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The topic of prostitution has been examined from many viewpoints, but psychodynamic contributions have been limited. The authors present material from a psychoanalytic psychotherapy with a prostitute. The intrapsychic determinants of the patient's choice to become a prostitute are discussed. The prostitution appeared to offer numerous hidden gratifications for this patient, including fulfillment of passive sexual wishes and opportunity to experience closeness with men without fear of abandonment or betrayal. (Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 64[3], 409-423)
Cultures have tolerated or promoted prostitution in various ways since antiquity (Basserman, 1967). Recent literature and film have tended to glamorize or to romanticize this potentially dangerous and destructive activity. Despite the fascination that has surrounded this topic, little has been written from a psychodynamic perspective. Prostitutes may be as heterogeneous as most other populations grouped simply by occupation, but perhaps there is something to learn from a more in-depth examination of the psychological functioning of one prostitute. This article will describe and discuss a psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a prostitute.
Hollender (1961) reported on two call girls treated in analytic therapy and psychoanalysis. He listed previous speculations on the conscious and unconscious motivations for prostitution: revenge on males, counterphobic response to sexual fear, self-destruction, and financial gain. However, his cases led him to believe that some prostitutes are motivated by a need for nonpersonal but physical human relatedness, due to problems in establishing emotional relationships.
Kenny and Lane (1996) discussed the case of a prostitute treated with psychotherapy. They emphasized how this patient's problems reenacted previous traumas, including sexual and emotional abuse. In one recent study of 130 prostitutes (Farley & Barkan, 1998), 57% reported childhood sexual abuse. However, as discussed by Nadon, Koverola, and Schludermann (1998), when an appropriate comparison group was considered, unfortunate childhood experiences, including sexual trauma, failed to discriminate between youths who turn to prostitution and those who do not. The motivations for prostitution may include response to victimization, but must involve other factors.
As another factor, external reality may seem to dictate the choice of prostitution in some cases. Simple or straightforward considerations such as a need to survive may motivate some proportion of prostitutes (Weeks, Grier, Romero-Daza, Puglio-Vasquez, & Singer, 1998). Certainly, some prostitutes are among the most oppressed people in...