September 16, 2011
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| L-R : I, Jayn, Mommy, Lesli Kay, Matmat (with K at the back) |
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| L-R: Shayne, Leslie Kay, I, Jayn (at the back), Matmat |
JAYN WAS ABSENT. T.T
Leslie Kay too was absent in the afternoon.
How SAD.
(now, it's 9:13pm and I'm damn bored... there's something wrong with my phone perhaps.... I only received exactly 8 messages today. 2smartload, 2 from Mommy, 1 from Matmat, 2 from Jayn, 1 from Yohann...
and a phone call from Jayn which roughly lasted for 10 minutes.
Here it goes...
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4:50pm
Just 10 minutes before 5 o'clock but I'm off from work. This is not considered 'under time' when you are working at a language center, for us, ESL instructors, we transfer our skills to the English idiots day by day, 50 minutes each session. Get it? Okay... so much on this, our free car pool was waiting to send us all home.
5:45pm
Matmat and I reached Robinsons Mall. We dashed our way to Mr. Quickie to have her brother's shoes done. We left them there and we went directly to Afriques' and had our dinner. We feasted on overcooked Pasta el pesto and Chicken in a basket which was was slightly salty, the batter was crispy and a little half-cooked on the inside... LOL daw peach mango pie lang?!
Disappointed, we left no tip.
6:30pm
The escalator going up didn't work, so we had no choice but march our way up to the third floor of the mall and had refreshing iced tea in Chaiz' cafe. Puffed some sticks of green/mentholated lung'ticide' (I need not advertise here.. duh), and played 'Jewel quest' on my phone as we waited for the shoes to be done.
7:20pm
We returned to Mr. Quickie and got the newly-shined shoes. They were as good as new. Matmat paid for them for only 50 pesos. Satisfying indeed. Next stop was 'Mr. Labada'. We returned for some dry-cleaned garments.
We hired a taxi to go home.
AND NOW MY POINT....
As our taxi traversed through Delgado street, a small house turned into a whorehouse (according to what I heard) gleaming with its hot pink neon light on the doorway caught my prying eyes. I sounded, "Shudafugs, bonggit nhe (Matmat)! ang babaylan sa sulod ho.... Jeya waitaloo sa customer kyor! Jeya temprano pa ma sikangkang! Hahahahaha" !(@#$%, the girl inside is waiting for her customer as early as now.)
That scene passed, or we were the ones who drove past that scene. Either way, the thought about prostitution suddenly made me wonder. I voicelessly imagined being a "prosti." I tittered. I envisaged being in the prostitute's position. Would I make more money as I enjoy having sex with a stranger? Should I let myself frisked, mutilated, banged for tuition fee?
I don't pity them. I somehow understand why they have to do it. Can they still escape that 'degrading' situation? Some of them may just be college or high school students who lack money for good education.
In our dialect, we call someone 'Alpot', 'Bigatlan' when we mean 'Hooker', 'Bitch' or 'Sex worker', or Someone who enjoys having sex just for the fun it. We somehow forget that we unconsciously call even our dear friends with those terms, nonetheless. Yet it's for fun and no offense meant.
If someone says "Lee Alpot", even on FBchat as a way of saying 'Hi Lee!', it is just as good as them praising me for I think 'ang haba ng hair ko' or something like, 'I'm a bitch'. 'I'm in'. Snap snap.
Well, to justify my claim that society’s definition of prostitution is superficial, we must take a glimpse at the way by which it (by “it” I mean the society) judges things . In a society, there are sets of rules by which people abide. Those rules of course, are the bases for judging what things, or actions are defined as right or wrong, what’s moral or immoral. To separate what’s right from its opposite, a certain society takes into consideration at least two aspects; which are, first, religion (which is more widely used as it seems to be more consistent) and second, human instincts. The former, as I have mentioned, is more depended on simply because, through it, people are more simplified.
In any religion, followers are asked to follow their god’s teachings, practically for their own good. Religion is also the basis for discriminating immoral from moral. Take Catholicism as an example. We have the Ten Commandments that we are supposed to be wary of every day that we are alive. Relatively, a lot of people do give importance to the commandments. But why are we actually supposed to follow those ten rules? The answer to that is the same answer to the question why there are rules set in a society. There is a need for order. People within a certain community or what have you are supposed to live together harmoniously. That’s what the Holy Bible of Catholics say too. In essence, through religious rules, people get generalized. As such, society makes use of those rules to ensure that social order remains relatively intact. For, if human instincts are to be followed, things will just go crazy. That’s because humans seem to have a need to be individuals, and not just people. Which, in retrospect, brings us back to religion yet again. Individualism is, to a certain extent, erased through religious rules. That being so, society then incorporates these rules to keep society nice and pretty.
Now that I have delved too much into society and religion, I’ll have to go back to my main topic. Prostitution. When that word is heard, people basically think that those who practice it are sinners; individuals who go against God and society. Being that they are sinners, they are considered immoral. But more than what society thinks of prostitutes, we must give more importance to how prostitutes regard their profession. Which is exactly my point. Prostitutes regard prostitution as a profession. And rightfully so, because, in all sense, they experience the exact same things that any ordinary “decent” employee goes through. They get tired from too much work. They treat customers as objectively as possible. They retire too, when old age sets in.
Hookers, gigolos and the like sell their bodies to acquire money, or anything equivalent to it. Or simply put, to make a living. In that sense, they are no different from anyone who works for money. Say, a bank executive, a teacher, or even a nun. In my opinion, prostitutes work also for the convenience of their clients and themselves. And that’s also exactly what employees or any moral person who works for money does. In essence, anyone who uses him self as a tool to acquire money is a prostitute. Only that, prostitutes and what they do are considered immoral, because they go against the flow, while professionals, jeepney drivers, et cetera are esteemed and regarded well because they are moral i.e. they stick with some social rules.
Come to think of it then, social morality is just a state of mind. It’s just there to keep a certain social order in place. However, in any society, there are those “groups of few” who go against the rules, like prostitutes. Simply put, the only thing that separates a businessman from a hoe is an impalpable social concept called morality. But are we sure that those moral people are really moral? Let me ask these then. How moralistic are employees who drown themselves in booze every weekend, or solicit sex in nightclubs or gay bars? How upright are call center agents who commit slow suicide by smoking every time they take their two 15-minute breaks and lunch, not to mention that they also mindlessly pollute the environment? How respectable are public servants who sit on their asses daily, doing nothing to better their country, while deliberately misusing public funds? Can lawyers be considered moral when they lie to get paid?
To call prostitutes as so is to excuse ourselves from our own immorality. Sure. Professionals are regarded well but only because society is biased and full of pretense. Social order is tantamount to hypocrisy. Isn’t hypocrisy immoral?
How moral are we when we do exactly what prostitutes do? As far as I can see, prostitutes are better than most of us. To say the least, they are honest. And compared to politicians, they know better who they need to serve.
You, Do you know whom you serve?
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