Prostitution reduces sex to species-generic content matched by money

Evidence

In prostitution, the relation of the sexes is reduced to its generic content because it is perfectly unambiguous and limited to the sensual act. It consists of that which any member of the species can perform and experience. The most diverse personalities can engage in it and all individual differences appear to be of no importance. Therefore, the economic counterpart of this relation is money, for it, too, is beyond all individual differences; it is at the species level of economic value, the representation of what is common to all. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 360

Categorization

• XREF: The generic/reducible relationship mirrors how urban civil inattention reduces strangers to types rather than persons — core to the reader’s thesis. — connects to: Money economy reduces persons to quantitative exchange value — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 750; Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 195; The new morality condemns marriage and prostitution as forms crushing erotic life — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 862 (+10 more)

Related

• Prostitutes’ moral adaptation reflects social demand, not innate depravity (similarity 0.84)
• Prostitution’s humiliation is a cultural product of differentiation, not a universal. (similarity 0.82)
• Money economy reduces persons to quantitative exchange value (similarity 0.79)
• Marriage and prostitution differ only in price and contract length (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Money is an impersonal standard that negates the content of goods #corroborates (0.75) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 65
• Prostitution’s humiliation is a cultural product of differentiation, not a universal. #qualifies (0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 370
• Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 195
• The new morality condemns marriage and prostitution as forms crushing erotic life #responds-to (0.50) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 862
• Pimp-prostitute relations mirror patriarchal expectations of wives and daughters. #expands (0.50) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 323