MovieChat Forums > Waterloo Bridge (1940) Discussion > Being a prostitute in the grand scheme o...

Being a prostitute in the grand scheme of things not so bad

posted 3 years ago by Dolemite (87)
4 replies | jump to latest

With Myra being a prostitute and how it was looked down upon, it was not such a terrible thing in the grand scheme of things. World War One was happening where ordinarily decent people on both sides were killing other ordinarily decent people, often on an industrial scale. What did her and Kitty do, sleep with a few blokes to make ends meet? I think which I know was worse. In a later remake of this film, wholly set in World War Two, they do make that point.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

So, are you quitting your job to become a prostitute, then?

It's gotta beat working for Amazon, at least a prostitute can make their own schedule.

[–] Dolemite (87) 3 years ago

I do not think that I would make much money!
The point that I was making was how society thought that prostitution was terrible (those two did not hurt anyone) but a war was going on and killing was seen as not only fine, but seen as a respectable thing to do. Not that I am not criticising members of the armed forces, but warfare in general and how it was seen as the respectable thing to do back then.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

It's a silly point, really. Being a sex worker is an unpleasant and risky job at the best of times, and being an old-fashioned streetwalker is monumentally dangerous. The stigma associated with sex work meant or means that a sex worker's life is seen as worthless, you're seen as a fair target by certain people, and the police won't help in case of assault or attack.

Saying being a streetwalker isn't so bad is like walking into the cancer unit in a hospital, and saying it's not so bad because the burn ward is down the hall. If things suck, telling people that other things suck more just pisses them off.

[–] Dolemite (87) 3 years ago

I am not saying that being a streetwalker is not such a bad thing. It is a bad thing to be forced to do. As you said it is dangerous, unpleasant, people look down on you and you do not always get the legal protection that you should. I am not defending anyone having to take that up as a job. The point which I am trying to make is that society saw what they did, as you say, as disgraceful, socially unacceptable and you were treated as a social pariah. Whereas if you went out killing people, with the war being on, you were seen as respectable and socially acceptable.