This essay originally comes from Ye Haiyan’s blog; the director and founder of the Grassroots Rights Center. She’s apparently very well known online as an advocate of women’s rights, particularly as they relate to sex workers. I’ve been trying to provide various types of support for their efforts, my own interest stemming from her incredible story, and a broader interest in gender dynamics as they relate to planned birth policies resulting in nationwide gender imbalances.

I have extremely conflicted feelings about legalization of prostitution in any context and don’t know what the answer is. Legal or not, much of the Center’s work centers around removing social stigmas that are attached to sex work, such that those involved can seek medical and legal help. Translation mine, original Chinese below:

Sex Workers or Brothelgoers: which are more contemptible?
Ye Haiyan

The strongest part of human nature requires that there be ’sex workers’ and ‘brothelgoers.’ For life to go on, it requires passion. If one day men and women remove all sexual desire, men no longer lust after women, women will look upon men and be completely disgusted, it’s very possible that the value of life will slowly degenerate into nothing.

In order to give humans the highest probability of spreading, the Creator made it that men would spare no effort in sowing their seed. Only through sexual exploits will life flourish.

Pregnancy is an extremely fortunate event; the providence of miracles. Life cannot entrust its hopes to a single male and a single female. Therefore, life makes every man and every women pursue sex with numerous partners, as a way to assure the best chance of reproduction, the only way that life can flourish.

If humans were like animals, and only sought the perfect love, perfect chastity, it wouldn’t be long before disaster. Furthermore, the reason that humanity is so widespread and vigorous is due to human’s sex drive as being equally as vigorous.

In order to satisfy sexual urges, men will often become brothel patrons, an instance of moral corruption. Life essence swells within, and must be released to spread more life. Men and women both have a duty to support the continuation of new life, and originally this was a pure and beautiful thing; however, human civilization has caused people to become greedy and selfish, and turn sex into an immoral and illegal act, which causes this original, beautiful thing to become filthy, repulsive. These serve as moral shackles, restraining the most basic instincts, the most fundamental source of life.

Sex workers are a disadvantaged group simply trying to find a means to provide themselves with sustenance. If someone is so poor that they don’t even have the means to live, in order to continue living, she is capable of doing anything. Just as people once began using money to make exchanges, she will use the sole valuable skill she has to earn a living. Prostitution is just a means to live. No matter if someone is a brothel patron or a sex worker, their actions are all for the sake of living, or satisfying life’s needs.

Also, this is in line with respecting the status of life. Just as the Buddha said, “All living creatures are equal.” The life of an ant, and the life of a human are the same in terms of nobility, all go through the miraculous fission of cells to be born. Therefore, all animate things go through the same process. We should treasure and revere them; we should not belittle them; even more importantly, we should not harm them.

Comments:

Remember, your calling it ‘contemptible’ is also degenerate

I’d like to ask: what of those who go to buy sex toys? Sell sex toys, are they also contemptible? What if you need to smoke, and go to buy a pack of cigarettes, is that contemptible? Only those who don’t TMD ["motherf****"] respect others would stir up trouble. It’s all just consumption. Don’t you know!?

Prostitution is a tradition (with an extremely long history) with direct distribution (direct selling, no advertising costs, no middle-man costs, low cost, high profit) industry. With regards to the situation and laws (in some places all you need to do is register, and then you can operate) is rational. Capitalist countries and many developed countries derive taxes from this trade, resulting from this sort of direct distribution. Moreover, isn’t this expansive industry in line with party officials statements for “three advantages” – since there are advantages to invigorate the market (note that those places that are extremely prosperous are also the places with the most open red light districts), it can also increase people’s cultural level (at the very least it will reduce the number of rapes, on the occasion that [people's] TMD brains are filled with water [become extremely stupid]), also has advantages to increase the power of the nation (what’s the source of the nation’s prosperity? Taxes, all that’s needed is that the industry is healthy, and it could easily replace the smoking tax / monopoly as the one of the most important sources of tax revenue, the nation would then be wealthy, who can say that it wouldn’t help the state?) What is reform and opening? It means changing people’s concepts, and opening their minds to new ideas. If you just “reform” without understand “opening,” isn’t that just like farting [useless]?

Both [prostitutes and brothel goers] are doing it for satisfaction, or needs, their existence is therefore rational.

Original:

红尘女与嫖客，哪一个更下贱？（流氓燕）

这是在我的博客里产生的一个话题。

我无法忍受“下贱”这个词汇对生命的侮辱，所以，想提前说出我的看法：红尘女与嫖客都不下贱！因此，也不存在谁比谁更下贱。

人性中最原始的欲望导致“红尘女”与“嫖客”的存在。生命的延续需要欲望，而且需要精力充沛，精神饱满的欲望。如果有一天，男人与女人都失去了性欲，男人看见女人无法勃起，女人看见男人就满心嫌恶，也许，生命的质量也会大大贬值。

是“造物主”为了增加生命存活的概率，才让男人四处“播种”。雄性的性泛滥，才赢得了生命的繁荣。

受孕是一件非常偶然的事情，生命的萌芽更是千亿万精卵的巧合。生命不能把希望寄托在任何唯一的雄性或雌性身上，所以，它让雄性与雌性都与不同的异性交配，以保证新生命诞生的高概率，达到生命繁荣的目的。

如果动物与人一样，追求绝对的一对一的性爱贞节，早就灭绝了。而人类之所以这么强盛，也是因为性的强悍，性的强悍便是生殖力的强悍。

男人仅仅因为满足性欲而成为嫖客，就不是道德败坏的表现。生命的因子，在他的体内膨胀，需要他去释放从而产生新的生命。男人与女人都背负着延续生命的职责，这本来是件很单纯很神圣的事情，可是，人类文明却因为自私而赋予性爱以罪恶的外衣。让本来美好的性事，变得肮脏、丑恶。让男人与女人冤枉地带上，道德的枷锁，残酷地压抑着人性里最真实，最原始的生命源力。

红尘女是弱势女性谋取生活物资的一种生活方式。如果一个人穷得没有任何生活物资，为了把生命延续下去，她会做任何事情。就像始人类的货币交易一样，她只有拿出自己唯一可以出卖的资本去换取生存的资本。做红尘女只是一种不同于体力交易与物币交易的生存方式。不论红尘女与嫖客，都只因为活着，或必须活着。

另，也是本着尊重生命的立场。正如佛家所说，“众生平等”。一只蚂蚁与人类的生命同样高贵，都是经历了神奇的细胞的裂变与重生。所有生命的诞生都是一个伟大的过程。我们应该珍视，应该敬畏，不应该贬低，更不应该受害。

Comments:

记得你说过`下贱`也是堕落

想要问一下：懂得去买自慰器的人下贱吗？那卖自慰器的人也下贱吗？你现在需要抽烟，买上一包烟就下贱了吗？什么嫖客不嫖客的？？在TMD不懂得尊重别人要惹祸的！那是消费者！！知道吗？
红尘女做的是一个传统（历史悠久了）直销（直接销售，现过现，无广告费，无中间环节费，低成本高利润）行业，和情和法（现在有的地方挂牌就可营业了）又合理，资本主义国家以及许多发达国家一项重要税收就来源于这份直销。况且这一伟大行业还符合党中央领导人说的“三个有利于”，既有利于搞活市场经济（看看那个地方不是越繁荣的地方红灯越开的亮），有利于提高全民文化素质（至少强奸犯少了，偶尔有也是TMD脑袋进水的那种），有利于提高综合国力（国家繁荣来自什么？税收呗，只要此行业健康良性发展，有可能还会取代烟草等十大税收之一，国家有钱了，谁敢说综合国力提不高的？）。什么叫改革开放？那就是既要改革个人观念，又要开放思想。若只想“改革”又不懂得“开放”，那做个屁啊？

都是为了满足，甚或需要，存在就是合理