OPEN LETTER TO NYC COUNCILMEMBER MEALY

$PREAD MAGAZINE
PO BOX 305, COOPER STATION
NY, NY 10276
WWW.SPREADMAGAZINE.ORG

BITCH MAGAZINE
4930 NE 29TH AVE.
PORTLAND, OR 97211
WWW.BITCHMAGAZINE.ORG

PROSTITUTES OF NEW YORK (PONY)
PONY@PANIX.COM
WWW.BAYSWAN.ORG/PONY

October 11, 2007

Councilmember Darlene Mealy
250 Broadway, 17th Floor
NY, NY 10007

Re: Res. 960; Resolution calling for a symbolic moratorium on pejorative use of the "b" word and the word "ho."

Dear Councilmember Mealy:

We are the publishers of two independent magazines, $pread Magazine, based in New York City, and Bitch Magazine, based in Portland, Oregon, and a New York City community-based organization, Prostitutes of New York (PONY). $pread Magazine is a culture and politics magazine written by and for those who work in the sex industry. Bitch Magazine is a culture and politics magazine for feminists. PONY is a support and advocacy group for all people who work in the sex industry in New York City.

We are writing to ask you to withdraw Resolution 960 that calls for a symbolic moratorium on the use of the words bitch and ho. We also urge your fellow co-sponsors to withdraw their support of this resolution. What the New York City Council does has powerful cultural implications that extend far beyond New York and we believe that this resolution is a serious mistake.

We agree with many arguments that have already been raised by others: The time spent by elected officials on this resolution is a misallocation of precious government resources that, far from helping women, puts legitimate issues important to women (and all New Yorkers) on hold to allow a politically opportune linguistic debate to crowd the limelight. Further, we believe that the words we choose to use in our culture and daily lives, no matter how objectionable, are no business of the New York City Council, and to say otherwise even symbolically can have a chilling effect on speech.

What we believe has been left out of the debate around Res. 960 is a serious challenge to the idea that the words bitch and ho are necessarily disempowering to women.

Your resolution's entire defense of the need to ban the word ho is contained in one line: Whereas, The word ho is commonly used to refer to a whore or woman of loose sexual reputation. It is clear that you intend for the New York City Council to proclaim that a woman being called a prostitute is an extreme insult to such a degree that it should be banned.

You may be unfamiliar with the term "sex workers." These women and men (including many persons of transgender experience) are the people who work in the sex industry exchanging their erotic labor for something of value. Sex work is an expansive industry that includes prostitution. There are untold thousands of prostitutes and ex-prostitutes who call New York City their home. We know this for a fact, because many prostitutes are among us at $pread Magazine and PONY.

We would like to say that for a prostitute, banning the word ho is a lot like banning the word carpenter. It's a word that describes her work. But this would not be accurate, because the marginalized social status of prostitutes means that the word ho is seen as synonymous with who prostitutes are as people. It's a word that denotes an identity, chosen or not.

Banning the word ho is therefore like banning the mention of an entire group of already very marginalized people, most of whom are women. Doing this only serves to reinforce the less-than-human status that society already affords prostitutes. We believe that there's nothing wrong with being a ho. Banning the word suggests otherwise.

Prostitutes come to their jobs through circumstance and choice. Some prostitutes hate what they do, some love it, but many more think of it as other people tend to view their own jobs: as work. While the media has focused on the banning of the word bitch, sex workers have privately dealt with their collective hurt at the Council's actions.

A group of women prostitutes and ex-prostitutes have asked us to say this on their behalf: Saying that who we are is derogatory demeans us further in the eyes of society. Banning the word ho cannot hope to enrich women, because it brings us down, and aren't we women too? We are people, and your constituents, but you never asked us what we thought about banning our identity and naming it obscene. Your actions reinforce attitudes that make our lives more difficult.

As for the word bitch, Bitch Magazine's decision to use this word in its title is questioned over and over. Bitch is well aware that the title is off-putting to some people, and that's part of the point.

The writer, Rebecca West, once said, "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." We'd argue that the word "bitch" is usually deployed for the same purpose. When it's being used as an insult, "bitch" is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don't shy away from expressing them, and who don't sit by and smile uncomfortably if they're bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we'll take that as a compliment, thanks. We stand firm in our belief that if we choose to take bitch as a compliment, it loses its power to hurt us.

Sincerely yours,

Rachel Aimee
Editor-in-Chief
$pread Magazine

Debbie Rasmussen
Publisher
Bitch Magazine

Prostitutes of New York
(PONY)

Cc: Councilmember Tony Avella
Councilmember Leroy G. Comrie, Jr.
Councilmember Inez E. Dickens
Councilmember Lewis A. Fidler
Councilmember Helen D. Foster
Councilmember Robert Jackson
Councilmember Vincent J. Gentile
Councilmember Letitia James
Councilmember John C. Liu
Councilmember Rosie Mendez
Councilmember Hiram Monserrate
Councilmember Michael C. Nelson
Councilmember Diana Reyna
Councilmember James Sanders, Jr.
Councilmember Kendall Stewart
Councilmember Albert Vann
Councilmember James Vacca