thus be seen to be a remnant of societies' chauvinistic past and, so, as a way-of-life to be rejected by enlightened feminists of the present.
             The above argument implies that prostitutes should commonly suffer abuse at the hands of their customers, who would regard them as sexual objects rather than as persons whose rights were to be respected. Indeed, the level of violence perpetrated against prostitutes by pimps and clientele does seem unusually high: the factsheet Prostitution in the United States asserts that, "a study of 130 street workers... who engaged in prostitution... found that 80% had been physically assaulted" . Another implication of the argument is that women who become prostitutes do so from a position of personal disempowerment and, more, that they will continue to hold themselves in low self-esteem after having become sex workers: after all, empowerment and self-respect arises from equality and liberation, rather than subjugation and dependence; thus, the emancipated woman must be the antithesis of the female prostitute. Again, this implication seems supported by available statistics: my factsheet stat!
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