LEARNING FROM HOOKERS

By: Richard Abowitz(BLOG/ The Movable Buffet)
College Press Special

A few months ago I got a call from an administrator at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.

She had a class of 11 students and four professors heading to Vegas to study the various ways of American consumption.

Las Vegas, of course, is an ideal place for that. The class had read an article I wrote in 2005 about the week I lived at the Chicken Ranch brothel. The administrator wanted to know if I would talk to the class about my experience there.

Instead, I put her in touch with the brothel, and yesterday the students traveled to the Chicken Ranch to meet two of the working girls and receive an unprecedented all access tour.

I was surprised when I got there to observe the exchange that the meeting was as packed with press as it was with students. A press release had gone out and everyone from the AP to the local television news was there to report on the meeting. I think that probably changed the dynamic a little. But in general, as when I visited a few years ago, the ladies who work at the Chicken Ranch felt very misunderstood and had a strong desire to be open about their lives with the students and the press.
 
Two workers, Alicia and Alexis spoke to the students. Alexis seemed a little nervous and spoke from note cards. Alicia was more vivacious and spoke from the hip. The students were very respectful. And, I think both sides found the experience fascinating.

It is interesting the way questions from a Women's Studies perspective are responded to by people who work far from academic feminism. One student asked: "We have read a lot of books and journals about body image. Do you find that is really important here and there is a certain look for this career choice?"
 
Alicia responded: "I think everyone has a certain image that they are looking for.That is why there are so many different girls that come here. There is a wide variety of women here. It is about self confidence. If you project yourself well people will gravitate to that."
 
Alexis responded: "I agree. It is amazing. One of the interesting things I learned about being here is body image is about what you feel about yourself. I have seen girls who are absolutely beautiful and all you expect a model to be and society to love and they don't get picked at all. I have seen heavier women who get picked all the time. It all depends on your confidence in yourself."
 
Does Andrea Dworkin offer any explanation for this? My point is that one thing I learned about the legal brothels is that everything about the psychology and practice of them is too complicated for the sort of pat answers that essays and textbooks provide on prostitution.
 
Students also learned that the prostitutes have the right to refuse any customer and sometimes for the most arbitrary reasons. Alicia told students that she will turn down a customer if the moment does not feel right: "If you can't communicate with someone when you are walking down to the room, then you probably not going to have a good sexual experience. For me that is a discriminating factor if you can't talk."
 
Randolph College junior Johna Strickland. 21, told me after the visit: "This was the highlight of the trip. I am all for legal prostitution now once you learn the reality of how it is here without the danger of drugs and violence. But in general it is not an issue people discuss." Her conclusion: "These are real women with an unusual job."