This is a local action, specifically Washington State, specifically King County, specifically Seattle:
“I was horny.” That’s the line Peter Qualliotine says he often hears when he asks men why they bought sex from a prostitute. His stock response: “Let’s unpack horniness a little bit.”
Peter Qualliotine's new class seeks to uncover johns' "brokenness" and "desperation."
If that sounds like he’s leading a class, it’s because he is. Qualliotine, co-founder of a Seattle group called Organization for Prostitution Survivors, has for several years been teaching a local “john school” for men (and, he says, they are always men) who have been referred by the courts after being charged with patronizing a sex worker. The men, who are attending either as a condition of their sentence or to escape jail time, don’t want to be there. And little evidence exists to show that the class is changing anyone’s behavior, Qualliotine admits. He himself feels it’s likely having a limited effect. “There’s nowhere near enough time,” he explains.
More, below:
It seems that most of the men don't get it.
“Many of these men really are dangerous sexual predators,” Qualliotine says. Many, of course, are not. But even the nonviolent men, Qualliotine argues, cause harm—by perpetuating an industry that traps prostitutes (“survivors” in his lexicon) into what he deems degrading work while sexually objectifying women at large. He also contends that these men are harming themselves.
The City of Seattle is cautious, wanting solid evidence that these classes change behavior. As noted, at present they don't seem to.
We have a whole massive culture to change, a culture that places men on top economically, socially and politically. We have a built-in cultural bias against women bosses, women in power, women as president of the United States, women controlling money and having equal pay.
Steadfast defenders of the status quo want us to view the sex trade, prostitution, as a complex issue with many viable opposing views. Qualliotine is not so sanguine, he views prostitution as utterly harmful.
Ironically, this week is also the 25th anniversary of the movie "Pretty Woman", which prettifies prostitution. Qualliotine is not a fan:
I was working at the time to combat domestic violence and sexual assault. Through that work, I had begun to talk with women who had been prostituted and I was disgusted by the film’s portrayal of prostitution as normal, casual, romantic, and something to laugh about. At the time, prostitution was commonly considered a victimless crime, but what those in it told me put to rest any idea I had that these were consenting adults. Their stories still haunt me today. I had begun to see prostitution as not pretty, but ugly.
Five years later I started one of the first court-mandated programs in the nation to educate men on what it really means to buy sex, and I have been educating men on this subject ever since. I often ask men in my classes, “What was your first memory of a cultural representation of prostitution?” For so many the answer is Pretty Woman. Whether viewed onscreen in its original format, or later via television or video, the film has contributed significantly to a glossy, facile image of what is a difficult and gritty reality.
Qualliotine is actually hopeful:
I believe — that if a film like Pretty Woman were released today, it would be controversial.
I'd like to believe that too.