Firstly, this is not a thread about the rights and wrongs of prostitution. Nor is it in any way a commentary on any unfortunate women who are murdered.

But there’s something I don’t understand about the description given to a victim by the police/TV/newspapers. It seems to go along the lines of “Joanne Smilh, who worked as a prostitute was, found….”.

Now, I know I’m being picky, but why insert the “worked as” in the sentence? It doesn’t happen in any other case that I’m aware of: if I was arrested, it would be “NickF, an accountant from Aardvark Avenue, Northampton..”

Is this done to show that the person may have been a prostitue but was much more than that? OK, so why not use the “worked as” descripton for other victims? And did all the media and the law enforcement communites get together and agree on this, or did it just come into being?

I’m not having a go at anyone, I’m just a bit puzzled.

“worked as a prostitute” is an attempt to make it sound like a career choice, or at least … probably has its roots in the good old Political Correctness asylum…

Or it’s just another case of someone using more words than is necessary to make them sound like they’ve got something worth saying – perhaps a journo trying to hit a word limit or fill the column space.

FIrst thing that comes to mind is that she had a full time job, and this indicates a job on the side. Or the back, as it were.

“worked as a prostitute” is an attempt to make it sound like a career choice, or at least … probably has its roots in the good old Political Correctness asylum…

I think it’s quite the opposite. To me, it’s a way of making a separation between the person and what they work as. To say ‘was a prostitute’ is definitive, and allows no possibility that the person can be seen as anything other than a prostitute, with all the inherent stigma.

The aim of the story was not to pile opprobium on this person, as might be the case if she was not the victim of the piece. Rather, she’s been murdered. A touch of sensitivity seems to me to be entirely appropriate.

it’s a way of making a separation between the person and what they work as

that

A touch of sensitivity seems to me to be entirely appropriate.

Of course it is, and I fully accept that. But I was murdered, I pretty much guarantee that I’d NOT be described as “worked as an accountant”. Rather, it would be “NickF, a 45 year old accountant”.

Same (grisly) end, but a different description.

I think it’s because they don’t want to define people by what they do for a living.

For example, if I’m Joanne Smith and I work as a prostitute, I don’t want people to say that I AM a prostitute. I might also be a wife/girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter/samaritan/drug user/friend – I would not *just* be a prostitute.

Do you get the picture?

I think it’s because they don’t want to define people by what they do for a living.

For example, if I’m Joanne Smith and I work as a prostitute, I don’t want people to say that I AM a prostitute. I might also be a wife/girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter/samaritan/drug user/friend – I would not *just* be a prostitute.

Do you get the picture?

Not really, no. I understand what you’re saying, obviously, but all of us are much more than their job. I’m a father/friend/mountain bike rider/accountant/husband/brother/political junkie. Calling me an accountant is technically accurate but very incomplete.

If you fully embody what it is to be an accountant and live your life to the letter of the accountant’s warrior ethos, then you probably have the right to be defined as ‘an accountant’.

However, not everyone wants to be defined by their job. They may not be as true a follower of the true accountant’s path and have other things in their life.

We can then get into the arguement of professions (of which prostitution is etc etc)

“Sex worker” – this always makes me giggle/vomit.

+1 for all the above.

Not really, no. I understand what you’re saying, obviously, but all of us are much more than their job. I’m a father/friend/mountain bike rider/accountant/husband/brother/political junkie. Calling me an accountant is technically accurate but very incomplete.

Yeah, but prostitution has more of a stigma associated with it than does accountacy – so it doesn’t seem odd to me than a journalist might be more sensitive in the use of language in her particular case so as not to appear judgemental.
I wonder what the phraseology would have been had she been a banker?

I would rather be described as ‘worked as a prostitute’ than ‘worked as an accountant’.

I would rather be described as ‘worked as a prostitute’ than ‘worked as an accountant’

Stick to your current job. You’ll never make it on the stage with gags as old as that.

i’d rather be “worked as a van driver” than merely a van driver. work doesn’t define me and nor should it anyone else – including prostitutes! but i guess that’s your point huh? 🙂

it is precisely the attributes that make you nickf, an accountant, that does not allow you to see why ‘worked as’ is appropriate.

HTH

I think it’s to do with relevance.

If you got murdered I doubt your job would be mentioned as it’s not relevant to the story:

for example:

NickF, a 45 year old father of two was murdered for cutting the nose off the cheese at a cheese tasting evening. John Smith lost control of himself when he saw the social faux par being committed and proceeded to bludgeon NickF to death with a ripe Stilton. (Accountancy has no relevance)

or NickF, a 45 year who was suspected to be working as accountant for a crime lord was gunned down yesterday in his driveway for filing an incorrect tax return for Jonny Badass which led to his arrest for tax evasion.

The fact she works as a prostitute is relevant to the story.

Here’s another one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12967336

“some men working as police in Suffolk County, New York suspect a serial killer”

What’s wrong with,

“Joanne Smith, 32, an Escort from Barnoldswick, was found in her component parts late last night…”

You mean working as an escort, Cougar?

I think the reasons are pretty obvious and that really you know what they are.

But maybe all jobs should be described is this way. There are some people who really want to be defined by there jobs but I bet there’s alot more who would nt.

Personally I quite like my job but I dont feel it defines me so I would probably prefer “worked as”

Stewart Lee has much to say on this subject after Richard Littlejohn wrote an article about exactly this.

It is simply a nice gesture however please see this for the full explaination more eloquently put than I ever could.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGAOCVwLrXo

From about 4.40

Can’t see Youtube at work, and I’ve not a lot of time for Stewart Lee, but if he’s opposing Littlejohn I’ll have a peek later on.

On a similar note – why do some papers insist of suffixing ‘Jordan’* with ‘real name Katie Price’ all the time?

*(The pneumatic model, not the Middle-Eastern country)

Dammit Joolsburger beat me to it.

he’s opposing Littlejohn I’ll have a peek later on

Will Self vs Richard Littlejohn

[/tangent]

some men working as police in Suffolk County, New York suspect a serial killer

They are suspecting a serial killer as part of their jobs as policemen, so there it’s ok to say police.

But really, there are no hard and fast rules here, and that cuts both ways. When writing about it AND when complaining about it.

Of course prostitution is often a part time job, so it could be “Joanne smith, an accountant who worked as a prostitute, …”

“Sex worker” – this always makes me giggle/vomit.

Yeah, they are quite variable, but I generally find you get what you pay for.

Why do newspapers (and MF) use the term “pneumatic” to refer to women who’ve had boob jobs? There’s not a puff of compressed air involved.

because the comparison being made is between the breasts of the person and an inflated tyre/balloon/football.

</deadpan>

and to the OP: because overemphasising the fact that the victim was a prostitute has made it too easy in the past for a) the police to regard murder as an occupational hazard and not be too bothered about investigating b) for the media to lead with prurient or humiliating coverage of the victim and her (it is usually her) family and c) for the public to underestimate the danger the murderer poses to women as a whole, not just easily marginalised other women.

“Your general man in the street, I think, genuinely doesn’t care if a prostitute gets murdered. And if you speak to any senior detectives throughout this country, the first decision they make when they find a naked prostitute who’s been murdered is whether to tell the press she’s a prostitute. Because you think, right, if I go to the press and say that a 19-year-old single mother has been brutally murdered in the street, then I’m going to get the shock, horror, I’m going to get people interested.”

– Detective Chief Superintendent Max McLean
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/sep/16/crime.comment

Serial killers are rare but it’s not uncommon for them to have targeted prostitutes initially or consistently through the course of the murders. Often the prostitutes’ murders were not prioritised until others had been killed.

At least 60 prostitutes have been murdered in the past 10 years – probably more. An unknown number of women are missing. The vast majority of murder cases are solved, yet in a third of all prostitute murders, the killer is never found.

And the criminalisation of prostitution aggravates that situation.

WGAS?

I pretty much guarantee that I’d NOT be described as “worked as an accountant”. Rather, it would be “NickF, a 45 year old accountant”.

Either way you die an accountant which must truly depress you. Maybe it’s time to be a lion tamer. That way it would be “worked briefly as a lion tamer.”

The one that gets me in stories is when they feel they need to tell you the value of their home. For example that poor lass from Bristol everytime they mentioned the father he was a “computer Expert” speaking from his £500,000 home – now what has the value of the home got to do with anything?

Also why is everyone who works in IT an “Computer Expert”, they dont say “cheese Expert” for people who work in supermarkets.

Either way you die an accountant which must truly depress you. Maybe it’s time to be a lion tamer. That way it would be “worked briefly as a lion tamer.”

Being an accountant is depressing?

(a) I’m less likely to die of decapitation

(b) At least I’ll never have to work in IT

Also why is everyone who works in IT an “Computer Expert”

That’s not true I haven’t got a f’ing clue what I’m doing most of the time. But kingdom of the blind and all that……

Me neither but if i was to be murdered or murder then i suspect I would be noted as a “computer expert” – where as in fact I’m actually a google searching expert!

By saying

WGAS?

yer man eloquently goes some way to proving the suggestion that

Your general man in the street, I think, genuinely doesn’t care if a prostitute gets murdered

and explaining the

coyness

that the OP senses around how to describe murder victims.

Actually I’d care as much about a prostitute being murdered as any other adult female that I didn’t know.

I actually wondered who actually gave one about the use of the word ‘worked’ in the context of the post.