I was walking down the hall at work today, when I heard one of the young women in our marketing department, "Shelly," utter the following statement:
"I'm not a whore, I'm a slut. The difference is that a whore gets paid for it."
I paused for a moment, trying to convince myself that anyone could possibly have said such a thing in public. A little while later, Shelly passed by my desk, and I asked her, as politely and delicately as I could, what she had said.
Not only did she not deny the quote, she cheerfully repeated it, including a clause at the end which I had not heard: "... and I just give it away."
After she walked away, I said to myself, "Surely there must have been a context for that statement that I'm missing." But, after considering matters for a while, I realized that there was no context to justify that statement. It stood on its own merit, as it were.
Posted by Mediocre Fred at December 13, 2006 01:07 PM | TrackBackYou better get in on some of that!
Posted by: Me at December 13, 2006 01:36 PMI had absolutely no idea you worked at the Playboy Mansion. Way to go!
Posted by: PapaShaft at December 13, 2006 07:51 PMThe obvious context seems to me that someone said, "Shelly, you're such a whore." And she pointed out that she's not.
Reminds me of a quote that may end up heading the Note I write for my journal:
"Prostitution is the supreme triumph of capitalism. Worst of all, prostitution reinforces all the old dumb cliches about women's sexuality; that they are not built to enjoy sex and are little more than walking masturbation aids, things to be DONE TO, things so sensually null and void that they have to be paid to indulge in fornication, that women can be had, bought, as often as not sold from one man to another. When the sex war is won prostitutes should be shot as collaborators for their terrible betrayal of all women, for the moral tarring and feathering they give indigenous women who have had the bad luck to live in what they make their humping ground."
In Julie Burchill's world, therefore, Shelly's out there *counteracting* the prostitutes. Culture jamming their capitalism, if you will.
Ooh, I just thought of a legal post: in places where prostitution is legal, is refusing to have sex with a customer on the basis of race, disability etc. a violation of civil rights laws?
Posted by: PG at December 13, 2006 08:01 PMI agree with the first comment--your next reply should have been "Want to go for a drink after work?"
And of course there's this:
"Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?"
"Uh, sure, I guess so."
"OK, how 'bout twenty bucks?"
"What kind of a girl do you think I am?!"
"We've already established what kind of girl you are, now we're just haggling over the price."