you will pay

And, if she really thinks that way, I cannot in the end follow you on feeling sorry for her having had to spread her legs 67 times, per your calculation, to accumulate her £8,000. I cannot imagine that she did this out of sheer necessity. In 21st century England, I do not think that one can still find a consumptive Fantine prostituting herself to provide food and shelter to her daughter Cosette (at least not an English girl going to school … perhaps foreign women brought illegally in the country as sex slaves may still suffer this horrible fate). If this girl really thinks as you make her think in the quote, she made a life-style choice, and the little bit of hard work and unpleasantness that come with the territory is a small price to pay for the financial rewards.

...you know that something is not quite right and would need fixing … not just the attitude of the police and the court, and the acts of the escort agency and its customers, but also the motivation of the girl, which does not appear to be entirely noble, as Fantine’s was.

What. the everloving. Hell?

No. Seriously.

God, please tell me when working for money became such an awful thing? Really. Because this isn't the first time I have encountered this attitude that is not only virulently whorephobic but well, successphobic.

We all need to make money. This is, well pretty much a fact of contemporary life. Money buys things we need.

But god forbid you WANT to make money. More money, that is. God forbid your attitude is in anyway mercenary or desirous or, hell, even greedy!

Especially if you're a woman, and a whore.

Why is it making money is only okay for whores when we're completely fucking desperate (and soon to tragically die) or when we're putting it aside for some "noble, lofty" purpose, like an education or something?

Let me get this right out there: I LOVE MONEY.

Seriously. I really, deeply love money. I love having LOTS of money. I love making lots of money.

Don't get me wrong. I ain't rich. I don't own any property or other similar assets (a car). I'm USELESS with saving - unless I have a specific goal in mind I sincerely haemorrhage money - and I never seem to be thinking about the future.

But hells bells, I love money.

It's part of the reason I work two jobs. Two jobs = more money. And more money is awesome.

Money takes care of my basic needs.
More money takes care of my frivolous needs - the comics I buy in bulk on ebay, the silly collectibles, the endless dresses and pairs of shoes and hats and jewellery, the tickets for shows I love to go to, spa treatments and massages and all the rest of the things I love that rounds out my life.

Money also enables me to buy presents for my friends and family, spot people a few drinks and hell, yes, support charities.

What, on God's green earth, is wrong with that?

Furthermore, how exactly does it differentiate me from thousands upon thousands of other people out there doing exactly the same thing?

The difference is that I make $1000 in less than half the hours of an average 9-5 day.

The difference is that just two hours work nets me more than some people's entire weekly wage.

AND I LOVE THAT.

Do you have any idea how empowering that is?

Why is it what whores do can only be justified if our money is going to some arbitrarily defined "higher purpose"? A purpose that is given meaning by outsiders, defined by what outsiders consider to be priorities? How sexphobic and misogynistic is that shit? Ok we'll let you be whores, but you have to really hate it and only be doing it at great cost to yourself because your money is going towards something we have constructed as significant.

Fuck you.

I love that, even as un-rich and un-assetted as I am, I can order a $2000 costume and know I'll make the money quickly. And always have that opportunity.

But hey you want some higher purposes, try this.

Single mums.

Think about it. She works two days a week while the kids are at school and she has enough not only to support herself, but the kids as well. And not just the necessities, but all the extra curricular activities and awesome toys. AND have time for the kids.

Or someone living with mental illness, for whom the standard 9-5, 5 days a week lifestyle means a severe and unrealistic compromise of self-care. They can work when it fits in with their needs and still make a decent amount of money to support themselves.

That's not a horrible situation to be in. That's empowering.

That's far more empowering than working some schlub job for minimum wage and never seeing your family or forcing yourself to conform to a system that hasn't allowed for your needs.

But you know what? Even discount circumstances like that and there is still nothing, not a damn thing, that makes working for money a bad thing.

Money is good. Money is freedom. Money is power. There's not a blessed thing wrong with money in and of itself.

And wanting money? Does not make anyone a bad person. It doesn't automatically make them evil, or corrupt or twisted or sick.

Very few people work exclusively for the love of it and those who do are having their basic needs cared for within the system they're working in.

When did we start believing it's wrong for us to want to live comfortably, securely, to enjoy life? Money - and remember, I'm not talking massive wealth and riches here, just enough plus a little cream on top - enables that. Money enables necessary payments and all the little extras.

Why are we expected to languish in misery, hating ourselves for the filthy lucre we make?

It's a rhetorical question, of course. I know the answer: because we dirty fucking whores contradict the established place of females. We could at least have the good grace to be miserable while we do it.

Yeah. Thanks, but uh... no thanks!