I agree with the post mentioning that many other jobs are hard on the soul.
I know a few nurses who have become addicted to drugs they originally took to combat long hours, make them more insensitive to the problems on the job, and sometimes to endure pain of previous back injuries. Several nurses I know who are no longer able to work seem to have developed mental illnesses...whether they already had mental illness before, or developed this during, who knows? Nursing is an honoured profession and we only see the bright and heroic side of their lives. Has anyone done a documentary on what they endure, for roughly $32,000 per year?
As to whether prostitution causes drug addiction, I have to wonder if these women you are referring to were in any other job: waitressing, or bar tending, or real estate agent, would they be drug addicts? Probably. The tendency toward drug addiction can be heavily influenced by having a previously existing mental illness, like bi-polar disorder, ADD, and the like.
I certainly have known many waitresses at clubs to snort coke in the bathroom on breaks, and many of these women never quit waitressing; they continue until they are too old to stand. Real estate agents? I know a good many of these and they can party hard. Does being a real estate agent contribute to drug addiction? How about flight attendants? Women who are hired to look pretty and point in different directions of the cabin during the pre-flight demo, and then walk around serving drinks (and pseudo food). I grew up babysitting for many of these women and they were pretty wild, too; even back in the sixties and seventies. Do you know how many flight attendants and real estate agents end up in rehab?
Why is it when we include sex in the qualifications for the job, it suddenly becomes a shameful and demeaning profession? What is wrong with good old sex, when the participant is a consenting adult?
I have met women in the biz who hate what they do, and it shows. They feel ashamed because their sexual history has been filled with abuse before they got into the industry. Drug abuse and self loathing were already in place long before they hit their twenties.
Not all abused women become prostitutes. Some of these women become nurses and real estate agents and flight attendants, (and many other careers); these are the ones who are capable of showing up for a shift; however, many of these abused women turn to prostitution because they can work when they are feeling well and take time off when things get bad. There is a co-relation between abuse and mental illness.
I have met a good many women who love the biz and treat their bodies with respect. They also demand respect from their clients. They squirrel away the money and invest well. They may never leave this business because it is convenient for them, even if they are working a day job. Why is it ok to work as a waitress until you are seventy, but not as a prostitute? Even Xaviera Hollander, who once averred that working as a prostitute past your thirties meant you were some kind of loser, has reversed her stance. (maybe because she is now in her seventies?)
Blowing the money. Is there a difference between a prostitute who fritters her money away, from any other woman (or man) in any other career? When you pay your realtor her percentage are you sure she is not going to party for a weekend and blow a lot of that up her nose? Is it your problem? How about a lawyer? I once had a client who was a lawyer and he lost his home and his family due to a substance abuse problem. Did his career as a criminal defense lawyer contribute to that? Should his clients feel bad for hiring him and paying him the money that allowed him to live that lifestyle?
I enjoyed the thirty odd years I spent working on and off as a prostitute. It was, to me, more like an entertainment industry. I loved dressing up and really enjoyed the interaction. I was never into drugs, or drinking, or even smoking and almost always had another job. I could choose my clients and I chose well. I have to say that during a financial crisis in my life this biz was a saviour; I would never have gotten by without it. During that crisis I met other women in the biz who were going through the same crap. Women who wanted to be with their children and not have to farm them to daycare while they worked a low wage job trying to get back on their feet. I also met young women who did put themselves through university and went on to other careers...you don't hear those stories because they don't take out a page in the Sun to announce it...they just, quietly, leave.
It always surprises me that the very men who are using the services of a prostitute will say, when mentioning a woman who has left the industry: "Good on her" or words to that affect. It is a very good indicator of the state of a man's own sexual/mental health.
Consensual sex is not bad!
In the end, with any job or career, the bottom line is: I have something that will benefit you and you have something that will benefit me.
