STARTLING FACT:
WOMEN TURN TO PROSTITUTION
FOR ECONOMIC REASONS!!!

[This letter was written fifteen years ago by Nikki Craft and is reproduced here for archival purposes. It was not published by Bon Vivant Magazine.]

Bon Vivant Magazine
Santa Cruz, California
Feb. 13, 1984

Dear Editors
     Jack Epstein cracks the Santa Cruz underworld of prostitution.
     STARTLING FACTS: WOMEN TURN TO PROSTITUTION FOR ECONOMIC REASONS!!!
     So what's new? In America, the difference in selling your ass on the street, your soul in a 9 to 5 flunky office job, or your integrity as an administrator with a utility company is more a matter of opinion. Perhaps now Bon Vivant will also delve into the lives of waitresses, store clerks and other women who service your clientele.
     Besides economic reasons Epstein lists other factors that "create a tendency towards selling one's body." "Broken homes or abusive childhoods, rape and molestation" are common experiences of most all women. I was amazed to see "Nymphomania-an excessive craving for sex" casually added to this list. I have not heard this word used seriously since high school. It is hypocritical, reeks of male privilege and maintains that there are standards concerning sexuality that should apply to women and not to men. What word does Mr. Epstein use when describing man who have "an excessive craving for sex"? Does such a word exist? And what is excessive?
     Epstein's article contains numerous misconceptions, I would like to address several of them briefly.
     FANTASY #1: Sex is an on-the- job stress reducer for prostitutes.
FANTASY #2: The kinkier the client, the more challenging he is for her.
Dream on, Jack!
     Mr. Epstein would have us imagining that these prostitutes are overtaken with excitement when a client appears with 10 pairs of women's underwear, or who wants to pour urine over her head, or who wants to tie her up. When in fact prostitutes are known to "trade-off" when the real weirdo come in and the last thing any woman wants when trying to get the rent together is a good "challenge."
     Sex for a prostitute is a job. It is not relaxing (performance tasks never are) and hardly ever enjoyable. No matter what men might prefer to believe, most prostitutes fake orgasm and many are disgusted with the men they are forced to please on a daily basis.
     If the women Mr. Epstein interviewed "expressed strong views on their roles in society," his article did not reveal these views very adequately, The fact is that we are living in a society that has failed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Women are still considered 2nd class citizens by law. According to Federal statistics women work almost two hours to make what a man earns in one. It does not take an economics degree to see the inherent inequities in the status quo,
     It is no accident that women are forced into sexual subservience to men in this culture. Prostitution is the result of the inferior economic and social position of women, Most often in this "free" enterprise system the marketability of a woman's body is what is taken into accounts whether she work as an airline stewardess, secretary, actress, model, masseuse, waitress, news broadcaster, wife or whore, Women are entitled to more options in life than what we now have, and it is the responsibility of a just and democratic society to provide more meaningful work for womankind than that of sexually servicing mankind.

Sincerely, Nikki Craft

cc: Jack Epstein

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