“So what’s a prostitute, dude? What do you think?”

“What’s a prostitute, dude? What do you think?”- This is the question I wish to ask so many people at the same time. We are so much into assuming this word to be a slang that we just throw it at any random girl. Yes, it’s ridiculous but the truth. Can you really deny not having heard people, or your own friends actually calling another woman a ‘slut’ only because probably she has had pre-marital sex or multiple sex partners or just moves on too quickly or does not get into serious relationships? Can you? Well, let me tell you she is not a slut. That is just her way of life. I am not saying it is right or wrong, I am saying whatever she is, she is not a prostitute, so please don’t call her that. So what a prostitute is? Let me define it to you. My definition is not a self assumed one but a result of a student of Literature’s personal analysis and criticism. After actually reading for three long years a lot about feminism, lesbianism, prostitution, love and lust, I have formed these conclusions. A prostitute is a very strong woman. She is brave enough to not run away from losing her virginity to anyone randomly but lose it to sustain when she has to. She is strong enough to succumb to the terrible situations she is born and brought up in, accept the miseries of life, realize that all she can do to live is throw her into sex business and do that, without fearing anyone or anything. She is brave.

And all you men who are so full of carnal instincts, what right do you have to think a prostitute is a woman without character, a woman without morals or values? Anyone of you, I challenge you, can you claim to be as strong as a slut? A slut guys is a remarkable woman. Yes, you read it right. I said a slut is a remarkable woman. Why? Because, she will throw herself into a miserable life to feed herself and yet make so many other lives less gloomy and happy with her charm. She lives in miseries and makes it her personality, she looks attractive even when she is living the worst kind of life, and she knows she has no one in the world, no love, no respect, no ‘real life’, yet she will live and she will work. Coming back to where I started, the word prostitute is not an abuse. This word only represents a firm kind of women who have no other option, so they choose a certain profession to survive. They are not criminals, they are not animals, and only circumstances make them less humane and stronger than all other. And all you commoners who use this word like a general ‘slang’, let me tell you, you need to grow up, open your eyes. Any girl, any common girl, who wears not matter what, walks no matter how, loves no matter whom, has sex with no matter how many partners, you have no right to tag her as a ‘slut’, a ‘prostitute’ a ‘whore’. She is a girl, it is her life, it is her right to do what she wants. She has had her own situations, her own struggle and her own stories. And yes, what you are calling her is not an abuse or slang. A prostitute, a real one I mean is not a metaphor for loose character (according to your personal definition) women. Stop making her that. We all have our own stories, let us not be way too judgmental and insensitive about everything every time.         ———— About the Author: This article is contributed by Ojaswini Srivastava. Ojaswini is a Respect Women’s contributor and a student of English Literature at the University of Delhi, who looks forward to study and work on gender issues. Believing herself as a feminist, an agnostic, thinker and writer, she aspires to become a respected writer someday!