METROPOLITAN
Portland Observer, May 27,1982 Page 3
r.
Street Beat
Ron
Person,
A g ric u ltu ra l
w orker— " I d o n ’ t know . It could
have worker out better. A couple o f
measures I ’ m not too satisfied
w ith — especially the one dealing
with more taxes on trucks traveling
on the roads.”
Boles students Lisa Channel, Ronald Hale, Roy
clay and Regina Davis and their principal, Dave
This week we took the question,
" H o w did you feel about the results
o f the last election— were you satis
fied?” , to the streets.
Phyllis Houston, student— " I ’ m
not really satisfied. I think H arold
Williams should have won. We need
a black leader in District 18.”
Ellen, carpenter— “ No. I think in
District 18 it is silly that there isn’t a
black representative. Out o f all the
good candidates that there— a white
male w on.”
M cC rea, w are w inners of the 197«
Goodyear Blimp assay contaat. (Photo: Dan Long»
Students vie for blimp trip
The O bserver w ill sponsor its
third annual Goodyear blim p ride
for students next week.
Students w ill be selected from
Applegate Elementary School and
Boise Elem entary School through
their essays on " I f I were the
Goodyear Blimp..."
Judges will be City Commissioner
Charles Jordan; Sharon M c C o r
mack, D irecto r, Northwest N eigh
borhoods Against C rim e ; Steve
Buel, School Board member and
teacher; C ounty Com m issioner
C aro lin e M ille r; James Loving,
D ire c to r,
King
N eighborhood
Facility; and Ruth Spencer, Director
o f the Oregon M in o rity Educators
Organization.
Prostitution: Questions, answers
by Harris Levon McRae
For the past several weeks the Ob
server has attempted to look at pros
titution in Portland and to see what
all the concern involving it is about.
P rostitution in Po rtlan d and in
the U n ited States as a whole is a
phenomenon that takes a variety of
forms based on the activities o f the
prostitutes and the relationships
they have with their customers.
An attempt was made to address
this complex issue with a m u lti-fa
ceted approach including interviews
w ith the prostitutes themselves as
well as customers, the police, the
business community and other con
cerned citizens.
Prostitution deals with the selling
o f sex. Sexuality is learned mainly
thorugh social in tera ctio n w ith
others and derives its meaning from
(hose relations and th e ir c u ltu ra l
context. Because o f this, human sex
uality is highly variable.
"A c tu a lly prostitution comes in
several ways. You have to be a pros
titute to get and k-ep some of those
so-called 's traig h t* jo b s ," one
woman commented.
Since prostitution is influenced by
the prevailing notions o f sexuality in
the society, its m eaning can vary
from time to time.
M an y people believe that only
poor and minority women are pros
titutes despite the fact that many
white women are visible “ hooking”
on the streets, and despite the fact
that pimps many times recruit girls
who arc runaways from middle class
homes. Also, traditionally, prostitu
tion has been defined in terms o f fe
males, but there are a large number
o f male prostitutes on the streets as
well.
A lot of people involved in prosti
tution today were victims o f sexual
and physical abuse. They had been
victimized as children. Because they
didn’t have a family support system
many o f them had to find other
ways to survive.
" I ran away fro m home and I
needed some money. I met this guy
who was a pimp and I hung out for
a little while. After about a week he
threatened to jump on me. He never
did though. I got into prostitution
because I couldn’t just lay around
the streets like some bum ,” one f if
teen-year-old girl related.
A p im p w ill usually try to con
vince a person whom he wants to
sell sex fo r him that he is in love
w ith them , and that they are the
most important thing in his life. He
(or she) acts as the person’s fam ily
and best frie n d fo r a w h ile. The
pim p provides shelter and f o o d -
setting (he person up for sexual ex
ploitation.
“ All I worry about is getting (hat
mind. Once 1 get the mind, the body
can’t be too far behind. When you
turn a chick out you have to put in
her mind what you want to be there
— otherw ise her m orals, or w h a t
ever, can complicate things,” one
pimp said.
Some prostitutes get involved as a
means to support themselves and
their families. Some married wom
en sell sex to men other than their
husbands— with the husband's en
couragement. Those dollars that the
wife brings in may be the difference
between paying the rent or not.
O th er women w ork daytim e jobs
and sell sex at night for fun and ex
citement.
Citizens ask why prostitutes can't
be taken o ff the streets. Where are
the police?
“ Prostitutes are a good source of
in fo rm a tio n fo r a police o ffic e r.
The prostitute on the street sees and
hears a lo t. M any o f the bad guys
talk to prostitutes all o f the tim e.
There isn’t an awful lot a uniformed
officer can do about prostitution.
He can watch a person for a while
and then make a loitering arrest if a
person is engaged in conduct s u ffi
cient to show that they are loitering
for prostitution," said Captain Bob
T o b in o f the P o rtla n d Police
Department.
" H a rd time in my opinion is not
the answ er, but the police or the
crim inal justice system has to pro
vide an alternative. Maybe a work
release p ro g ram . I know that in
Portland we need to be able to take
the prostitute o ff the street and put
them into some type o f government
custody,” Captain Tobin added.
Since men usually seek out wom
en for sex in exchange for money,
and it is the women who agree and
submit, any view of prostitution has
to come to terms with the role and
place o f women in our society.
There is no doubt that economic
exploitation is an im portant factor
in the oppression o f women. In an
already a ir-tig h t jo b m arket more
women w ill turn to prostitution in
order to earn a living.
There are several ways that wom
en can be helped and supported as
far as leaving prostitution or never
getting involved in it.
W e— our society— need to have a
large-scale program o f support and
services which realizes how severe
the situation o f a woman trying to
stay out o f prostitution is. The sup
port should include food and a place
to sleep, counseling, a id help in de
veloping other econ imic a lte rn a
tives such as a job or e iucational pro
gram.
As much as prostitution is in the
news these days, it is not unique to
our time. Prostitution existed in an
cient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The
selling o f sex has shown a rem ark
able persistence in d iffe re n t times
and cultures.
We have looked at many factors
that relate to prostitution including
cultural, sociological and economic
ones, and it has been shown that
there is no one answer to the social
questions posed by prostitution.
One businessman seems to have
summed it up pretty well: I t ’ s the
oldest game in the world— they ain't
gonna stop it now.
Commercial
Fred Hayes, fo u n d a ry w orker—
" Y e s , your vote is always w orth
som ething every tim e you cast it.
Y o u r vote is gonna count fo r
something one way or another.”
D in a Popp, nurses a id — " N o , I
Willis Turner, retired— “ W e ll, I
just don’t think that politicians live
guess so. Everybody voted the way
they w anted. T h a t ’ s the way up to th e ir promises. They are
A m erica is, the m a jo rity get their making cuts where the money situa
tio n is tig h t. I would lik e to see
way so I have to be satisfied.”
people— especially the eld erly be
reimbursed for money they lost in
the cuts.”
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