Red Lights, Tin Roofs

Is it empowerment
Or is it enslavement
For those who sell their bodies
Out on the pavement?
Is prostitution hand in hand
With destitution
Or a body positive
Sex workers solution
From patpong road
To falkland row
Who holds the power,
The pimp or the whore?
When an offer of protection
Turns to obedience through addiction
I have the predisposition
To voice my opposition
Red lights, tin roofs, red lights
Oft trapped within addiction
Be it smack or cheap red wine
With an imposed threat of violence
If they "step too far out of line"
Widows and divorcees,
Handicapped and poor
Traditional stigmas
Forced them out the door
Red lights, tin roofs, red lights
Red lights, tin roofs, red lights
Hmong and nepalese girls
Bodies sold as slaves
Now just human fodder
For a booming flesh trade
Traditional bordellos
To satisfy the idle rich,
Have gone the wayside for
Human enslavement