The De-Victimalization of the Prostitute

Abstract

Victimhood has become the central metaphor of morality, but this does not necessarily mean that only new victims are now being found. Victimhood can also be made obsolete by certain cultural trends. Every era and culture has its own victims. Just exactly who is willing or able to call themselves victims or have others do so is subject to change. Sometimes people are thought of as victims much against their will, as is often the case with the physically disabled; sometimes the status of victimhood is not granted to people who suffer in certain ways, as has recently come to be the case with asylum seekers. In a certain social issue, victimhood can be shifted from one party to another, as seems to be the case in the criminality debate of the eighties. And unwittingly or not, victims can also disappear from the stage. Their suffering is no longer viewed as a form of victimhood, or the parties involved no longer wish to view it as such.