PROSTITUTION: WHAT IS A PROSTITUTE?
The Cynthia Payne case and the almost continuous revelations in the press concerning relationships between prominent men and prostitutes show that the topic arouses enormous public interest. ‘Male patrons of female prostitutes are usually married and so the topic is of interest here.
What is a prostitute? A prostitute is a person, male or female, who, in part or in whole, makes a livelihood by gratifying the sexual desires of other individuals, either male or female, within transient relationships, in return for remuneration. Although male prostitutes and even brothels exist to satisfy women and although homosexual and lesbian prostitutes are available to members of their own sex, by far the most common form of prostitution is that in which a man pays a woman.
Most prostitutes do the job to make money – and it can be very lucrative. Sometimes it may pay for the woman’s drug habit. More basic reasons for going into the profession include a lack of training for anything else, boredom, loneliness, being drawn into it by friends, and sexual gratification (this latter is usually, but not always, strenuously denied by the prostitute). A woman prostitute may be punishing her mother or taking revenge on her father who she felt could not possibly love her. Some may not have resolved the problems associated with releasing the childhood bond they had with their father, and for them taking money from men is a symbolic, child-like way of taking love.
Some prostitutes think they can meet ‘better’ men than would otherwise be possible and some hope for a marriage to a rich and powerful client. Others who feel, or used to feel, unattractive as women can get repeated boosts to their morale which seem to them to prove they are desirable. A number of prostitutes who work heterosexually (with men clients) are lesbian and yet others may be latently lesbian and use heterosexual prostitution to ward off the tendency.
Women prostitutes who cater for both sexes are becoming increasingly common.
Most female prostitutes have an understandable willingness to satisfy most clients’ demands, if only to ensure their return (because most prostitutes like a regular clientele), and possibly have a greater capacity to undertake and even enjoy a diversity of sexual behaviour than does the average woman. This is fortunate because many prostitutes say that the majority of their clients want something in addition to, or even in place of, normal intercourse. A prostitute may have to dress up in special clothes, provide special equipment, utter special words, undertake special acts, and be prepared to bring her client to orgasm by a whole variety of means. Of these, oral sex, carried out by and to her, is increasingly popular. The customer might simply want to look at her (she need not necessarily be naked) whilst he masturbates himself (sometimes he will not even want to do that) or ejaculate on her. More commonly he wants her to carry out these acts on him. Some men ask prostitutes to have anal intercourse with them using a dildo or a vibrator. Yet others may only want, they claim, to reform or rescue her, whilst others brutalise her out of a hidden religious motivation or in symbolic revenge against all women. As a result of these many, often strange, requests, the average prostitute has to be able to look after herself and to remain in control of the situation. This she can do very well because as a matter of professional pride she only occasionally gets ‘carried away’ by what is going on and she knows exactly where to draw the line. Even so, prostitutes are open to danger from their more weird clients and this is a danger of which they are only too well aware.
Some prostitutes specialise in particular areas of sexual behaviour, common examples being humiliation, bondage and flagellation, all of which are much more widespread than is generally believed. A variant of this is the ‘mistress’ type of prostitute who has an on-going relationship with her submissive clientele which may even be carried out through the post. Others specialise is using pornography to arouse and excite the man. More specialist set-ups also exist such as saunas and massage parlours where the clients are eventually masturbated, the euphemism for which is ‘hand-relief. In others the clients are in separate rooms and look at naked women through a window. Other prostitutes may be specialised in the way they get their clients.
Call-girls and women who work through an escort agency are two common examples.
Male homosexual prostitutes, who are usually young, are said to pay more attention to the physical appearance of would-be clients than do their female counterparts. Like the latter they usually deny any desire for sexual pleasure themselves and they also often deny that they are actually homosexual. Nevertheless, they erect and ejaculate with male clients and, it is said, usually pursue a homosexual life-style when they have to give up prostitution. Although some dress and behave effeminately, most try to emphasise their masculinity.
*191\164\2*
