polimicks | 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.