"The Sexualized Woman. The Lesbian, the Prostitute, and the Containment of Female Sexuality in Postwar America"

       In the reading “The Sexualized Woman The Lesbian, the Prostitute, and the Containment of female Sexuality in Postwar America” by Donna Penn was quite interesting.  She explains how being a lesbian and a prostitute was frowned upon during that time. She also goes into details of how society viewed both categories, and how these groups were considered to be an illness that needed to be treated. During the 1950's, society only approved those who followed the norms. Some norms that many tried to follow was getting married, which followed by having sex, and also it being a heterosexual marriage. By what I have mentioned as an example of the norms, you can then notice that being a lesbian and being a prostitute was not a norm.
        Lesbians and prostitutes were placed in the same category. This is something I found interesting due to the fact that in my opinion both are two different categories. One in which being a sexual desire for the same sex and the other being a form of job whether willingly or forced to either do it for pleasure, money or both. The author Donna Penn describes why lesbian and prostitutes are connected. She mentions that “earlier in the century, the most prevalent culturally constructed image of lesbianism was rarely linked to prostitution. Instead, expert observers often associated lesbians and “manish women” with unmarried career women, social reformers, and feminist.”  (359) The image started to change during the postwar in which they started to link both. Physical degeneracy was one of the examples linked to the connection of lesbians and prostitutes.
       There was a term that was used to describe them which “deviant females” they were viewed as a threat to society, a "moral decay" in which they were going against all norms that was supposed to portrayed during this time period. During the postwar it was considered to be "national coming out" This was the time that they didnt care to what society thought of what they were doing. They even went public. As i mentioned before society viewed lesbians and prostitutes as an illness that needed to be cured, but why would it be an illness? It reached a point to which they found themseleves as "targets of a law enforcement crusade during the 1950's and 1960's" (371) When reading this i asked my self Why?
      Prostitution may not be an illness but as i mentioned earlier a form of a job. This is something that i do not agree with. I feel that yes society may be right when it comes to how they view prostitutes, even if willingly or forced. In today society prostitution is like a business that many people do not agree with. In some ways prostitution is viewed the same as it was during the 1950's. On the other hand being a lesbian is a choice that many people in society should realize. It is a choice that one has based on how they feel and what makes them happy. This has been a problem for many for a long period of time. But in reality there is nothig we can do about one's attraction to the opposite sex. It is something that I believe society should just accept, which in today society seems as though they have started by allowing gay marriages. All in all  lesbians and prostitutes have been a topic spoken my many for a many years, and can be a topic discussed in the years to come.