Eastenders -is it all misogynist? *spoiler*

[HereMeRoar]

Given some of the points made about how women who have been through traumatic events are presented as "damaged goods", what do people make of the latest Whitney spoiler that she's going to be a prostitute?

Is it a wind-up?

Given the praise they got for the handling of the sex abuse issue, and the current controversy about Ronnie (who was also abused), they are hardly portraying women as strong survivors .

As a sexual abuse victime myself I can honestly say there was a time I went down that route. Not quite prostitution for money but I slept with my friends for drugs and alcohol, and to make people like me, I am not proud of this I stopped after age 15. I also never had as horrified a reaction to the idea of selling my body for money as I have very little respect for my body also because my abuser grommed me to use my body to get what I wanted (sorry if TMI). So while they are protraying her as damaged goods sexual abuse victims can and do become drug addicts and can become prostitutes.

However I am now very against pornography and prostitution for this reason maybe this storyline will show young men and boys the kind of reasons some one goes into the sex trade and learn them to have more respect.

Crawling :( I hope you're in a better place now?

Soaps have always done this I find. Janine was a prostitute for a bit, wasn't she? And the Battersby woman in 'Corrie'. When women hit rock bottom, they seem to immediately turn to the sex industry for some reason . I suppose it's no more unrealistic that Phil Mitchell's 3 week stint as a crack addict though. And in both examples, the character will recover from their ordeal and it will never be mentioned again.

I am in a much better place now thanks here is article on on this

here
The answer below was given by prostitutes who were asked if they had been a victim of sexual abuse.
"Fifty-seven percent reported a history of childhood sexual abuse, by an average of 3 perpetrators. Forty-nine percent of those who responded reported that as children, they had been hit or beaten by a caregiver until they had bruises or were injured in some way...Many seemed profoundly uncertain as to just what "abuse" is. When asked why she answered "no" to the question regarding childhood sexual abuse, one woman whose history was known to one of the interviewers said: "Because there was no force, and, besides, I didn't even know what it was then - I didn't know it was sex"

Crawling. I'm glad to hear things are improving for you now.

Thank you for sharing your insight. I wonder what proportion of victims of sexual abuse go on to become prostitutes (rather than what proportion of prostitutes have suffered previous sexual abuse)?

I think it would be sad if in the same 12 months EE show one sexual abuse surviver as a criminal (baby snatcher) and another falling into prostitution.