Prostitution

National Catholic Reporter, April 27, 2007 by Clare Nolan

I appreciated the thoughtful letter of Bill Williams (NCR, March 16) on the articles on prostitution by Margot Patterson. But I continue to ask myself why, when we speak of the "dark side" of prostitution, we can so easily speak of the "grip of street life" on the woman or bemoan the "multiple addictions" a woman in prostitution may struggle with. But it seems well nigh impossible to converse about the man who purchases a woman for sexual use. Is this not a dark side? And might not many of these men have multiple addictions: money, power, secrecy from family, and "curb crawling" through the night? Not until we name and unmask this dark side with compassion, will we reach out to make substantial societal changes wherein no woman will be considered an object for purchase and where gender violence will cease.

CLARE NOLAN

New York