August 18, 2011
Hey Big Spender!
Gold diggers, temporary wives, and ravenous babes coming to a gold mine near you!
Mothers desperate to feed their families, young girls trafficked, entrepreneurs seeking adventure and fortune. They come as merchants, as cooks. Some come by choice, some by force. They come for the promise of high earning potential. They operate as “temporary wives” and community developers. On rare occasions women work side by side with men in the mines, but usually—bound by strict gender roles—women access gold by providing services, selling comfort, creating community, developing social stability, and generally ensuring the well being of male miners.
Indeed the “oldest profession,” you’d be hard pressed to find any gold mine past or present that doesn’t have an accompanying sex “service” industry embedded in the social fabric of the surrounding community. Within that society (like any other) is a strict hierarchy of stigma. Selling sex is all about intention and purpose. Out of work, out of options, need to feed your hungry children? Saintly martyr. Like glamour and glitz and spending cash? Scandalous whore. Innocent 11 year old slave girl? Could go either way. Love is apparently never part of this equation