I gotta say, as I finish up this proposal, I kinda like whoring out my mind. Not that anything will actually come of this--it's truly a longshot. But whoring out my mind, the knowledge I have about how to develop a training program, to someone who doesn't have it and needs it, and charging a nice, fat round, hourly figure for it, and knowing that because someone needs it and recognizes its value, I might be handsomely paid for it -- well, I don't feel alienated at all.
OTOH, I can't say the same about the other items on the hourly rate schedule. I can't see how proofreading or editing or illustration are any less valuable than the knowledge I can whore out. Yet, I have no doubt a client will balk at even the modest rates I have for those other items.
R reminded me of worldsex, that site on the line where people (men, I think) write in about their experiences all over the world. Some of what they write and how the write about women is predictable, but at other times it's surprising. I remember reading it years ago, when I thought going to prostitutes was all about the guy getting off. Hmmm. Not always. Sometimes a guy pays to get her off. Of course, people will say, "Yeahsureright. She faked it." Maybe. Having gotten to know some of the women in the old 'hood, I know that's not true for them. Some of them just like sex and they like what they do. They have boyfriends who know what they do. It's a life, with good pay, and at least fro them, not bad working conditions. They strip and blow a few guys three nights a week. Life is gravy with plenty of money for a place to live, their kids, and lots of free time.
Also, I was reading about a late 90s trend about young Japanese school girls. It was an article in WSJ. Does anyone know if it's true that some of the girls prostitute themselves so they can afford high-priced make up and designer clothes? They have a name for it, I've forgotten, but it means "aid" or something like that. The idea is that they're appealing to the john to "aid" them in their quest for consumer goods. Like a donation or something.
Anyone heard of this?
Sure, I think sex with someone I love is wonderful and special and I woldn't have it any other way. But, someone else selling sex to someone for money doesn't actually diminish my enjoyment in any way, so who cares if someone wants to sell sex for money. Just as who cares if I sell my knowledge for money. My homemade blueberry muffins -- R thinks they're to die for. Some members of testosterone central think my pizza is the closest to heaven they've ever been (believe me, they're strange kids). But nothing is diminished about my pizza or muffins if they also Pizza Hut or a muffin from Dunkin' Donuts. And they're enjoyment of my pizza or muffins certainly isn't diminished when the guy next door orders a pizza or eats Hostess BB muffins from a box bought at a supermarket.
So, doesn't what this really boil down to is not the claim that all selling of ourselves is the same, whether it's our minds or our bodies. But, rather, that the selling of sex is simply different --because sex shouldn't be compared to baking apple pies, or turning a wrench or developing training materials or writing documentation or coding software.
Kelley