DES MOINES, Iowa —
A Des Moines attorney is unveiling her life as a part-time prostitute.The mom, wife, attorney and prostitute, Katherine Sears, hopes that by shining a light on her lifestyle, she can help decriminalize prostitution. “I like sex,” Sears said. “Sex is fun and I can get paid for it.”
She began working as a prostitute three years ago, at the age of 27. Sears travels to Nevada, where prostitution is legal, and works in a brothel.
“You can make a job out of this? That’s fantastic,” Sears said. “Why would I not do this?” By speaking about her experience, Sears hopes to educate people on a taboo topic.
“I think a lot of people are upset about prostitution without understanding what it is they are being upset about,” she said. “Which is really frustrating because it’s hard to talk somebody out of something when they are just entrenched in, ‘No, this is what’s right.’”
Sears knows some people may see it as a morality issue, but she sees it as a right. “You can say, 'No sex without a condom.' You can say, 'No sex until we’re married.' But you can’t say, 'No sex until you pay me'? And that feels like it really undermines what consent means,” Sears said. “We’re not going to have legislation change if we’re passive about it.”
Sears and her husband John Sears met at Drake Law School while Sears was already working as a prostitute. But John isn’t bothered by her part-time job. "I don’t really care that much,” John Sears said.
Silly jokes aside though the larger question is should all intimate encounters between consenting adults be decriminalized? Or does the state have a legitimate moral or practical interest in telling people that no you can't buy or sell physical/emotional intimacy?
Is this the slippery slope that opponents of same sex marriage warned us would happen? Or instead, would decriminalizing such activities be a long overdue correction of moral busybodies using the state to impose their will. Or would be it be a sexist codification of the right of one gender to rent the bodies of another gender?
Is it wrong to be incredulous at a married woman who insists upon having sex with other men or a married man who claims indifference at his wife's physical intimacy with many other men?
I can't call it.
Is this the slippery slope that opponents of same sex marriage warned us would happen? Or instead, would decriminalizing such activities be a long overdue correction of moral busybodies using the state to impose their will. Or would be it be a sexist codification of the right of one gender to rent the bodies of another gender?
Is it wrong to be incredulous at a married woman who insists upon having sex with other men or a married man who claims indifference at his wife's physical intimacy with many other men?
I can't call it.
