry.
Society can be guided down a pathway that is selected rather than conveying an understanding of the situation.
For example observations that might include the repartee of clients or experiences may show clients or pimps in a different light.
Observing poverty almost always provokes emotion. Mixing prostitution with poverty as one thing may give prostitution a different emotional appeal than if it were analysed on its own.
In spite of the seeming tragic aura of some of their lives, many prostitutes might be more accurately described as being warm, friendly & sensitive human beings. Not as women whose greatest value is to be pawns in a game of political chess for the empowerment of one political group over another.
Exploiting sexuality is not uncommon & its not always men who are exploitative.
Men could probably cite numerous instances of exploitation by women. Who have used their sexual prowess to gain favours, money or promotions.
It is not uncommon or immoral to any significant degree for a person to try & garner attention or extract simple favours by using their sexuality. There is however a line reached that crosses over into what would be more accurately defined as prostitution.
A prostitute may entice, but is usually straight forward in whats expected as a return. prostitutes in that sense bears a sense of virtuousness, because it is not involved in exploitative mind-games that can harm another emotionally.
Prostitution does not degrade people, people degrade themselves by falling into the embodiment of distinct patterns of behaviour.
Our society is feircly competitive in which unfairness & exploitations are rife. Thrusting some to the bottom, where their only survival strategy is to become prostitutes. Upon finding an occupation in which they view themselves as successful competitors, they are attacked by other social / political/religious groups as perpetrators of either the moral or social pariahs. As well as continueing the degradation of all that is woman.
After already enduring centuries of exploitation/abuse/murder & slavery, prostitution is now looking for a rightful acceptance in society that it has never experienced before, but in order to do this must assimilate the values & virtues of prostitution with the values & virtues of mainstream society.
The rights of one person or group, must not impede on the rights of another.
Whilst flagrant sexual expressions would not offend or cause a reaction in a sexworker, they can & do offend & traumatise others.
Descretion is the coin of the realm, in the world of sexuality.
So in order to move forward there has to be a recognition by sexworkers of the following:
1. Prostitues must demonstrate their ability to engage in reasonable debate about thier problems & assume responsibilty for their actions.
Curb excesses such as predatory or flagrant soliciting & false representation of the nature of their services that woyuld inspire resentment, hatred & scorn in the public eye.
2. Education- Help themselves. Educating themselves & demonstrating responsible self-rule in this manner education is essential in overcoming some forms of oppression & lack of education in society. Which could include: Mature ways of handling the passions of men, which can get out of hand Street prostitutes are sometimes niave when it comes to inter-personal realtionships. Some are distanced & have no experience of real friendship. Teaching some things that are obvious to some, but not to some prostitutes. If there was an organisation that seeks to build trust, theres a potential for developing non-competative & non-predatory relationships.
2. Indentifying social predators who abuse & exploit prostitutes. With the help of an organisation & co-operation of the police. Even though the relationship with prostitutes & police has not been a good one, there could be real benefits in redressing this area. Giving protection from fraud/coercion & rape.
4. Suppress impulsive behavious, so that long-term goals can be achieved. Young people who are discovering the world of sexwork & want it, should only be encouraged if they become aware of the dangers once youthful appeal has passed. Self-government means anticipation & taking care of social/occupational problems that arise. The more prostitutes take responsibility for themselves the nmore the public will be inclined to accord rights & protection to them.
5. Strive in harmony with mainstream society & acknowledge their rights & obligations too.
6. Acknowledge the rights of parents to bring up their children & to give them goals, whether they be right or wrong. It is not for prostitutes to interfer with. Defining the minimum age of prostitution & strictly enforcing it. An essential ingredient in working out an amenable solution between both parents/prostitutes & government.
To effectively campaign & secure your rights as a prostitute, we must be careful to suppress excess emotion & promote a careful reasoning of the political strategyu.
Reason being most effective in winning the minds of the public. While carefully & honestly crafted emotions may influence society to begin to accept the inherent dignity & decency of prostitution.
Written by Lynne Tansey,
November 2004
Full of stigma & taboo. The more we have tried to control or suppress it, the more attractive it becomes to those who are either predators or cannot identify & express themselves within the usual boundaries of society.
Governments & all its forces have not as yet come up with an effective way of dealing with this aspect of social indentity.
We are locked into an incomplete picture of what prostitution is all about. Based on the experiences of one aspect of this socio-economic group without examining the wider diversity of the experiences & beliefs of prostitutes.
The arguement that prostitution corrupts women is a position driven by highly charged emotions that ultimately corrupt its logic.
It oververbalises the issue & overemphasises statistical information in an attempt to paint a real-world picture of prostitution. There is a stereo-typical notion on what prostitution is.
prostitution is not a grim & humorless world of only pain, suffering & abuse. Though there are some examples of this.
The way prostitutes are examined in some instances-objectifies, dehumanises & strips them of any personality.
The issues are oversimplied. prostitution is an extemely diverse & complex issue. Lumping virtually all prostitutes into one general catergory will yeild an inaccurate & insensitive view of their lives.
There are many reasons why women go into prostitution. they seem to fall into 9 catergories. Which I will attempt to describe in a seperate section of this article. Understanding these different modes & reasons of entry into prostitution would help to identify those who are vulnerable. What their needs are & where their needs can be met.
This is important to know, because not all prostitutes have the same needs as others. There are those prostitutes too who can offer society as a whole some real insights into the workings of the human sexual identity. An area little capitalised upon by mainstream society, because of the lack of value given to those who work within this industry.
Society can be guided down a pathway that is selected rather than conveying an understanding of the situation.
For example observations that might include the repartee of clients or experiences may show clients or pimps in a different light.
Observing poverty almost always provokes emotion. Mixing prostitution with poverty as one thing may give prostitution a different emotional appeal than if it were analysed on its own.
In spite of the seeming tragic aura of some of their lives, many prostitutes might be more accurately described as being warm, friendly & sensitive human beings. Not as women whose greatest value is to be pawns in a game of political chess for the empowerment of one political group over another.
Exploiting sexuality is not uncommon & its not always men who are exploitative.
Men could probably cite numerous instances of exploitation by women. Who have used their sexual prowess to gain favours, money or promotions.
It is not uncommon or immoral to any significant degree for a person to try & garner attention or extract simple favours by using their sexuality. There is however a line reached that crosses over into what would be more accurately defined as prostitution.
A prostitute may entice, but is usually straight forward in whats expected as a return. prostitutes in that sense bears a sense of virtuousness, because it is not involved in exploitative mind-games that can harm another emotionally.
Prostitution does not degrade people, people degrade themselves by falling into the embodiment of distinct patterns of behaviour.
Our society is feircly competitive in which unfairness & exploitations are rife. Thrusting some to the bottom, where their only survival strategy is to become prostitutes. Upon finding an occupation in which they view themselves as successful competitors, they are attacked by other social / political/religious groups as perpetrators of either the moral or social pariahs. As well as continueing the degradation of all that is woman.
After already enduring centuries of exploitation/abuse/murder & slavery, prostitution is now looking for a rightful acceptance in society that it has never experienced before, but in order to do this must assimilate the values & virtues of prostitution with the values & virtues of mainstream society.
The rights of one person or group, must not impede on the rights of another.
Whilst flagrant sexual expressions would not offend or cause a reaction in a sexworker, they can & do offend & traumatise others.
Descretion is the coin of the realm, in the world of sexuality.
So in order to move forward there has to be a recognition by sexworkers of the following:
1. Prostitues must demonstrate their ability to engage in reasonable debate about thier problems & assume responsibilty for their actions.
Curb excesses such as predatory or flagrant soliciting & false representation of the nature of their services that woyuld inspire resentment, hatred & scorn in the public eye.
2. Education- Help themselves. Educating themselves & demonstrating responsible self-rule in this manner education is essential in overcoming some forms of oppression & lack of education in society. Which could include: Mature ways of handling the passions of men, which can get out of hand Street prostitutes are sometimes niave when it comes to inter-personal realtionships. Some are distanced & have no experience of real friendship. Teaching some things that are obvious to some, but not to some prostitutes. If there was an organisation that seeks to build trust, theres a potential for developing non-competative & non-predatory relationships.
2. Indentifying social predators who abuse & exploit prostitutes. With the help of an organisation & co-operation of the police. Even though the relationship with prostitutes & police has not been a good one, there could be real benefits in redressing this area. Giving protection from fraud/coercion & rape.
4. Suppress impulsive behavious, so that long-term goals can be achieved. Young people who are discovering the world of sexwork & want it, should only be encouraged if they become aware of the dangers once youthful appeal has passed. Self-government means anticipation & taking care of social/occupational problems that arise. The more prostitutes take responsibility for themselves the nmore the public will be inclined to accord rights & protection to them.
5. Strive in harmony with mainstream society & acknowledge their rights & obligations too.
6. Acknowledge the rights of parents to bring up their children & to give them goals, whether they be right or wrong. It is not for prostitutes to interfer with. Defining the minimum age of prostitution & strictly enforcing it. An essential ingredient in working out an amenable solution between both parents/prostitutes & government.
To effectively campaign & secure your rights as a prostitute, we must be careful to suppress excess emotion & promote a careful reasoning of the political strategyu.
Reason being most effective in winning the minds of the public. While carefully & honestly crafted emotions may influence society to begin to accept the inherent dignity & decency of prostitution.
Written by Lynne Tansey,
November 2004
The way forward:neo prostitution.
Prostitution or sexwork has been a profession that has run on the outside of mainstrean society.
Full of stigma & taboo. The more we have tried to control or suppress it, the more attractive it becomes to those who are either predators or cannot identify & express themselves within the usual boundaries of society.
Governments & all its forces have not as yet come up with an effective way of dealing with this aspect of social indentity.
We are locked into an incomplete picture of what prostitution is all about. Based on the experiences of one aspect of this socio-economic group without examining the wider diversity of the experiences & beliefs of prostitutes.
The arguement that prostitution corrupts women is a position driven by highly charged emotions that ultimately corrupt its logic.
It oververbalises the issue & overemphasises statistical information in an attempt to paint a real-world picture of prostitution. There is a stereo-typical notion on what prostitution is.
prostitution is not a grim & humorless world of only pain, suffering & abuse. Though there are some examples of this.
The way prostitutes are examined in some instances-objectifies, dehumanises & strips them of any personality.
The issues are oversimplied. prostitution is an extemely diverse & complex issue. Lumping virtually all prostitutes into one general catergory will yeild an inaccurate & insensitive view of their lives.
There are many reasons why women go into prostitution. they seem to fall into 9 catergories. Which I will attempt to describe in a seperate section of this article. Understanding these different modes & reasons of entry into prostitution would help to identify those who are vulnerable. What their needs are & where their needs can be met.
This is important to know, because not all prostitutes have the same needs as others. There are those prostitutes too who can offer society as a whole some real insights into the workings of the human sexual identity. An area little capitalised upon by mainstream society, because of the lack of value given to those who work within this industry.
Society can be guided down a pathway that is selected rather than conveying an understanding of the situation.
For example observations that might include the repartee of clients or experiences may show clients or pimps in a different light.
Observing poverty almost always provokes emotion. Mixing prostitution with poverty as one thing may give prostitution a different emotional appeal than if it were analysed on its own.
In spite of the seeming tragic aura of some of their lives, many prostitutes might be more accurately described as being warm, friendly & sensitive human beings. Not as women whose greatest value is to be pawns in a game of political chess for the empowerment of one political group over another.
Exploiting sexuality is not uncommon & its not always men who are exploitative.
Men could probably cite numerous instances of exploitation by women. Who have used their sexual prowess to gain favours, money or promotions.
It is not uncommon or immoral to any significant degree for a person to try & garner attention or extract simple favours by using their sexuality. There is however a line reached that crosses over into what would be more accurately defined as prostitution.
A prostitute may entice, but is usually straight forward in whats expected as a return. prostitutes in that sense bears a sense of virtuousness, because it is not involved in exploitative mind-games that can harm another emotionally.
Prostitution does not degrade people, people degrade themselves by falling into the embodiment of distinct patterns of behaviour.
Our society is feircly competitive in which unfairness & exploitations are rife. Thrusting some to the bottom, where their only survival strategy is to become prostitutes. Upon finding an occupation in which they view themselves as successful competitors, they are attacked by other social / political/religious groups as perpetrators of either the moral or social pariahs. As well as continueing the degradation of all that is woman.
After already enduring centuries of exploitation/abuse/murder & slavery, prostitution is now looking for a rightful acceptance in society that it has never experienced before, but in order to do this must assimilate the values & virtues of prostitution with the values & virtues of mainstream society.
The rights of one person or group, must not impede on the rights of another.
Whilst flagrant sexual expressions would not offend or cause a reaction in a sexworker, they can & do offend & traumatise others.
Descretion is the coin of the realm, in the world of sexuality.
So in order to move forward there has to be a recognition by sexworkers of the following:
1. Prostitues must demonstrate their ability to engage in reasonable debate about thier problems & assume responsibilty for their actions.
Curb excesses such as predatory or flagrant soliciting & false representation of the nature of their services that woyuld inspire resentment, hatred & scorn in the public eye.
2. Education- Help themselves. Educating themselves & demonstrating responsible self-rule in this manner education is essential in overcoming some forms of oppression & lack of education in society. Which could include: Mature ways of handling the passions of men, which can get out of hand Street prostitutes are sometimes niave when it comes to inter-personal realtionships. Some are distanced & have no experience of real friendship. Teaching some things that are obvious to some, but not to some prostitutes. If there was an organisation that seeks to build trust, theres a potential for developing non-competative & non-predatory relationships.
2. Indentifying social predators who abuse & exploit prostitutes. With the help of an organisation & co-operation of the police. Even though the relationship with prostitutes & police has not been a good one, there could be real benefits in redressing this area. Giving protection from fraud/coercion & rape.
4. Suppress impulsive behavious, so that long-term goals can be achieved. Young people who are discovering the world of sexwork & want it, should only be encouraged if they become aware of the dangers once youthful appeal has passed. Self-government means anticipation & taking care of social/occupational problems that arise. The more prostitutes take responsibility for themselves the nmore the public will be inclined to accord rights & protection to them.
5. Strive in harmony with mainstream society & acknowledge their rights & obligations too.
6. Acknowledge the rights of parents to bring up their children & to give them goals, whether they be right or wrong. It is not for prostitutes to interfer with. Defining the minimum age of prostitution & strictly enforcing it. An essential ingredient in working out an amenable solution between both parents/prostitutes & government.
To effectively campaign & secure your rights as a prostitute, we must be careful to suppress excess emotion & promote a careful reasoning of the political strategyu.
Reason being most effective in winning the minds of the public. While carefully & honestly crafted emotions may influence society to begin to accept the inherent dignity & decency of prostitution.
Written by Lynne Tansey,
November 2004
Full of stigma & taboo. The more we have tried to control or suppress it, the more attractive it becomes to those who are either predators or cannot identify & express themselves within the usual boundaries of society.
Governments & all its forces have not as yet come up with an effective way of dealing with this aspect of social indentity.
We are locked into an incomplete picture of what prostitution is all about. Based on the experiences of one aspect of this socio-economic group without examining the wider diversity of the experiences & beliefs of prostitutes.
The arguement that prostitution corrupts women is a position driven by highly charged emotions that ultimately corrupt its logic.
It oververbalises the issue & overemphasises statistical information in an attempt to paint a real-world picture of prostitution. There is a stereo-typical notion on what prostitution is.
prostitution is not a grim & humorless world of only pain, suffering & abuse. Though there are some examples of this.
The way prostitutes are examined in some instances-objectifies, dehumanises & strips them of any personality.
The issues are oversimplied. prostitution is an extemely diverse & complex issue. Lumping virtually all prostitutes into one general catergory will yeild an inaccurate & insensitive view of their lives.
There are many reasons why women go into prostitution. they seem to fall into 9 catergories. Which I will attempt to describe in a seperate section of this article. Understanding these different modes & reasons of entry into prostitution would help to identify those who are vulnerable. What their needs are & where their needs can be met.
This is important to know, because not all prostitutes have the same needs as others. There are those prostitutes too who can offer society as a whole some real insights into the workings of the human sexual identity. An area little capitalised upon by mainstream society, because of the lack of value given to those who work within this industry.
Society can be guided down a pathway that is selected rather than conveying an understanding of the situation.
For example observations that might include the repartee of clients or experiences may show clients or pimps in a different light.
Observing poverty almost always provokes emotion. Mixing prostitution with poverty as one thing may give prostitution a different emotional appeal than if it were analysed on its own.
In spite of the seeming tragic aura of some of their lives, many prostitutes might be more accurately described as being warm, friendly & sensitive human beings. Not as women whose greatest value is to be pawns in a game of political chess for the empowerment of one political group over another.
Exploiting sexuality is not uncommon & its not always men who are exploitative.
Men could probably cite numerous instances of exploitation by women. Who have used their sexual prowess to gain favours, money or promotions.
It is not uncommon or immoral to any significant degree for a person to try & garner attention or extract simple favours by using their sexuality. There is however a line reached that crosses over into what would be more accurately defined as prostitution.
A prostitute may entice, but is usually straight forward in whats expected as a return. prostitutes in that sense bears a sense of virtuousness, because it is not involved in exploitative mind-games that can harm another emotionally.
Prostitution does not degrade people, people degrade themselves by falling into the embodiment of distinct patterns of behaviour.
Our society is feircly competitive in which unfairness & exploitations are rife. Thrusting some to the bottom, where their only survival strategy is to become prostitutes. Upon finding an occupation in which they view themselves as successful competitors, they are attacked by other social / political/religious groups as perpetrators of either the moral or social pariahs. As well as continueing the degradation of all that is woman.
After already enduring centuries of exploitation/abuse/murder & slavery, prostitution is now looking for a rightful acceptance in society that it has never experienced before, but in order to do this must assimilate the values & virtues of prostitution with the values & virtues of mainstream society.
The rights of one person or group, must not impede on the rights of another.
Whilst flagrant sexual expressions would not offend or cause a reaction in a sexworker, they can & do offend & traumatise others.
Descretion is the coin of the realm, in the world of sexuality.
So in order to move forward there has to be a recognition by sexworkers of the following:
1. Prostitues must demonstrate their ability to engage in reasonable debate about thier problems & assume responsibilty for their actions.
Curb excesses such as predatory or flagrant soliciting & false representation of the nature of their services that woyuld inspire resentment, hatred & scorn in the public eye.
2. Education- Help themselves. Educating themselves & demonstrating responsible self-rule in this manner education is essential in overcoming some forms of oppression & lack of education in society. Which could include: Mature ways of handling the passions of men, which can get out of hand Street prostitutes are sometimes niave when it comes to inter-personal realtionships. Some are distanced & have no experience of real friendship. Teaching some things that are obvious to some, but not to some prostitutes. If there was an organisation that seeks to build trust, theres a potential for developing non-competative & non-predatory relationships.
2. Indentifying social predators who abuse & exploit prostitutes. With the help of an organisation & co-operation of the police. Even though the relationship with prostitutes & police has not been a good one, there could be real benefits in redressing this area. Giving protection from fraud/coercion & rape.
4. Suppress impulsive behavious, so that long-term goals can be achieved. Young people who are discovering the world of sexwork & want it, should only be encouraged if they become aware of the dangers once youthful appeal has passed. Self-government means anticipation & taking care of social/occupational problems that arise. The more prostitutes take responsibility for themselves the nmore the public will be inclined to accord rights & protection to them.
5. Strive in harmony with mainstream society & acknowledge their rights & obligations too.
6. Acknowledge the rights of parents to bring up their children & to give them goals, whether they be right or wrong. It is not for prostitutes to interfer with. Defining the minimum age of prostitution & strictly enforcing it. An essential ingredient in working out an amenable solution between both parents/prostitutes & government.
To effectively campaign & secure your rights as a prostitute, we must be careful to suppress excess emotion & promote a careful reasoning of the political strategyu.
Reason being most effective in winning the minds of the public. While carefully & honestly crafted emotions may influence society to begin to accept the inherent dignity & decency of prostitution.
Written by Lynne Tansey,
November 2004
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