The world's oldest customer

Interesting article, I've only cut and paste the conclusion, cause it's pretty long. You can read the rest here.

The world's oldest customer

By Yotam Feldman

In addition to her allegations against the police, Levenkron is also furious with the clients. "They all think that the victim of trafficking is some other woman," she says. "'My private Natasha,' they say, 'is happy to open her legs every evening in the escort service I visit. She is not a trafficking victim.' That is exactly the image that is cultivated in ads for sex services - she does kickboxing, she works in high-tech - that is what they have in their head. She enjoys all the clients."

Curator Ariella Azoulay suggests speaking about the clients more explicitly as rapists. "When we speak about the 'sex industry' and about 'clients,' it is impossible to recognize the rape that trafficked women testify time and again that they went through as part of the 'examination' of their quality as merchandise as rape. The notion that we need to enact additional legislation so that it will be possible to try the rapists - who in most cases are the traffickers of the bondswomen - is fundamentally mistaken. The problem is not the law; the law exists, and it prohibits rape. The problem is that women who are deprived of civil status cannot enjoy the protection of the law, certainly not when they are assaulted by Israeli men who possess a civil status."

What do you think of the use of the word "client" for men who go to prostitutes?

"With regard to trafficking of women, the term 'client' diverts our attention from the real point - the fact that this is the renewal of slavery. The women are not selling services and they do not have clients; these are women who were enslaved by coercion - and, one could say, by the light of day - to a master who keeps them as bondswomen. The term 'client' affords this whole business a facade of normality. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the effort to divide attention between the prostitute and those who benefit from the enslavement of women like her is extraordinarily important. But we have to be careful not to forget that we are dealing in the first place with a social, legal and political structure that makes the phenomenon possible and preserves it. It is that structure which has to be attacked." W



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