Uproar over students in Canberra brothels

there are some causal assumptions in what you’re saying Jane.

But I certainly agree the self-serving nature of the Eros foundation bears very carefull scrutiny.

The Eros Foundation had the sense to stay off the front pages and allow Canberrans to tolerate the industry provided it shut up and stayed where it belongs on the fringes of society. Now Fiona Patten is back in Canberra after a failed stint as an Internet pornographer, we have to (sight) argue with her again. In response to Fi’s front-page latest, I contacted three women who were sex workers as students, one nearly 20 years ago, and two around 10 years ago. All three cannot bring themselves to talk about it, and they have all ‘buried their past’. Not healthy. So, Fiona, let’s see some longitudonal research into the effects of a stint as a sex worker before you promote a career in the industry. There was a telling comment in the story: the johns like really, really young women. So much for a career path?
By the by – except it’s not a side issue – two of my friends ended up with drug problems after their sex worker student phase. If they could bring themselves to talk about it (and of course I haven’t pushed the conversations) I doubt they would have anything good to say about Ms Patten’s 15 years or so fronting for the industry while pretending to have women’s interests at heart.

Maybe I’m a bit harsh, but I don’t find it “sad” that some girls try that line of “work” to get out of debt – I think its pathetic.

Yep, harder to get a job if you need to be somewhere else 9-5, but if that means you have to work nights and weekends, so be it – do that in a bar or a restaurant.

Yes, you’d have to work more hours for the same money, but at least you can live with yourself.

Most of those girls, in my experience, are already a bit damaged i’ll grant you.

I think ‘some girls it isn’t a big deal’ is a bit glib. A psychologist I lived with said it has to leave a permanent effect on a woman’s state of mind – and not to mention her attitude to sex and man in her non-work life.
It is sad because many young girls try it out to pay off a few debts, and then find it hard to give up the money.
Some uni courses require 9-5 attendance – it is hard to work on top of this.

Don’t cry for these girls. They are grown ups and if they didn’t want to work in a knock shop, they could get a job in a cafe, as an office temp etc etc etc.

I work to pay a mortgage, vehicle rego, maintenance, insurance, food, drinking habits (etc ad nauseum) and I do it on less than $800 – $1200 a week.

I doubt very much that your average 18 – 25 yo student has the same overheads as I, so therefore, they don’t HAVE to work as hookers to pay their bills. On that sort of manoey, they are paying for luxries that a lot of miss out on. That’s the price you pay I guess.

I’m not saying that it’s a good or bad thing, I’m just saying the Gov’t does not force people to whore themselves out to make a living. As much as Stanhope wished it were; This is not Cuba.

Johnboy, I know lots of girls who got through uni without becoming prostitutes too. I myself took part time clerical jobs. But it’s still bloody hard going, especially if you’re not living with your parents – which everyone seems to assume is the thing to do. (But have you MET my mother?!)

Seriously though, all I’m saying is that the government has made being a student much harder than it needs to be, and there are some girls out there who think becoming a sex worker is the ideal solution.

But it’s not easy money at all. And if they take a job in a brothel, I wouldn’t imagine it’s a decision taken lightly.

But Annie, I know plenty of girls who manage to get through uni working in jobs outside of the sex industry.

Technically this is not NEW news. It’s a well-known fact that a percentage of students do work in brothels to support their studies.

And yes, technically they’re not being forced to do it, and some girls aren’t bothered by what they do to make money.

But for others, it’s the only way to support themselves, because the system of government assistance for students is an absolute shambles. It’s there for face value only.

The main impediment isn’t HECS, because you can pay that back through tax later. It’s the living expenses that are the killer for those students who don’t or can’t live at home.

Have any of you actually TRIED to live on Youth Allowance or Austudy? Or had to deal with Centrelink, who is convinced you’re not trying to get a qualification so you can get a job, but that you’re trying to drain the public purse of valuable moneys that could be spent on MP superannuation?

BIBLE SMASH!!!

Oh please, this is not even new news about students working at brothels. Where does the sudden rush of morality comes from?

Hardly a shock…who do they expect to be working in brothels? The Canberra Times wheels out a front page brothel story every year or so…I reckon it’s just cleverly disguised advertising…what better ad than a front page photo of a scantily clad student hooker?

People are having the sex? FUCKING SCANDAL!!!

I encourage it!

Errr…. not that I’ve ever visited such an establishment. I wonder what they do there…. play hearty games like Celebrity Head and drink cognac???