Photo: thestar.com
“Why is it immoral to to be paid for an act that is perfectly legal if done for free?” Gloria Allred
That Strange Religion "Hey waddya lookin at mate?" she snarled across the asphalt. Oblivious I realised the endearment was for me. She at a distance, fifties, fishnets, high, so high heels, a belt for a skirt, her lips as proud as her pushup. I looked at the church door as I passed by, an epiphany, I shouted back without judgement, "O, just one of God's children." She grunted and ushered her client into his car. Her congregation, his communion, that strange religion. Copyright 2023 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon All Rights Reserved ®️
parallax 
Since sex is the source of human life, it should be at the core of religious teachings.
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In the East they are not so unrealistic as to exclude it. Even the totally celibate Tibetan monks spend five of their twenty five years in education studying the Tantra.
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Yes, and it is in some. Sadly in Christianity it has tended towards moralism.
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It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Good poem!
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We live in a strange world of twisted moralisms that seem to be darker than that which they seek to control. Thank you so much Paula.
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Strange, indeed.
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Yes, the world of dark moralisms that stem from an uptight religion.
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GOOD FOR YOU, BROTHER! 🤗
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I think she assumed my judgement, sad.
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Oh, you should experience some of the assumptions they make when you’re a homeless woman…
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I haven’t had that experience, only vicariously through the many I have tried to sit with who have been abused in that way. Gah!
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Gah! 😆
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Yes – sadly.
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Wow great poem – of a moment in life
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Yes, so powerful in a fraction of a second, thank you 🙂
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Not sure who Gloria is, but as a woman who has spent many years encountering bosses and colleagues in the workplace who think women are little more use than objects for sexual pleasure – she sounds like a bit of a numpty.
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I thought so at first, but when I checked out who she is, she is a lawyer who specialises in defending women, and is a women’s rights activist. Thank you for sharing, appreciated.
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Her quote makes her sound like a numpty though. I wonder if she would like to revise it as it is would cause many to lose respect for her. Although there are some lawyers who have a very odd way of looking at the world.
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Perhaps she’s an odd one? She does take the line (a little along the lines of Andrea Dworkin) that women should not be treated as criminals for charging, sees as a patriarchal control (men see it as a right/free).
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I think it may well depend on the woman. I would prefer to criminalize the men who abuse women in any form including offering or paying money for sexual acts – which is horrific abuse of a woman. In some lands, I have seen women pressured into prostitution due to financial difficulty, but often it is men who entice them into that. I do feel concern about women who are end up being abused due to desperate financial situations. If the justice system can deter them from thinking that prostitution is all they have to resort to, one would hope they could be supported to acquire training and skills that could be used to provide an income. But when it comes to women who enter prostitution for other reasons, I am baffled by them. When I think of how many women have been misused and abused for centuries, the thought of some women opting for prostitution by choice rather than desperation – they seem to betray the rest of womankind.
I would seriously question the motive of anyone who just wants the physical acts of intimacy – without loving someone’s mind and heart, their qualities, their kindness, their courage, their endurance, their dreams. They do not deserve intimacy if they don’t know how to care for and love someone, treasure and remain loyal to them.
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I think Dworkin would agree with you, her writings show she would go even further in her treatment of such men. But as for the women it is a double even triple abuse because their mental health, poverty and dependencies are arrayed against them, but where they choose it is something else, and that is certainly not an easy fathom.
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Good poem. Although, there is a moral difference between performing an act for free and being paid for it. For instance, if you helped old ladies across the road for money, you’d hardly be regarded as a pillar of the community.
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Indeed, though my cheeky self says that cross walk attendants and police do get paid to do that. But I take your point, I think it is saying that when things get desperate – don’t judge the person, but also don’t criminalise them. Having worked with street people my heart goes out to them, especially the women and those whose mental health was wrecked.
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