File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/aut-op-sy.9708, message 91


From: "Karl Carlile" <expresspost-AT-tinet.ie>
Subject: AUT: Re: M-TH: Prostitutes 
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 15:39:39 -0700


A KARL CARLILE MESSAGE:


KARL: Prostitutes do not necessarily form part  of the working class
since
they do not sell labour power as a commodity. They are not wage
workers. 

By contrast the prostitute sells his/her body, as opposed to labour
power, as a commodity on the exchange market. This means that s/he
sells her/his body piece meal over a sustained period. Her/his body is
the commodity. The purchaser of her/his body relates to it as a
commodity. In this sense s/he is a simple commodity producer: an
independent commodity producer. This means that the class character of
the prostitute is petty bourgeois rather than working class.

Clearly this situation is modified if there is a pimp involved in the
business of the prostitute. Under these conditions the prostitute sells
her/his body as commodity in exchange for money. Now the prostitute
through the medium of the market exchanges value in the form of a
simple commodity for value in the form of money. There obtains equal
exchange. There is no unequal exchange and consequently no exploitation
either direct or indirect by the purchaser of the body commodity. 

However there is a form of oppression and exploitation when the pimp
forcibly extracts a portion of this value from the prostitute. S/he
extracts value in the form of money from the prostitute outside of the
exchange process. Nothing is exchanged by the pimp for this value in
its money form. It is simply appropriated by the pimp. In this sense
this relationship of appropriation takes place outside the limits of
value relations. Consequently not only does the pimp/prostitute
relationship transcend capitalist relations but it also transcends
simple value relations. The pimp acquires value gratis by virtue of the
fact that the prostitute sells her/his body as commodity.

 The prostitute turns her/his body into a commodity. This is the chief
distinction between worker and prostitute. The worker turns her/his
labour power into a commodity while the prostitute turns her/his body
into a commodity. In this regard their exists a commonality between
slavery and prostitution. The body of both are exchanged as
commodities. However in the case of the slave his body as commodity is
not her/his. In the case of the prostitute the body is hers/his. This
is a significant distinction.

Another distinction is that in the case of the slave the body is sold
all at once while in the case of the prostitute it is sold piece meal.
It is sold on a continuous basis. This means that even though s/he
sells her body it is not sold in toto. Consequently even though s/he is
engaged in the business of selling it, because of the peculiar way in
which it is done, s/he still maintains overall ownership over it
outside business hours. It is this peculiarly limited form in which her
body is sold that prevents the prostitute from being reduced to the
status of a slave. 

The prostitute reproduces his/her body so that s/he can sell it on the
market. By selling his/her body as commodity s/he is exchanging the
form of value in the form of commodity for the form of value in the
form of money. The latter is the value form by which she can continue
to reproduce her body  in order to sell it again. Now the prostitute
who tends to produce a "better quality body" by putting more labour
into the reproduction of her body increases the value of her body and
thereby the price she gets for it.
 
The prostitute contributes to the creation of value as a simple
commodity producer by selling her body as a commodity. S/he then makes
a contribution to the economic system by creating value. As a petty
commodity producer s/he is petty bourgeois and not a member of the
working class. Her/his petty bourgeois position will tend to reflect
itself in her/his politics and culture. Her/his economic condition, as
prostitute, tends to be a function of the specific character of the
capitalist 
economy at any given time, the quality of her/his body as commodity,
the degree to which her/his body as commodity enters the exchange
process, whether or not s/he has a pimp or employer and the character
of her/his relationship to either.

To sum up: As far as the circulation process goes there takes place
equal exchange between the prostitute and her customers. In that sense
there is no exploitation of the prostitute. People who are quick to
frown on prostitution because the body is sold as a use value  tend to
be reluctant to frown on the selling of labour power by workers. Why
should selling one's body be qualitatively any worse than selling one's
labour power to an industrial capitalist. Both can be considered
alienating and oppressive as forms of human conduct. Yet the selling of
labour power is experienced as an acceptable social norm  beyond moral
reprobation. Indeed the latter ipso facto entails exploitation whereas
the former does not. Workers who are the customers of prostitutes are
not ipso facto exploiting them. 









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