Medicine: Psychology & Prostitution

Sociologists as well as fiction writers often deal with the problem of prostitution, but there have been remarkably few psychological studies of the subject. This week Manhattan Psychoanalyst Harold Greenwald published a searching analysis of a group of prostitutes, their motivations and emotional problems (The Call Girl; Ballantine, $4.50). Greenwald’s is a highly specialized sample from the profession’s top economic stratum. Six call girls went to him for analysis; he personally interviewed ten more; and ten others (too gun-shy to face him) were interviewed by three of the call girls themselves. Because the findings were surprisingly uniform, he feels that they are valid.

Family Façades. Predictably, most of the girls had miserable childhoods; three-fourths came from homes broken by separation or divorce. The rest had viewed their homes as façades, papier-maché creations erected to cover a desiccated relationship, devoid of love between father and mother. Since most had seen their fathers leave home, their mothers had never made them feel welcome but had always emphasized the burden of parenthood. In rage and desperation, some girls turned hopefully to their fathers—not in an Oedipal attachment, but in hopes of nurture which, again, was denied them.

The girls were emotionally adrift, had no clear concept of their predestined female role. Half of them had precocious sex experiences, soon realized that sex was a commodity with which they could bargain for the longed-for emotional contact, and also for more tangible rewards. Three-fourths were above average intelligence; nearly all had ten to twelve years of schooling. One wrote songs, another designed hats, four painted, three wrote poetry, and two tried to write books.

Info the D.A.R. As call gir s in big cities, they commanded a minimum of $20 (and up to $100) per “sexual contact,” averaged $20.000 a year each. But none had turned prostitute mainly for money; some of them came from well-heeled homes. When they emphasized the importance of money. Analyst Greenwald found, they were rationalizing their step.

Without exception, the girls felt worthless and insecure. Though they paraded in mink coats and made a point of being seen riding in Cadillacs from expensive apartments in the best parts of town, they were forever afraid that the world was ready to laugh at them. To dull their anxiety they sought relief in drink (though none was technically an alcoholic); 15 used marijuana, and six took to heroin. Said one: “Being a call girl helped me overcome my inferiority complex. I used to feel very unattractive to men, but since so many of them want to pay me … I guess I can’t be all that unattractive.” Largely because of their uncertainty about father and mother. 15 of the 20 had homosexual relations. None of the girls had any capacity for solid friendships, sought out friends who were unstable because of similar emotional conflicts. Yet they desperately wanted to conform in some outward respects: one joined the D.A.R. and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

“It’s Not Sex.” None of the girls. Dr. Greenwald found, had much sense of reality. Even those with creative ability had such a short attention span that they could not stick at their avocations; the rest had difficulty watching a TV program through, or reading for more than a few minutes.

The call girls had a variety of defenses: since none was effective, they switched from one to another and clung pathetically to each in turn: 1) projection (insisting that all women would be promiscuous if they dared); 2) denial (“It’s not sex”); 3) reaction formation (taking refuge in opposites, i.e., if homosexual, they tried to act heterosexual; if dependent and passive, they tried to act independent and aggressive); 4) self-abasement, amounting to masochism and self-destructiveness.

For all the simulated gaiety and affection that they showed their customers, 18 were frigid with them, and ten were incapable of orgasm in any relationship. Some of the less frigid still needed debasement to achieve satisfaction: “I can only be excited by a man who despises me.” All the pros were anxious and depressed; no fewer than 15 had tried suicide, many of them several times; one succeeded on the sixth try. Of the six he analyzed, Dr. Greenwald could report proudly that five quit the racket (though that was not their aim in seeking therapy, but relief from anxiety and depression). Some got married, others went into legitimate businesses.