One day after notorious prostitute Natalee Natlee Harewood confirmed her intention to contest the upcoming general election, the organized sex industry here is throwing its support behind her.
Charles Lewis, the head of the Adult Industry Association (AIA), told Barbados TODAY the AIA would provide Natlee with both moral and financial support.
“Our support is going to be a lot more tangible than just moral support because my organization is prepared to start a fundraising campaign on her behalf. I am also prepared to put my money behind her and I am also prepared to give her political and intellectual support that she needs because that is how political campaigns are run and won. I am also willing to go and speak on her platform if it is required,” Lewis said.
Lewis was critical of those who questioned Natlee’s moral qualification to run, based on her profession, arguing that the well-known sex worker was no less moral than most politicians.
“Natalee is clearly a concerned citizen who happens to be a sex worker and it is shameful that Bajans are using her profession to criticize her decision to run for office, yet they are prepared to vote for political prostitutes who hide behind the walls of Parliament. These corrupt self-serving bastards may not sell their bodies at Bush Hill but they certainly sell their souls for money.
“Hypothetically speaking I would prefer to be represented by a prostitute who genuinely has my interest at heart than corrupt politicians whose lack in leadership has brought this country to its knees. In particular politicians whose local and offshore accounts collectively have more money than the national treasury and whose cars individually are worth more than my house,” Lewis said.
The long-time adult industry advocate contended that instead of being preoccupied with Natlee’s profession, the public should be concerned that the country was in such a state that it prompted a sex worker to come out from the shadows and attempt to take political matters into her own hands.
“Her decision to get into politics is not based on her profession as a sex worker, it is based on her personal fears and concerns, so I don’t see where morality has any place in this narrative at all. That is just a frivolous argument because she is suffering just like anybody else in Barbados.
“In an effort to attack Natlee one person said, ‘look what Barbados has come to’. I must now change the narrative and exclaim, ‘Look what our politicians have brought our country to’. The message is clear when sex workers feel that they have no choice but to step into the political arena to improve the very conditions that drove them to prostitution in the first place,” he stressed.
Lewis told Barbados TODAY that while he had no qualms about Natlee’s profession, he would advise her to give up prostitution if she were serious about getting into politics.
“If she were to go forward into the political arena and be successful it would mean that I would advise her to remove herself from that profession. At the end of the day we are looking at a very taboo subject,” he stated.
