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Research Forum Exploration of Local History
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| Phil Reader |
 Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 7:54 pm |
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 386
Location: Live Oak
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AN OLD WHORE MONGERS DEFINITION OF PROSTITUTION.
by Phil Reader
The dictionary tells us that prostitution is “the act of indulging in promiscuous sexual behavior for some form of economic reward.” A more liberal meaning of the word is to “freely offer up, or exchange a thing of importance in an unworthy fashion.” However for our purposes, the former will suffice.
Prostitution is commonly known as the worlds oldest profession and according to most accounts, historical and mythological, it appears that this just might be the case. All civilizations and cultures throughout human history have maintained a wealth of literature dealing with sex, in general and the practice of prostitution, in specific. It is likely that there are professions as old as prostitution, but unlikely that there are any older.
Among lower life forms, particularly mammals, there are set patterns of sexual behavior but all are geared toward reproduction of the species. But there has been vague suggestions that a crude form of prostitution can be detected in pre-human animal communities. On occasion, a female baboon will offer herself sexually to a male and at some point during the act, she will attempt to steal his food. The unsuspecting male may detect this effort but he usually tolerates the exchange. The same holds true of certain species of Penguins. But generally speaking, prostitution is primarily a human activity. Only humankind has developed the degree of social and economic sophistication necessary to create such a system on a world wide basis.
So when did it all begin?
A case can be made for the fact that it was Eve, the mother of us all, who “turned the first trick” way back at the beginning of time. The good book tells us that one one fine day in Eden, the serpent, cursed among all wild creatures of the garden, slithered up and made a cunning appeal to the vanity of the woman. It assured her that if she would partake of “the forbidden fruit,” she would never grow old, lose her beauty, and die. This promise, of course, held such great appeal to her that she quite willingly devoured the fruit. Then she gave some to Adam and he, naturally enough, ate of it also.
Afterwards, they began to feel quite naked so they covered themselves with fig leaves in order to hide their nakedness. They secreted themselves in the bushes and remained there until the Good Lord came walking through the garden in the cool of the day.
“Where are you?” He called out.
A frightened Adam blurted back, “Here I am Lord, I was naked so I hid myself.”
Knowing full well that they had broken his commandant and eaten the forbidden fruit, God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and condemned them to a life of pain and toil.
At this juncture in the Genesis narrative we are told that Adam “knew” Eve. Modern scholars tell us that “to know” is from the Hebrew word “yada” and is a euphemism sexual intercourse. To have carnal knowledge of. So this passage describes the first sex act in human history.
But was it prostitution? Indeed no money changed hands, not even your basic shekel, pound or Euro. Was it in exchange for goods of some type? No, none mentioned. What about love, was it done for love? It is highly unlikely that the childlike Adam and Eve were capable of such a sophisticated emotion. So we are left with pure old fashion lust or rape. But none of us want to believe that our parents were guilty of such animalistic behaviors, so we are back to prostitution.
There are those that postulate that when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, she was over come with a sense of guilt as well as a sense of nakedness. And not wanting to be the only sinner in Eden, she promised to “show Adam a good time” if he eats also. The easy sexual nature of the human male is a well established fact , so he was quick to consume the fruit and, he, too, quite willingly fell from grace and into Original sin.
So since the dawn of time, men have pursued women with knuckle dragging enthusiasm. |
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