"What have we come to when middle-class girls like this see whoring as a career choice?"

[Portofino]

Sorry it's the DM, but interesting article here

[mrsruffallo]

Yes, please the whoring to the working class girls

[PosieParker]

I think everyone reads too much sleb crap and all think I want that lifestyle, now. The endless stream of WAGs that stay with their cheating footballers is only a short and more lucrative step from prostitution, I don't believe any of them would stay if they earned more than their dps...

[pagwatch]

I think the 'middle class' refernce is shite

But I suspect that she is trying to draw a line between the notion of socially disadvantaged girls chosing prostitution out of need or lack of choice, and girls who have advantages in life and now seem to be chosing to do it because ..why not.

It is the state we have reached where it is cool and borderline celebrity to have been a prostitute in a threesome with a footballer. It is aspirational for some young girls now.

How did that happen?

[PosieParker]

I think the 'middle class' comment is valid., It's not that middle class girls are better and above but that they have not been a group associated with choosing this lifestyle before.

For far too long beauty has been girls best commodity, our intelligent mags are replced by vacuous sleb gossip glossies, our role models are more beautiful than talented. Can't imagine a female Stephen Hawkins getting so much credibility can you? Or a obese female pop star reaching number one?

[greentriangle]

I would have thought that the "middle class" reference in this case is used to underline the fact that Juci Jeni had virtually any path in life open to her but willingly chose prostitution with her eyes open. Plenty of girls get trapped/sucked into prostitution via drugs/shitty men/not having had the benefit of a great education - but not Jeni - she aspired to do this sort of thing.

Anyway, although she seems to have had a priviledged upbringing, her moral guidance has clearly been neglected. Not sure who can take responsibility for that? Parents/school (as it was boarding)? Additionally, she seemed to have too much time unmonitored at a young age to get up to no good.

Class reference is not irrelevant in the article, but not the pivotal point:

Wayne Rooney = working class, no morals
Coleen Rooney = working class, morals
Juci Jeni = middle class, no morals
Juci Jeni's parents = middle class, morals (on the grounds that they issued an apology to Coleen).

Anyway Wayne is a total loser and it's a shame for Coleen that she can never ever be free of him (even if they divorce) because he's the father of her child. Juci Jeni is the exact same class of loser.

[sallyseton]

It just smacks of...."we don't give a shit when working class girls turn out to be prostitutes, but MIDDLE CLASS? Perish the thought! Break out the chastity belts asap."

[greentriangle]

sally - middle class is used to imply that Jeni had loads of options open to her (more than the average working class girl) - not that she is "better" than working class girls.

[pagwatch]

Posie

I agree with you but I think sally and mrsruffalo are showing why 'middle class' is badly chosen phrase.
People just knee jerk that she is making a class judgement and valuing working class as less moral/significant/important than middle class.
Which I thinkis not the point she was trying to make.
She should have found a way of desribing girls who are shunning oppertunity and security to chose this lifestyle

[PosieParker]

I can see that but all too often, myself included, people get wrapped up in the insignificant misinterpretations or possible misinterpretations and avoid the issue.

[sethstarkaddersmum]

agree with Pag.

though I do pickily want to point out to the author that we don't know Juci Jeni isn't the victim of abuse - just because a home is middle class and apparently nice on top doesn't mean it is like that underneath.

[pagwatch]

I am not sure how to interpret that.

[expatinscotland]

'For far too long beauty has been girls best commodity,'

This has always been the case. It still is. Biologically, we are hard-wired to see beauty as attractive or, more specifically, symmetry. There have been umpteem studies on babies and how they like to look more at physically attractive, symmetrical faces.

Biologically, a man seeks out the young and beautiful because his mind sees her as more fertile and able to carry his children. The woman also seeks out the best mate.

In work interviews, the taller man has an advantage, the more physically attractive male or female has an advantage. That is human nature.

There's no point in pretending that ugly is beautiful.

What should be more of an issue is how little self-respect people seem to have one day and, be consequence, how little a sense of personal and society responsibility.

When you have no self-respect, it goes to follow you have no respect for anyone else.

This is a major problem, IMO. It's also the reason, I believe, we see an increase in religious fundamentalism of all sorts and it should not come as a shock. I mean, I'd rather hang around a bunch of Bible thumpers or strict Muslims than most town centres on a Friday night - it's probably much safer for me.

[PosieParker]

Perhaps I should have written beauty by a very long way....we don't seem to refer to woman by any other measure.

[Portofino]

I think the "class" word leads away from the central point - that well educated, "privileged" girls somehow see sleeping with footballers for money as exciting and a valid career choice. And how the hell did that happen?

It is not saying that it is OK for "working class" women to become prostitutes, but that they are "more likely" to find themselves in cicurmstances to which this might be an option.

In the case of the girl talked about here, I can't see that it can be assumed that the parents are at fault for a lack of moral guidance either. They appear to be mortified at her behaviour.

Society has got mightily fucked up! And the Media is mainly to blame for this. In fact, I would say that if they weren't willing to pay these girls stupid sums for the stories, the "stories" wouldn't happen.

It like Rebecca Loos - prostitute yourself over the papers, weather the storm, then build a nice little TV career out of it.

[expatinscotland]

'we don't seem to refer to woman by any other measure.'

By the same token, we refer to men often enough in terms of their monetary wealth or atheletic ability.

It's part of human nature, it really is. A male's financial wealth or athletic prowess, even if only perceived, has always put him at better advantage to attracting mates and attention in the same as a young, physically beautiful woman.

Instead of teaching young people that thinks like physicality and money don't matter, far better to teach them how paramount self-respect is and how integral it is to a happy life no matter how one looks or one's means.

Like Fio, I don't see prostituting oneself as a class issue but as a human issue, and one which is responsible for rape, murder, enslavement and untold misery.

[TrillianAstra]

I'd quite like to see the argument (although I'm not capable of making it myself, and I don't necessarily believe it) that it's much better for prostitutes to be 'middle-class' girls with choices than poor girls with no other options or trafficked girls who really had no choice.

[wukter]

I don't think anyone would say that FioFio.
But 'middleclass', 'privileged' people have a few more doors available to open than poorer people, so why did she choose that one?

Beauty is real, but it's only one attribute. Should be on a par with one's joke-telling ability, for example, and not a sort of otherworldly superpower. Or as a nrainbow to chase that we'll never achieve and be unhappy yearning for.

[PosieParker]

Expat, I'm not disputing that it is and that men are judged too, but men are judged upon things they can change. In addition I've never seen a comment about the attire of men in the cabinet or Dennis Thatcher....can you imagine if SAm Cam was very fat?

[Portofino]

"Working class women can be educated aswell you know" I DO know. I am one. And there was nothing wrong with my education, nor my moral guidance.

[PosieParker]

Honestly let's not get hung up trying to prove that working class people have morals and aren't stupid, we all know that. But it is more likely that a middle class person will leave education better educated.

[greentriangle]

The article is not having a go at working class girls. The article is simply stating that it is shocking that a middle class girl like Jeni who has had a priviliged upbringing and many choices in life has chosen to be a prostitute.

The article is correct - it is shocking!

Being in the DM doesn't automatically mean it is class war - I am no fan of the DM - just judging this article in isolation.

The article judges Jeni harshly because she is middle class - in general it is a fact that a girl like her would have more choices available to her than a working class girl. Albeit a sad fact.