Commentary

Changing image of 'night ladies'

THE TRADITIONAL IMAGE of a 'lady of the night' is a woman who lurks in dark corners, enticing men with a 'psst!' and a flash of flesh.

That has long changed, as today's main story illustrates, when THE STAR team went to an establishment known as a 'massage parlour'.

However, much more than massages are on offer, which does not take a genius to figure out.

That one of the ladies offering a massage ­ and more ­ is a university student is another matter. One does not associate part-time work by university students with late-night appointments with naked clients. But such is the way in which 'ladies of the night' have changed.

There is a deeper social factor at work, here, which may go unnoticed. The woman is working ­ or massaging, if you will ­ her way through school. She has a goal beyond satisfying men's needs for the undoubtedly ample cash that she is receiving. She is working her way to independence, milking men ­ in more ways than one ­ as much as she can.

There are many women who milk men in this way, who are not to be found in darkened corners or inhabiting massage parlours. They latch on to men with cash and, naturally, separate them from their billfolds ­ and cars, and stocks, and more ­ often with relative ease.

No one would dare call these women 'ladies of the night', but their trade is no different from those who stand on street corners with flesh exposed.

The image of the lady of the night has changed and the line between commercial and relationship sex is so blurred that one can many times hardly tell the difference.