Disposable Sex Worker: Difference between revisions

'''Archer:''' No, Cyril! When they're dead, they're just ''hookers!''|''[[Archer]]''}}

 

 

This is, in some ways, a [[Truth in Television]]. Prostitution (especially of the street-walking variety) carries with it a certain amount of danger by its nature, as the ladies occupy a gray area in society outside of the law, often being ignored both by the law and society at large as a result, and must by necessity place their trust in strangers whose intentions may not be benign. In all too many cases, women in the sex industry may be a [[Real Life]] [[Serial Killer]]'s first/only victims.<ref>Indeed, it's not uncommon for the [[Serial Killer]] to specifically ''target'' prostitutes, and actually believe that he's doing society a favor by killing them.</ref>

 

 

Sometimes we don't even get that; we just get a string of nameless dead hookers. There can also be a sense that these women [[The Scourge of God|have it coming]] or somehow deserve what happens to them because of their circumstances; the detectives involved may be dismissive or or even contemptuous towards the victims and the other women in the same position because of their profession. This can be especially glaring if the killer then targets a woman who is not a prostitute. Whereas the victims from the sex industry may be casually dismissed as victims who "had it coming," the non-sex worker victim will be treated as an innocent whose death is a tragedy and must be avenged. Similarly, if a dead woman is mistaken for a sex worker, then her death might be initially dismissed, only for everyone to pick up and work their damned hardest to solve the case once it's revealed that she's actually an 'innocent'.

 

== Film ==

** This is one of the purest examples of the trope: the killings have precisely zero bearing on the plot, existing solely to establish Waingro's ''bona fides'' as a grade-A bastard (gratuitously, at that, since we've already seen him gun an unarmed man down for no reason at all).

** Actually, it is a subversion. Viewer is expected to sympathize with other members of the outfit, even if they are cold-blooded criminals. But it is the murder of the defenseless prostitute that marks Waingro as a unredeemable, full-fledged psychopath.

* ''[[From Hell]]'' attempts to avert this by giving the doomed prostitutes a fair amount of screen time and fleshed-out personalities. The graphic novel does this as well.

** But also makes it perfectly clear that no one is bothered if the prostitute dies at the hands of a violent john or a street thug.

* The TV-movie ''Stag'' also features a group of men trying to cover up the accidental death of a prostitute, though it plays it for drama rather than black comedy.

* In ''[[The Crow]]'', the [[Big Bad]] Top Dollar and his [[Brother-Sister Incest|half-sister/lover]] reveal their creepy perversions by having a dead prostitute in their bed. Top Dollar states, "I think we broke her," suggesting that she died as a result of the villains' excessive indulgences.

** They have a dead ''girl'' in their bed. There is nothing but the [[Disposable Sex Worker]] trope itself to indicate she was a prostitute. (The sister follows up with an "I like her eyes. ''Pretty,''" and [[Eye Scream|a knife]]. The eyes appear in a later scene.)

* In the "peyote western" ''[[Blueberry]]'' (AKA ''Renegade''), the hero's prostitute sweetheart is killed {{spoiler|by him by accident while trying to save her from the [[Big Bad]], though we only learn this in the end.}} She is basically a prostitute [[The Gwen Stacy|Gwen Stacy]].

* ''[[Total Recall]]''. The triple-breasted whore gets unceremoniously shot in the back while covering for the heroes. The rest of the brothel whips out guns for a shootout, resulting in several dead sex workers by the end.

* In ''[[Film/The Godfather Part II|The Godfather Part II]]'', a U.S. Senator who refused a deal with Michael Corleone, and [[Tempting Fate|insulted his family and the Italian people]], is set up by the family to awaken in the whorehouse he frequents next to a dead prostitute, in order to make him think he killed her and needs the Corleones' protection. No one mentions the fact that someone apparently had to kill a prostitute to execute the charade.

{{quote| '''[[The Consigliere|Tom Hagen]]:''' This girl had no family. ''Nobody'' knew she worked here. [[Unperson|It'll be like she never existed.]] }}

* In ''[[Blade Runner]]'', Zhora is a replicant stripper whom Deckard [[Deadly Euphemism|retires]].

* The vicious rape-murder of a prostitute is what precipitates the action in ''[[Strange Days]]''.

* In ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]'': "No sir, a 10-82 is disappearing a dead hooker from Ben Affleck's trailer." The amused reply: "Oh, that Affleck! Backup on the way..."

* Behind the scenes of ''[[Office Space]]'': In the tenth anniversary of the film, actor Diedrich Bader told a story of fellow actor Stephen Root playing a joke on him by knocking on his door, quietly asking "Are you my friend?" Bader replied "Of course, Stephen." "Are you really my friend?" "Of course, what's wrong?" Root's reply was "I just killed a prostitute."

* Played completely straight when the villian in the [[John Travolta (Creator)]] vehicle ''Blow-Out'' ([[John Lithgow]]) offs a prostitute in a bus terminal.

 

* Jayne Ann Krentz favors this trope in many of her romance novels.

* Averted by Harry Bosch, the homicide detective from [[Michael Connelly]]'s series of crime novels. One of his personal mottos is "Either ''everyone'' matters, or ''no one'' matters".

* In the [[Matthew Hawkwood]] novel ''Resurrectionist'', when the body snatchers are paid to secure Colonel Hyde a fresh body, the victim they chose is young streetwalker Molly Finn.

* {{spoiler|Drefan Rahl}} in [[The Sword of Truth]]. A [[Sense Freak]] whose most common type of crime was to come to a prostitute in a brothel, get to know her, sever her spine to paralyze her legs, gag her, tie her hands, take a knife and... well, a combat hardened general stated he saw many corpses, but he can't remember the last time one made him throw up.

** Some of the pornography actors/crew in Blood Rites lampshade this trope, and it's briefly considered as a pattern for the Entropy Curse. Turns out {{spoiler|it ''was'', but driven by the fact that Arturo Genosa was in love with one of them, so it was a subversion}}.

* ''[[In Death]]'': Some of the murder victims are this. ''Naked In Death'', ''Imitation In Death'', ''Indulgence In Death'' and ''New York To Dallas'' are examples in the series of this trope occurring.

** Margo's mother, through [[Death By Origin Story]]

** Half the reason for [[Jack the Ripper]]'s murders.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** SVU often [[Discussed Trope|calls attention to this trope]], but largely averts it in practice. Prostitute victims are treated with just as much respect and sympathy as other victims, if not more: Very young (often underage) prostitutes who have been coerced into the business are a common fixture on the show.

** In one episode, they make specific note of how many regular cops view hookers this way. The SVU detectives are disgusted when the homicide detective who hands over the case of a murdered prostitute to them describes it as NHI or "No Humans Involved."

* The first episode of the ''[[Dragnet]]'' remake focused on a killer of these women.

** In "The Last Word" (episode 2x9), two serial killers are operating in the same city at the same time. One kills middle class women, the other prostitutes. In order to draw both out, the latter's case is stifled in the press. Equal screen time, however, is given to the families of both sets of victims. And after the killer is caught the prostitutes get a front page article about them, an article that never once mentions the killer.

** In "Sex, Birth, Death" (episode 2x11), they spend a lot of time establishing some of the prostitutes as positive characters and even use them to stop the baddie in the end. Furthermore, there is another male character who has the same urges as the villain, to kill prostitutes, but he suppresses it, tries to get help, and eventually tries to kill himself rather than follow through on his urges; he is placed in a mental institution by the end of the episode.

* ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' has an episode which deals with the police not taking sex worker victims seriously, albeit when the crime in question is rape and not murder.

* Averted in the first season of ''[[The Shield]]'': we get a lot of information about Sally, a prostitute victim of a serial killer, and the detective investigating the case actually names her when cursing out a suspect for wasting police time.

* The pilot to ''[[Sanctuary]]'' has a prostitute walking up to a recently teleported-in baddie and offering to show him a good time; he, of course, butchers her. It makes a little bit of sense, though, when you find out he's {{spoiler|[[Jack the Ripper]]. Her murder also clues Helen Magnus into the fact that he's back, making it a possible aversion}}.

* ''[[Deadwood]]'':

** In the second season, Francis Wolcott has a history of going hard on the merchandise. {{spoiler|He turns a local bordello into a bloodbath, and it's apparently not the first time. The new Deadwood madame had actually ''planned'' on Wolcott murdering her star prostitute and then blackmailing him to stay silent. She apparently didn't realize that [[Mugging the Monster]] is a bad idea. In a bit of s subversion, the ruthless Hearst decides that Wolcott is too much of a liability for his hooker-killing ways, and fires him.}}

** In the third season, Trixie bungles an assassination attempt on Hearst, causing him to insist that Swearengen kill her. Al can't bring himself to kill Trixie, but realizes that saying no is suicide, so he kills his other blonde prostitute instead and passes her corpse off as Trixie.

* Inverted in an episode of ''[[Castle]]'': The killer was targeting various prostitutes' ''clients'' {{spoiler|Because she was the sister of a prostitute who was beaten (and died due to being a hemophiliac)}}.

* ''[[The Wire]]'':

*** They're not ignored just because they're sex workers; they're also illegal immigrants in a vague jurisdiction, and [[Somebody Else's Problem|no one wants to take the case because]] [[Truth in Television|it would drag their murder-solving statistics down]]. The only reason the murders get solved at all is because McNulty manages to connect into an investigation of a corrupt foreman that [[Pointy-Haired Boss|Valchek]] has a petty grudge against.

** A minor subplot in season 1, where one of the dancers at Orlando's strip club turns up dead after a drug-fueled party with Wee-Bay and the rest of the Barksdale soldiers. The soldiers' cavalier attitude about it is what drives fellow stripper Shardene to actively assisting the police.

* The Suffolk Murders (as mentioned below) were depicted in a BBC TV drama called ''Five Daughters'', which focused on four of the women (one of the families hadn't consented to being portrayed) showing them as complex, loving, loved and beautiful women. Some of whom were getting treatment for their addiction. The killer wasn't explored at all.

* Averted in ''[[Taggart]]'', at least in that sex workers are not considered any more disposable than any other victims.

* In ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' when a group of the main characters are in a situation where they have to decide who to have killed, Stewart suggests Patty, since hookers are disposable.

** Averted in another episode, a particularly scary and horrific serial killer murders a prostitute to collect parts of her body. The FBI treats the case very seriously, probably due to the brutal nature of the murder, and Mulder advises the victim's friend (also a prostitute) to try and leave town.

* A male example happens in ''[[True Blood]]'', when season 3's [[Big Bad]] Russell--during his [[Villainous Breakdown]] after his lover Talbot is murdered--hires a rentboy who looks like Talbot, then stakes him in the heart after they have sex.

* ''[[Taxicab Confessions]]'' (a reality show where hidden cameras in taxicabs record their passengers) often had sex workers in their episodes. One particularly crushing segment featured a sweet, charming older lady who talked about her escape from a serial killer who tried to strangle her. A few sex workers had already turned up dead by him. She mentions that the cops will probably leave him alone as long as he doesn't start hurting "real" people.

* A murdered male prostitute in the Sting song "Tomorrow We'll See," who is described as just another victim on that road, carted away by the police and replaced by someone else the next day.

* Implied to be the fate of the Narrator (seemingly an Eastern European sex worker) in ''Maybe There's A Road'' by Karine Polwart: "Now somewhere someone’s saying I was in the wrong / And that I never should have travelled where I don’t belong / Maybe there's a road that's not this hard"

 

 

* Want to get your health up for free in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]''? Hire a prostitute, engage in her services, then kill her to get the money back. However, the media attention given to this tactic goes contrary to the trope. The game rewards almost nonstop violence against every kind of character, but the tactic of killing prostitutes has become its most infamous feature.

** Lampshaded in ''[[Chinatown Wars]]'' with Cherie's mission. She thinks that Huang is going to hire her, then turns violent, thinking that Huang is "one of those guys who hires a hooker and kills them afterward." Chinatown Wars does not have the "hire a hooker to regain health" system, though.

** On the other hand, Ezio actually ''has'' courtesan allies, and three major supporting characters are madames who do not react well at all to anyone killing their charges. That such women are seen as the dregs of society, somehow less human than the middle-class or nobles, forms a minor subplot.

* Inverted in the ''Godfather'' video game. A major part of the plot revolves around protecting the sex workers. Outside of that, flirting with them gets the charcter bonuses.

* Unusually, despite being a sex worker in a series where a [[Serial Killer]] (actually {{spoiler|three}} run rampant) and [[Anyone Can Die]], [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] in [[There Will Be Brawl]] is unusual for being one of the few characters to actually survive the series.

* ''[[Panthera]]'' uses this too. The [[Big Bad]] kidnapped "addicts, whores, vagrants, criminals... the scum on the boots of society" and proceded to stick a needle into them and inject them with Serum 43. All of [http://www.pantheracomic.com/?p=316 one page] is spent dwelling on them specifically instead of an abstract "people", and it wasn't even in the original script.

* Brad Jones seems to love playing with this trope, as evidenced in his films ''Hooker With A Heart of Gold'' and, so much more so, ''Midnight Heat''.

 

 

* The trope is frequently parodied in ''[[Family Guy]]'':

{{quote| '''Peter''': ''"...but I'll tell you what's not cool--killing strippers. Strippers are people too; naked people who may be willing to pleasure you for a price you negotiate later behind the curtain of a VIP room. Besides, there's no reason to kill them, 'cause most of them are already dead inside...Good night, folks!"''<br />

* ''[[Archer]]'' features the following gem;

{{quote| '''Archer:''' Oh my god, you killed a hooker!<br />