Media Exploitation of a Sex Worker Past

Reading the stories about Louise Wightman, it occurred to me how lasting an impression sex work can have on your life.  Ms Wightman posed as a pyschologist for several years, and has been prosecuted for practicing psychology  without a license.

But.

Every headline, article and news story about her kicks off with two words-"Former Stripper."

Should sex work affect your later life?

I have gone on record before this when the subject was Tericka Dye, a teacher who was fired for having done one porn movie when she was broke and had two small children to take care of.  In that case, I argued that a porn past should have no bearing on someone's ability to get a job in the future.

This case is a little different.  Ms  Wightman was in trouble for violating state law.  You need a valid PhD in Psychology to practice in MA, and Wightman didn't have one.  She was punished.  End of story.  What bothers me is that her status as a former sex worker was the consistent lead in, although her past as a sex worker had no relationship to the content of the story.  Unlike Dye, Wightman's past as a sex worker was totally unrelated to the larger story.

It seems too easy to dismiss this constant referencing of her sex work as a rating ploy.  It makes sense, but I wonder if that's really it.

Rather, I wonder if it isn't that we want to punish any woman who steps out of her proscribed role (that of the monogamous sexual receptacle)?  I worry that our society, for all of its propaganda that women can take control of their sexuality, deep down we really do see women as the people who receive sexual advances and either accept or reject them.  We see them as cravers of monogamy.  So when a woman doesn't do that, when she owns her sexuality, and profits from it, it threatens the social norm, and thus must be punished.

I feel Wightman's story was important.  However, her former status should NEVER have been part of the equation.  The insinuation was that she was dishonest because of her past.  A stripper is a dishonest person, so a former stripper would have no problem screwing over the public?

I'm angry because I feel as though this helps set a precedent.  If you point out a person's sex worker past (or present) it then allows you to dismiss anything they say or think they have little to no ethics.  How does sex work translate to low morality?

It's important to call these sources on this.  Keep an eye on your news and anytime you hear "fomer stripper" (or sex worker) question if that status actually has any bearing on the news.  When it doesn't, write an email to the editor/producer and complain.  Hold the media responsible for the messages it's sending about sex workers.

Comments

[Musns]

If our past bears weight on our future, shouldn't anyone who ever did something wrong be held accountable?

The media is using her past as a means to get more notoriety for their newspaper, magazine etc. Because society says being sexual is wrong, anything to do with sex, in a headlines will garner attention.

Therefore I concur.

[George]

I agree completely with your position but I think you are segregating sex workers from everybody else who gets in the news with a "former ..." title. I have seen the former title applied to athletes, politicians, business leaders, musicians and more.

I don't agree with them using it for sex workers as it immediately puts the article into one of 2 perspectives. Either it is a negative insinuation implying that the piece is dirty or negative OR it gets readers (I presume mostly male) to read the article even though they are not interested in the story, they only want to read about the sexual aspect of her past.

I believe it is done for the other cases to give the reader some background about the story and where the main character comes from, what type of life they had ... former Mafioso ... etc.

Interesting post nonetheless.

[Z]

I read it less as her stripper past being a sign of her dishonesty, and more as it being a ridiculous educational leap - hey, we all know strippers must be dumb, right? How ridiculous to imagine that they could manage to pass themselves off as educated professionals.

But it's telling that she's only an ex-stripper. Who knows how many other jobs she's held down, that don't get mentioned, just because ex-Shelf Stacker doesn't sound very exciting.

[Deliciously Naughty]

Z-you bring up an interesting point.

Wightman actually has a BA in psychology and a MSW in Social Work. She has a PhD in psychology from an online university that Mass just doesn't acknowledge.

I might be off here, but I think that if she'd called herself a licensed social worker, she would've been legally safe since her credentials in that area are legit in MA.

[Vanessa]

I have noticed this and it's not just a sex-related past that becomes one's identity in the media. Anything that adds some 'teaser' value to the headline is fair game. Women do seem to take the brunt of the impact, though.

Of course, it's interesting how the titles "Former Drunk Drivers Pres. George W. Bush and VP Dick Cheney" are never used. In fact, they never even caused a blip on the media radar.

- Vanessa

[Wendy]

Have I ever told you how much I love you as an allie????

Your one fuckin' articulate woman, keep on writing and I'll keep on reading.

[Deliciously Naughty]

:Blush: Thanks Wendy :)

Vanessa--I agree with you. I just loathe that women who have a sex worker past seem to be the target more often than others.