ABSTRACT
WHISPER is a national organization of women who have survived the sex industry. Their purpose is to expose the conditions that make women and children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and trap them in systems of prostitution, to expose and invalidate cultural myths about women used in prostitution and pornography, and to end trafficking in women and children. The central flaw in the sexual liberals’ analysis is that it ignores survivors of prostitution who have testified repeatedly that they did not experience prostitution as a career. Survivors have described the act of prostitution as “disgusting,” “abusive,” and “like rape,” and explained that they learned to cope with it by disassociating themselves from their bodies or by using drugs and alcohol to numb physical and emotion pain. Some sexual liberals justify prostitution as the altruistic creation of women of color. Racist law enforcement policies disproportionately target women of color for harassment, arrest, imprisonment and fines.
