Rape Myth #8 – You Can’t Rape a Hooker (Sex Worker).
Yes, yes, you can. Sex workers can be raped just like everyone else. Strippers, porn actors, hookers, Pro-doms, hustlers… They can all be raped, and are far less likely to report it when it happens, because they know the authorities are probably not going to take it seriously, or will, instead of investigating the rape, charge and jail them for prostitution.
In 2007 (edited to fix date, stupid typo), a sex worker who agreed to have sex with one man for a specified amount of money, was forced at gunpoint to have sex with him and three other men. The judge in that case dismissed the charges, and said that the most she felt she could charge those men with was “theft of services.” The American Bar Association has since come out in opposition to Judge Teresa Carr Deni’s callous and dismissive treatment of this woman and the crime perpetrated against her. http://abajournal.com/news/philly_bar_condemns_dismissal_of_rape_charges_in_prostitute_case/
Apparently, the victim agreed to have sex with the first guy for $150. He then said a friend was coming and what would it cost for her to have sex with him, too. She said another $100. When the friend didn’t have the money, the first guy pulled out a gun, and raped her at gunpoint, as did the second guy and two others. When a fifth guy showed up, he asked her why she was crying, and she told him. He got her dressed and out of there. http://feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/10/16/when-is-rape-at-gunpoint-not-rape-when-its-theft-of-services/
So one of five guys knows what rape is. Brilliant.
And before anyone starts shooting off their mouth about how she’s just a whore, and probably deserved it… Think about it. Had the first guy just given her the money and had sex with her, that’s not rape. If the second guy had had the cash and paid her, that wouldn’t have been rape. But instead, they pulled a gun on her and they and two other guys raped her at gunpoint. Even if it had just been the first guy, when you hold someone at gunpoint, that’s rape. At least one of the five guys involved in this scenario knows that holding someone at gunpoint and demanding sex is wrong.
Women can withdraw their consent for sex at any time, as can men. If the other party doesn’t stop when one of them says “stop,” that’s rape. For any reason, whether it’s “You’re hurting me” or “You didn’t pay me for this.” Not to mention that consent is not transitive, just because she negotiated sex with one man for a set amount of money, that does not automatically grant consent to anyone else.
Unfortunately, rulings like Judge Deni’s pretty much guarantee that a hugely victimized segment of society is going to continue not to go to the police or seek help when sexually assaulted. Attitudes like this are what keep serial killers in business, kids. Seriously, I mean, who cares, they’re just whores right? No one really paid much attention to the Green River Killer until he killed someone who wasn’t a hooker, but just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Serial rapists and killers don’t just spring up fully formed in psychopathy or sociopathy. They escalate. They get away with one thing (usually killing animals or victimizing other children) and then they escalate, moving on to bigger and better prey. Who better to victimize than hookers? There’s tons of them, and no one really cares when they go missing, plus they move around a lot to avoid the cops getting to know who they are.
And lest you think rape only happens to streetwalkers, it happens to sex workers in all facets of the industry. From pro-doms, to strippers, to porn actors, to call girls. And most of them won’t report, because in the eyes of common perception, they were asking for it, right?
Just because you consent to have sex with one man, it does not mean you consent to have sex with all men. Regardless of whether that sex is in a private residence, a hotel room, an abandoned house, an alley, on a stage or on a set. And regardless of whether the consent for that sex was brought about by an exchange of ideas or an exchange of money.
Polimicks 
That’s so wrong I have no words for it at the moment…
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“And before anyone starts shooting off their mouth about how she’s just a whore, and probably deserved it…” Its hard to believe that anybody who reads your posts would believe that reasoning..
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There was a time when I would have agreed with you…
Sigh.
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Sadly this article describes a common occurrence.
Even more sadly – you actually have to *argue* with some people that pulling a gun on someone to have sex is rape….
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I used to work as a stripper. Most of my stories from that time are not nearly so much terrifying as they are weird (though it damaged me considerably)
There were two instances that scared me enough to fear for my well being.
One of which involved a man strangling a woman. She was trying to just finish the lap dance (which was the only legal way a woman could make money at a strip club in that city) I was talking to his friend who wasn’t going to get a dance because it would piss off his girlfriend. Instead he was going to buy a dance from me for his friend. The friend got up and explained the situation to his friend. When he came back to sit next to me she suddenly leaps to her feet and runs off crying. I didn’t know what to do so I excused myself and promised to come back after a second. She was in the dressing room sobbing because he hadn’t stopped trying to lace his fingers around her throat. Apparently when his friend approached him it distracted her and she let her guard down and he literally started to throttle her. She was unable to breathe and she had been forced to claw at him to get him to let go.
Obviously we kicked them out and his friend tipped her a lot of money but it was a startling experience. While it’s not rape it IS an example of how men see sex workers and how well respected they are. The girls would often sit around talking during slow periods and more than once they said that cops would treat them badly for something as simple as a parking ticket and that several of the area cops would insist on writing “prostitute” on all paperwork regarding them regardless of the fact that they had never done any that. It was all because that was how these men saw them.
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Thank you for commenting.
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If you called a plumber and she came out, took a look at your house and said she wasn’t going to do it, it would not be OK to hold her at gunpoint and make her fix your water heater. You would take your money back and go elsewhere.
If you took your car to a mechanic and she said she wasn’t going to fix it, you would not threaten her with bodily harm, you would take your money and go elsewhere.
If you took your dog to the vet to get neutered and she agreed, then said you had friends who had two other dogs and wanted the same service, she would charge appropriately and likely make them come back later.
If you pay for an hour at a therapist, that does not mean you get to bring three friends for the same price.
In any of these situations, the cops would be involved should you do anything but go along with the businessperson’s wishes.
If you not only force a person to render services, even if those services are within their proffession, and rape them, That’s at least two crimes. The way I see it, people who abuse sex workers should be penalized MORE than they would otherwise. If anything, those offering personal services should receive MORE protection from sexual abuse.
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Or in Eugene’s case the cop is the racist.
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i don’t mean to hijack the thread away from sex workers (who I agree, deserve to be protected even more under the law. If it’s even more obscene to attack police officers because they voluntarily put themselves in harm’s way, then the same ought to be true for sex workers by the same logic), but I can’t help but see a parallel to my own experience.
I never reported my own rape because I was having a sexual relationship with the guy. I knew how it would go – I’d go in and report that while I had agreed to have sex, I hadn’t agreed to do *that*, and they’d laugh me out of the station. And my dad’s a cop – I knew he’d have my back, but the system wouldn’t. At the time, I couldn’t bear that.
It’s funny. As many years as it has been, and as much as I have grown and matured and refound my confidence and strength, the worst moment of every new relationship is still telling that story to a new partner.
I don’t know if the same is true here, but in Texas and Maryland, bars with strippers often have no separate bathrooms for female patrons. You go back and use the same facilities as the dancers. I’ve spent many enjoyable evenings hanging back there and talking with the girls, and it has been my distinct priviledge to later purchase a lap dance from some brilliant woman who I’ve just had the pleasure of talking to like a real person. Guys, you really miss out, I’m sorry to say.
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Armed robbery?
I think we need hookers. They are good for you. We pay for our food (basic need) so we should pay for our sex (another basic need).
Rape is all about consent. “Gunpoint consent” is rape. And when you use guns to take something away from someone it’s not “theft”, it’s a “robbery”, and in this case, the correct term is “armed robbery”. It is still inadequate, of course, but at least is heavier than “theft of services”. I agree with the poster that forcing a prostitute to have sex under a gunpoint or otherwise threatening/harming is rape and, if proven beyond reasonable doubt, should be prosecuted as rape.
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Re: Armed robbery?
Definitely.
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