Prostitution, it can be argued, truly is the world’s oldest profession. Even one of our nearest evolutionary relatives – the Bonobo chimpanzee -- engages in it. Bonobo chimpanzees are the only other species besides ourselves and the dolphins to engage in coitus for pleasure, and the only species other than our own to have “face-to-face” coitus and kiss using their tongues. Female Bonobo chimpanzees (who form a matriarchal society) use sex to quell disputes between rival tribes, as a bargaining tool for food and other resources, and to generally keep the boys in their place, which for them means contented and otherwise out of the women’s fur.

Many civilizations condoned prostitution. It was included in Sumerian and Canaanite rituals, sanctioned by the Greek government, and was christened with more than 50 different names in Rome depending on the type of sex act and location where it was performed. Even St. Augustine of Hippo tolerated it as an outlet to prevent sodomy and masturbation.

El Paso has a long history of being a hub for vice. Prior to 1905, when prostitution was banned with the help of Suffragettes and religious leaders, our town was a prostitution and gambling free-for-all. Owen Paine White, a former El Pasoan who was one of the foremost writers of the early 20th century, once bemoaned in his book “Autobiography of a Durable Sinner” our “descent into obscurity,” when we were converted from “a town of twelve thousand that was about 80 percent adobe, and 92 percent sinners” to “a city of twenty five thousand that was 75 percent brick and only 90 percent sinners.”

The sinners always have come Downtown ... here is my friend Valerie, owner of Ya Ya’s Novelties, which now is in Kern Place just off Cincinnati.

“We were Downtown on Overland and Chihuahua near La Norteña near the bus station. Of all the locations we have been -- there were three altogether -- that was our favorite … Things are good. People are coming down to find us ... (and) I got people that used to live in the neighborhood a long time ago coming back. It just was a real positive experience overall.

“Then during the day you're there you look out your window and you start seeing these same women on the corner right across the street. There were three, four regular women -- very nice women -- but they were all obviously prostitutes. And I was just shocked because the police drove by constantly because of the sub-station right there.”

“They weren't dressed in any provocative way. They looked like any woman walking around Downtown except they were there every day from this certain time to this certain time. They were not wearing stilettos or hoochie pants. They would generally have like khaki shorts on, some tennis shoes- sensible shoes. I guess they were on their feet a lot … (one) woman who was there was chunky, heavy-set, cut-off shorts. She looked like someone my mom might know.

“At first they used to be on our corner -- they'd actually be in front of the store. And those two -- the older cool ones -- they moved. They said, ‘Hey, this is your business. We don't want to disrespect it.’ But there were some others who'd go and stand in front of the store. And I'd go out there and say, ‘I'm sorry, but I'm working this corner.’ Seriously -- and they'd be like, ‘Sorry.’ The transvestites would go out there. I got into a big fight with them, ‘What the fuck are you doing out here? We sell toys.’ ‘Oh, you're just jealous because you don't look as good as we do.’ Whatever.

“The really hot ones, the really provocatively dressed, were the transvestites. (There were) three or four at a time. Then there would be two boys ... they were like the pimps maybe. It was weird. They were kinda short and heavy set. But they were dressed like girls also. They had their eyebrows shaved. They weren't thin ... they would have on like bellbottom pants.

“We'd have customers, upper middle-class moms bringing their kids who'd heard about the store … they'd come down and you'd have (the transvestites) flagging the cars down. There are kids who live in the neighborhood. They go to school and they walk home … you'd find condoms in the parking lot, the same parking lot that we use -- the same parking lot the police use.

“The (law enforcement’s) attitude is real like, ‘Eh...this is just the way it is down here.’ I don't think that's a real good attitude to have. People are coming down there to try to change things, to make things better.

“Like I said, all day long, police cars driving back and forth. They have to know. I knew.”

That was Ya Ya’s then, a few years back. This is my friend Rollo, owner of Barrio Skate, talking about prostitution now taking place in front of his shop in the Plaza Hotel.

“The ladies here work in groups. I think that’s the way they take care of each other. It’s ladies that you and I would never think of as prostitutes. We’d just think they’re pedestrians. But three or four of them will work right in front of my shop on these bus benches. They’ll be sitting down having cigarettes, morning coffee … and the same sleazy gentlemen drive around Downtown and pick them up.

“The usual places that I see them are Oregon Street, Mesa Street up to Paisano, and then what is Overland Street from El Paso Street to the other end of Paisano. I don’t even think that the police are onto this because it is so well hidden … If you one of these days see one of these women being dropped off, pay attention. Where is she going to after she’s dropped off? Is she sitting down in the exact same area where she just got dropped off? That’ll give you a hint.”

Prior to Rollo’s description of business being conducted in front of his shop, I was frankly oblivious to the daytime activities. It was quite a shock when I realized that many women whom I had seen being dropped off at the bus depot on Oregon were not shoppers.

That’s not to say that I haven’t had my experience with prostitution Downtown. About two years ago we had a problem in our building with a tenant who lived in one of the studio spaces and was selling coke and heroin to some of the transvestite prostitutes from the area. Other residents who rent similar studios in the building found used rigs in the communal toilets. Needless to say our landlord had this individual evicted when he found out about it. I’ve also known individuals in my travels who have been customers of a certain hotel on El Paso Street for one reason or another, and/or frequented the brothels in Juarez. But this?

On two separate occasions, I was confronted by the police -- once when I was walking home from my job as a bartender/cocktail waitress at Capone’s circa 2001, once when I was walking back from the car park at the El Paso Times where I used to work late on Hot Copy in Ad Design circa 1999. The occasion in 2001, yeah, I was wearing a short skirt and heels and the confusion was understandable, but the Times? Jesus -- I was wearing just short of a full suit. Really.

To be perfectly honest, I would prefer to see licensing and regulation of brothels rather than see condoms in parking lots and a laissez-faire attitude from law enforcement. Let’s face it -- we’re never going to stop desperate men from getting laid by any means. In the 10,000 years that we as a human race have been “civilized” this blight has been part of our society. According to Wikipedia, “A 1994 study found that 16 percent of 18- to 59-year-old men in a U.S. survey group had paid for sex (Gagnon, Laumann, and Kolata 1994).” That’s a lot of men. I know it’s creepy to think that your husband, father, grandfather, son, or boss has paid for services, but obviously the threat of arrest isn’t stopping these guys, and never will.

Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and several other nations have either decriminalized or completely legalized prostitution with varying degrees of success -- focusing their law enforcement talent on regulation and prosecution of human traffickers. Criminalization has failed miserably in many societies. Take a look at Thailand -- it has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, and become a den of human trafficking (especially in child prostitutes) and a haven for deviancy and pederasty. (Hey, with a name like Bangkok ... sorry -- couldn’t resist).

If a woman (or man) chooses this as her means of subsistence and she is licensed, bonded, doing her business in a brothel and not out in the street, and free of STDs including HIV/AIDS, than what threat does her work pose to the community? Our morality? In this consumer society where we’re encouraged to step over our co-workers, occupy other countries, and destroy our environment for the sake of our economy? Where our children are exposed to THOUSANDS of advertising messages a day and live in a media dreamland? Oh come on.

The disintegration of the family? There are bigger threats to family life in our society than marital infidelity. My experience with unfaithful men is that they are more apt to screw one of your friends or an anonymous woman at a bar than risk the embarrassment of having to hire a sex worker.

But I would like to hear from you. Are you a business owner, Downtown resident, city employee, NGO volunteer, sex worker, or John who has an opinion? Do you want better police enforcement, or do you condone decriminalization and regulation? You can email me at jenni@newspapertree.com anonymously or not with your comments and gripes.

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Jenni Burton is an advocate for personal freedom and marital fidelity.