The Prostitute, The Comedian -- And Me
by Tracy Quan(Page 2)
TRACY QUAN: Your view that men have created civilization to escape Woman's dominance is very different from the feminist notion of male domination. Quite honestly, it's a point of view I would expect to hear from a prostitute -- because most prostitutes understand that aspect of women's power. I've also noticed a knowledge of prostitution which many feminists lack. Did you have a lot of friends who were in "the life"?
CAMILLE PAGLIA: I never knew a prostitute in my life... I studied history. My conclusions also come from observing -- movies, media, reading -- and also from seeing prostitutes on the street.
The movie Butterfield 8 had a huge impact on me. When Elizabeth Taylor (playing Gloria the call girl) said, Sic transit Gloria mundi, I loved it: a call girl using this famous Latin phrase of the Pope's! I see a parallel between prostitution and being a monk or a nun.
TQ: One of my aunts is a nun. I think I'm the only niece who relates to her lifestyle, because I'm a hooker.
CP: There's something similar -- a very organized way of dealing with sexuality, with human issues. The prostitutes I see near the University of the Arts look very competent, very professional. They look fabulous! I've always felt that prostitutes are in control of the streets, not victims. I admire that -- zooming here and there, escaping the police, being shrewd, living by your wits, being street smart. I think that with prostitution, getting the money is control. I identify with that. In college and even in high school, I did not as a woman like the situation of giving it away for free.
I view the prostitute as one of the few women who is totally in control of her fate, totally in control of the realm of sex. The lesbian feminists tried to take control of female sexuality away from men -- but the prostitute was doing that all along.
TQ: Many feminists would disagree. They paint this outlandish caricature of the whore -- she's powerless, and totally victimized.
CP: Feminists like to quote these absolutely specious statistics, a typical trick of the feminist movement of the last twenty years. For example, they'll say the majority of prostitutes have been sexually abused as children. But there's no evidence for this! The most successful prostitutes are invisible, because the sign of a prostitute's success is her absolute blending with the environment. She's so shrewd, she never becomes visible. She never gets in trouble. She has command of her life, and her clients. The ones who get into the surveys have drug problems or psychological problems. They're the ones who were sexually abused. Feminists are using amateurs to condemn a whole profession. This is appalling!
I'm against the harassment of prostitutes. Unless they are actually interfering with people's movements, they have a perfect right to be doing what they're doing.
