to think the word 'prostitute' isn't appropriate for under 9's?

[blossomrusso]

They are rape victims, surely?

what the crap?

Er no

What? Where was that?

?

Do you mean a 9 year old being used in the sex industry? In that case, yes I agree that they are rape victims.

Do you mean describing a child under 9 as a prostitute is not right and they should be classed as victims of rape as they are too young to intentionally sell their bodies?

Oh I thought you were going to say your 9yo had got this word for a spelling test.

But you're right.

I think CF and Ineedacleaner may have successfully decoded the OP!

Is this about something in the news? Deliberately provocative OP, not nice.

I also thought it was going to be a word used in the classroom and the OP was objecting to it.

Maybe that's it....

I think it's about a news article that describes children as young as nine in Mexico being forced into sex for money with tourists due to extreme poverty. I can't remember where I saw it though. Very sad.

I agree. It is also not appropriate to use for adult victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Sadly the term 'forced into prostitution' is commonly used, even by support agencies, govt departments and media.

I think that there is a general squeamishness about saying "this woman was raped several times a day by a sequence of strange men", and instead it is described a "forced to have sex with several clients a day".

It comes from the same mindset as victim blaming for victims of rape, and means that the situation is described from the viewpoint of the man - "I thought she was a free-willed prostitute, I didn't know I was raping her", rather than describing accurately what has happened to the woman.

It is also a way of making the woman or child 'other'. By calling them a prostitute, with the negative connotations it holds, the victim is seen as having done something to have brought the situation upon themselves, and to have behaved in a way that our sisters, mothers, daughters and ourselves never would.

why under 9? when they hit 9,10,11,12 it's ok then?

Sorry if that wasn't clear. I meant that under 9 yo sex workers (dont like that phrase either, though) shouldn't be described as prostitutes.

You still aren't being clear though. As spider pig says, why pick 9? You are going to have to stop being cryptic if you want a discussion.

I dont really want a discussion, tbh. More of a poll. It came from someone calling sex workers with an average age of 9 (so presumable 1/2 are under this?) as prostituites. I wanted to see how other people thought of this terminology.

At the end of the day, the poor little things are doing what they do whatever you call it. I really don't think (I may be wrong) that it would make one iota of difference to them whatever term is used.

Well it does make a difference, as Thistledew explained, because language frames how we think to a certain extent. If people were quicker to refer to it as child sex abuse, which it clearly is, then perhaps people would be slower to shrug their shoulders at it and write it off as "the oldest profession" etc etc, and we could make sex tourism completely unacceptable.

In response to the question - hell no, it isn't appropriate. A 9 year old is a rape victim in this scenario, not a prostitute.

I don't see how the OP is provocative at all (it's not terribly clear, I can see that). It's both obvious and tragic, the more so if anyone's justifying the use of the term.

I have been working with young people who have been sexually exploited for over 10 years. It's almost impossible to get people to accept the term sexually exploited rather than prostitute.

No child chooses to sell their body for money, it's just rape and explotation.

Not sure why OP thinks it's prostitution over 9 though?

Oh for fucks sakes where has the op said it is not prostitution if it's over 9. I think she is referring to a report where the age of 9 was used as an average.

I agree with LRD has says.