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Interview with Margo St. James (continued from page 7)

presupposes that the individual alone is responsible for creating a successful lifestyle.

A different, more pragmatic and intellectual attitude accepts prostitution as a necessary evil and an adaptation to survival in a difficult world. From this point of view, sexual expression provides a vehicle for declaring fantasies, frustrations, and spontaneous whims. If you happen to share sex freely with someone, then you're doing fine. But all too often human emotions cannot find a compatible resting place: an ear that operis up to your voice and fastens the words inside; an eye that searches yours for a glimpse of inner beauty; a hand that firmly accepts your aging skin and kindly grasps your slightly sagging muscles. For many reasons people do not find intimacy in their lives. For many-the social outcast, the physically disfigured, the unsuccessful-prostitution seems to provide a taste of intimacy, or at least the illusion of it.

Margo emphasizes that when a customer pays a prostitute, he purchases her "time and skill" in the same way that a consumer pays for the expertise of a dancer, a nurse, or a typist. The prostitute performs her function in the context of a social role. Just as a physician may tolerate the complaints of a "demanding" patient, the prostitute perceives the customer with similar detachment or sometimes with fondness. She separates sexual technique from love, Margo suggests, in the same way that all men separate the two. To denounce the prostitute because she does not romanticize sex is to condemn all women to lives without choice in sexual matters. Margo maintains that patriarchy needs women to see sex and love as

one because it can use romance as a means of social control. Such restraint keeps them from exploring possibilities which have been denied them.

As a feminist I try to see the world as a gestalt, acknowledging complexity in every human situation. Many feminists criticize the prostitute's detachment because she thereby neglects the emotional meaning of relationships, just as men tend to ignore or repress their feelings. This positive value of feminism tells us that emotional repression is unhealthy and unsound. Such an argument can extend to all areas of society, wherein patriarchy assigns a secondary place of the value of emotion in human efforts.

In many respects feminism remains an ideal model for human behavior. In the meantime, 100,000 prostitutes are arrested each year as the scapegoats for our moral ambivalence. We do know that in countries where prostitution has been legalized, the incidence of violence toward prostitutes plummets. We also know that the U.S. has the highest rate of rape in the world. For these immediate reasons, then, feminists can give the female prostitute understanding and support. Perhaps she too can take back the night, gain a measure of control over her life, and even become our sister in solidarity.

If you would like further information on the issue of prostitution, COYOTE publishes Coyote Howls three or four times a year. For more information, write the Coyote Howls office, P.O. Box 26354, San Francisco, California 94126. The book Politics of Prostitution by Jennifer James is also available from the same address.

WEPP: Women and Local Funding (continued from page 2)

women's needs assessment; 2) to identify resources and define funding responsibilities for women's services and organizations; 3) to identify a process that will assist community institutions and other organizations that serve women to work together toward meeting women's needs; 4) to develop the mechanisms for implementing the Project's action steps; 5) to prepare a document that will interpret the Project's goals to the community; 6) to build constituencies that include women who do not have ready access to community resources; 7) to develop models for effective coalescing by building upon the WomenSpace Coalition and strengthening the network of women's organizations in our community."

In the question and answer period following the presentation of the task force and sub-group recommendations, participants asked what will happen after the recommendations are written and presented to the Cleveland and Gund Foundations. Response to this question centered on two basic aims: a commitment on the part of the steering committee to involve the funders on an on-going basis; and a desire to affect the thought process of the funding community, both in the implementation of the Project's recommendations and in the recognition that women's needs have been ignored in the past.

11

Jane Campbell stated that funders would like women to ask for specific amounts of money, i.e., "Give this amount of money to rape, this amount to battered women, this amount for unemployment, etc." But, she asked us, “Is it worse to be raped? Or to be battered? Or to be unemployed? These kinds of distinctions don't make sense. Women's needs should not have to compete and sight each other for available funds. Programs traditionally funded to meet the specific concerns of women have to become more broadly identified with family and community concerns in order to have a substantial impact on women's needs. For instance, rape victims or battered women must be included when considering the needs of all crime victims. Or, when approaching foundations for changes in the criminal justice

J

system, it must be emphasized that women's needs have been particularly neglected in the past. This approach appeared to be met with approval by those attending the meeting, and was viewed as the way to get the funding community to recognize and meet the needs of women.

Questions continued on what type of follow-up would occur to assure effective implementation of the recommendations when the Project ends in 1980. Reference was made to a coalition or network comprised of women currently working on task forces and presently involved in organizations and services. For example, it would make sense for Cleveland Rape Crisis Center to continue their involvement with family rape, for Cleveland Women Working to continue monitoring job rights for women, for Cleveland Women's Counsel to continue dealing with economic concerns of divorced women, and for the Federation for Community Planning to continue coordinating children's services.

After the meeting, Campbell remarked, "For a couple of years it was 'campy' to fund a women's program. Women aren't going to be 'campy' anymore." She added, however, that at this point, there is no consensus or policy statement from the groups working thus far on the Project about just what the interaction with funding agencies will be.

Editors' Note: Our invitation to the open meeting July 25 marked the first attempt by WEPP to enlist the assistance of What She Wants, either to publish information or to furnish input or expertise based upon 7 years' experience as Cleveland's only women's newspaper, We ourselves have philosophical questions about what would constitute the most constructive relationship between the women's movement and the funding community. The information provided here leaves many details unclear and questions unanswered. Questions or suggestions What She Wants readers have may be directed to Beverly Quist, Project Coordinator, 781-2944, or Evelyn Jones, Community Organizer, 696-3100.

Page: 8/What She Wants/August, 1979,