deborah jeane palfrey, the whore stigma, and the systematic silencing of sex workers.

So upon hearing the news today of Deborah Palfrey’s death, I had two immediate reactions. One was a visceral shock and awe of how far the american  legal system takes the shaming of sex workers, the implications of this shaming, and the immense sadness I feel that Palfrey felt compelled to end her life in the face of condemnation, shaming, and wrongful impending imprisonment. My second reaction questioned the validity of the reported suicide, knowing that there were many powerful people on her client list that would rather have her silenced then face their own public shaming.

Upon some searching, I found that Palfrey had recently appeared on the Alex Jones show, and had explicitly said that she was not suicidal, nor would she attempt to take her own life. She also predicted that she would be “suicided” as a way to keep her quiet. Contradictory to this, Palfrey had also stated that she would end her own life if she were forced to serve time. She had been imprisoned previously and did not feel she could endure it again. Taking these two statements together makes it impossible to know (or even begin to guess) which now rings more true.

The United States government and the society which prescribes to the puritanical, sanitized ideologies of sex and sexual expression, have directly caused this to occur. Whether or not Palfrey was murdered or committed suicide, her death was the result of a society unwilling to accept sex work as a legitimate profession. The public shaming of Palfrey before, during, and after the trial is a testimony to the pervasiveness and persistence of the whore stigma which reaches every aspect of American society, from politics (Ashley Dupre in the Eliot Spitzer case) to religion (Mary Magdalene) to the media (see recently the slut-shaming of the artistic photography of Miley Cyrus, or anyfemale in th spotlight) to schools (abstinance only education) to any and every realm of America. Whether Palfrey committed suicide because of her own public shaming or whether she was killed by those who wanted to avoid their own shaming, this is not an isolated incident that can be forgotten. The United States is guilty of systematic structural violence which silences sex workers and disempowers women and female sexuality to the point of death.

 Much more thoughtful commentary at Bound, Not Gagged.