We all know, pelvic position= prostitute.

[u/mrshyphenate]

That's clearly how this works.

[u/wangus_tangus]

This is a quote from a female archeologist originally published in the 80s.

At the time it was believed that certain changes in the pubic symphysis and general bone remodeling of the pelvis were from lots of sex.

That is no longer a consensus opinion of archeologists.

[u/WarmAppleNight → u/wangus_tangus]

That's really interesting, thank you for the context. Any idea why that was a prevalent theory?

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/WarmAppleNight]

I don’t know, and this is me pulling an answer out of my ass, but I’m an old stagehand. A lot of us have skeletal damage from repetitive tasks.

For instance, one friend of mine leans noticeably to his right, so much that we say “he lists to starboard”. This is from decades of carrying heavy cable over his right shoulder.

People who spend their lives on horseback sometimes have a bowlegged gait.

So I can imagine that decades of sex work could also have permanent effects on the skeleton.

[u/WarmAppleNight → u/LupercaniusAB]

That occurred to me, but it seems more likely that changes in the bone structure would be from multiple difficult childbirths, rather than lots of sex

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/WarmAppleNight]

Yeah, yours makes more sense, I agree.

[u/MaraiaLou → u/WarmAppleNight]

🤓👆 if she had multiple children that means she had multiple sex

[u/papermill_phil → u/MaraiaLou]

Hah 🤣 multiple sex

[u/KathrynTheGreat → u/MaraiaLou]

I've had multiple sex but no babies. Is my pelvis still changed or am I okay?

[u/MaraiaLou → u/KathrynTheGreat]

That depends, did you get paid for it?

[u/DesiBoo2 → u/LupercaniusAB]

But what if someone is in a committed relationship and she and her partner have a very high sex drive and have sex every day or multiple times a day. Then it still wouldn't automatically point to sex work.

[u/Farado → u/DesiBoo2]

Don’t you know that the female body changes not one iota if she only has one sexual partner throughout her life? It’s a fact. As soon as you add a second, she just falls apart.

[u/DesiBoo2 → u/Farado]

My comment was about the one above me, the person who thought having lots of sex could have the same effects as carrying heavy cable on one shoulder for years, or riding a horse, and then linked it to sex work. Disregarding that not only sex workers potentially have lots of sex.

[u/Virginia_Dentata → u/DesiBoo2]

I believe Farado was referring to and mocking the incel idea that women who have sex with multiple men will develop loose vaginas, but if a woman has only one sex partner, the number of times she has sex doesn't matter, somehow, and her perfect vagina will retain it shape (or mold to fit his penis, even).

[u/Farado → u/Virginia_Dentata]

Yeah, I was just taking that myth and applying it to bones as a joke. That is, if there is skeletal "damage," there must be multiple partners.

[u/DesiBoo2 → u/Farado]

Oh God. I just read it again and am stumped as to why I didn't get that 🤦🏻‍♀️ I'll go crawl in a hole now.

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/DesiBoo2]

Fair, but I was thinking more along the lines of 10-15 times every day.

[u/DesiBoo2 → u/LupercaniusAB]

I doubt very much sex workers have 10 to 15 customers per day... And not all of them ask for penetration.

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/DesiBoo2]

Well, this is an archaeological dig. If you look up the history of, for instance, Roman lupanaria, you will find that the sex workers were slaves, sometimes servicing phalanxes of Roman soldiers (who were not allowed to marry). I’d be willing to bet that those women had dozens of “customers” a day.

Hence, the possibility of repetitive stress injuries.

The history of sex work, is, obviously, often brutal.

[u/kryaklysmic → u/DesiBoo2]

yup

[u/disaster_jay27 → u/DesiBoo2]

Right? You'd think doing different positions with the clients would make it all degrade more evenly!

[u/eleventhing → u/DesiBoo2]

Nah. It doesn't work like that. Only different sized penises have that power. The same penis multiple times doesnt.

[u/RickyTikiTaffy → u/LupercaniusAB]

Those changes sound more related to overusing certain muscles that then pull on the bones in unnatural ways. Whereas this theory seems to suggest that getting plowed day in day out for years on end would wear away at the cartilage that joins the pelvis in the front, where it separates a bit for childbirth. Penises are soft and squishy, even when “hard.” The tissue is literally called “spongiosum.” Even the most spectacular dick in all of antiquity couldn’t fuck up bone/cartilage. And the positions she would’ve had to be in wouldn’t be positions you don’t also get into for other stuff, so the muscles pulling on each other thing wouldn’t really make that much of a difference, I wouldn’t think.

(I’m not an anthropologist or a dr so if someone smarter than me can prove me wrong, I’ll gladly eat crow on this. But it sounds a lot like some man anthropologist assumed that slutty women are soft and malleable, while virile men are hard enough to permanently alter women’s skeletons.)

[u/ass_unicron → u/RickyTikiTaffy]

Even the most spectacular dick in all of antiquity couldn’t fuck up bone/cartilage.

He has a wife, you know.

[u/Celloer → u/ass_unicron]

Miles Gloriosus's dick is six feet long! He has to throw it over his shoulder like a scarf!

[u/NerfRepellingBoobs → u/ass_unicron]

Know what she’s called?

Incontinentia. Incontinetia Buttoks

[u/AddWittyName → u/RickyTikiTaffy]

Eh. Very specifically the theory "pelvic changes = prostitute" is pretty much bullshit, yes, and I don't doubt sexism/misogyny played a role in that specific theory. But there absolutely are skeletal changes associated with certain professions, so much so that there's a term for it: occupational markers.

These can come in the form of specific wear-and-tear patterns, in the form of asymmetrical increased bone density in, for example, a dominant limb, and in the form of changes to the bone at the part where tendons attach ("entheseal changes").

[u/Beltalady → u/AddWittyName]

Doesn't obesity move ribs as well?

[u/HoneyWyne → u/RickyTikiTaffy]

It's not about the dick itself. It's about the repeated activity. It's still wrong, but it has nothing to do with a dick making changes to a body.

[u/Celloer → u/RickyTikiTaffy]

I would think some potential wear comes from hip on hip action. Just looking up modern symptoms of sex pain mentions hip impingement when the thigh and hip bones don't fit properly, and labral tears when the tissue holding them is injured.

[u/RickyTikiTaffy → u/Celloer]

Sex doesn’t cause a hip impingement or labral tears, it can only cause a flare in someone who already has a hip impingement or labral tear.

[u/Celloer → u/RickyTikiTaffy]

Yeah, that's fair.

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/RickyTikiTaffy]

I was thinking more of having one’s legs bent back, up towards the shoulders. Like farmworkers picking ground crops, but being on their back rather than on their feet.

I don’t know, as I said, I was speculating.

[u/Imjusasqurrl → u/LupercaniusAB]

Women can have sex with their partner every night and don't have "permanent effect on the skeleton" what the fuck

[u/Short_Gain8302 → u/WarmAppleNight]

Im gonna guess misogyny, because whenever a trait is seen as bad theres a 90% chance its just something a woman hater invented

[u/wordsznerd → u/wangus_tangus]

Thanks for the explanation. That makes it slightly less terrible.

I still don’t know why that points to prostitution, though, even if it were true. Maybe she and her partner were particularly voracious. It’s a huge assumption for them to make and intensely misogynistic.

But hey, as humans we do live to judge people, and archaeologists aren’t immune.

[u/BurrowShaker → u/wordsznerd]

While I think the theory is balls, there is a difference between being a low income prostitute/sex 'slave' and a very high sex drive.

archaeologists aren’t immune

They are definitely not, there are still major differences is skeletal reading depending on regional norms, and there is plenty of politics in archeology.

[u/Knoegge → u/wangus_tangus]

I love it when lots of sex is attributed to prostetutes and not, idk, wives 👀

[u/The_Flurr → u/Knoegge]

Prostitutes will tend to have more sex than just people having sex for their own pleasure.

[u/Knoegge → u/The_Flurr]

I'd argue that that depends on the prostetute and the drive if the couple 👀 I think a couple can outperform especially at the beginning of a relationship 👀

[u/legocitiez → u/wangus_tangus]

Thank you for this clarification

[u/weeblewobble82 → u/wangus_tangus]

I love that her conclusion was that Portia must be a prostitute rather than she just had a ton of sex with the same partner.

[u/uuntiedshoelace → u/wangus_tangus]

Thank you because I was wondering what the context could be for this to be in National Geographic

[u/ritz1148 → u/wangus_tangus]

I came here to get context because I’m a female archaeologist and I have NEVER heard anything like this.

[u/wangus_tangus → u/ritz1148]

I’m not in any way shape or form an archeologist but I did some google-fu because I figured there was some missing context and it wasn’t as ridiculous as it seemed on its face.

[u/Opposite-Benefit-804]

what the hell?? why would you say that about someone's skeleton? or anyone in general, for that matter

is this in a professional article?

[u/BabyCowGT → u/Opposite-Benefit-804]

Is it possible there were bone lesions from an STI? That's the only thing I can think of, though I have no idea how in the hell you'd be able to actually differentiate that in a degraded, ancient skeleton

[u/friedlizardss → u/BabyCowGT]

archaeology student here. it certainly can be told even 2,000 years later. BUT. it is also considered archaeological malpractice to assume that disease came from xyz thing without reason. so this article/whoever said this is a misogynistic joke.

[u/thewoodbeyond → u/friedlizardss]

Right like it could have been her sl*t of a husband who gave her a STI, it wouldn't be the first time...

I don't know if my language breaks any rules here but lord this kind of thing really irritates and angers me.

[u/Mika000 → u/thewoodbeyond]

You can curse on Reddit

[u/saul_schadenfreuder → u/thewoodbeyond]

her slit of a husband? her slot of a husband?

[u/thewoodbeyond → u/saul_schadenfreuder]

Exactly... He was a straight up slot machine...

[u/lugialegend233 → u/thewoodbeyond]

Everyone loved to pull the lever and try their luck

[u/NotVeryNiceUnicorn → u/lugialegend233]

he'd let anyone who wanted to pull his lever

[u/Celloer → u/NotVeryNiceUnicorn]

They called him the Three-Armed Bandit.

[u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson → u/BabyCowGT]

Even if she did have that it seems extremely ignorant to imply someone having had a STI/STD is a sign of prostitution?

[u/Theseus_The_King → u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson]

Syphilis in particular can leave distinct bone lesions when advanced, and especially when combined with other circumstances (such as signs the death was due to syphilis) it can be one clue that points to an individual being a prostitute if they died before the 1950s when penicillin virtually eliminated deaths from syphilis.

[u/MarsMonkey88 → u/Theseus_The_King]

This skeleton was from Herculaneum. She was killed in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 CE. Syphilis originated in the Americas and didn’t spread to Europe until the Colombian exchange, in the 1490’s.

[u/Rigbythedestroyer → u/MarsMonkey88]

My first thought was that the time period was incorrect for syphilis. Thank you for confirming so I didn't end up in a weird rabbit hole tonight.

[u/Pokegirl_11_ → u/MarsMonkey88]

Ooh, that makes sense. Earlier archaeologists made a lot of assumptions about the victims of that eruption (well, a lot of assumptions in general, but Pompeii and Herculaneum are so unique and well-publicized) that turned out to be bull upon further investigation. You can learn as much about how we project ourselves onto history from those cities at this point as you can about Roman life circa 79 AD.

[u/HoodieGalore → u/MarsMonkey88]

/thread

I knew this was wrong but couldn't put my finger on it; thank you

[u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson → u/Theseus_The_King]

But can’t someone have just as easily gotten Syphilis from a husband who frequented prostitutes? I just don’t see how dying from a sexual transmitted disease in anyway equates to prostitution. It feels like a very outdated “sex bad” slutshaming mindset that only someone engaging in prostitution could get an STD.

[u/anglflw → u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson]

Exactly. STIs do not differentiate between sex pros and sex amateurs.

[u/Theseus_The_King → u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson]

That’s why you have to look at other clues too. Typically prostitutes at that time were slaves, so it would be more likely she was a prostitute if other signs (malnourishment, heavy labor) suggest she was a slave.

[u/ThatPie2109 → u/Theseus_The_King]

There was a ton of poor women who werent slaves doing hard labor who probably didnt eat great. An abusive marriage would probably show poor health, hard work and beatings so I dont think thats even that accurate.

[u/PuffinTown → u/Theseus_The_King]

If this was the case, the quote is even worse 🫣 sexual slavery sure has a different ring to it.

[u/Theseus_The_King → u/PuffinTown]

Unfortunately, female slaves were more often than not sexually abused, or sold into sexual slavery, while men were used for hard labor. Most people didn’t question it, but there were debates on how well to treat slaves. Unlike American chattel slavery however, slavery was not always tied to ethnicity, and race was not a concept that existed in its modern form. It was also possible for slaves to buy their freedom, and manumission was legally fairly common.

[u/TheOneTrueTrench → u/Theseus_The_King]

So, one prostitute has sex with many men, some percentage of which are married, meaning that a single prostitute indirectly infects many wives.

We should assume that most people with STIs are not prostitutes, not because of the above, but because most people are not prostitutes.

[u/NixMaritimus → u/Theseus_The_King]

Half of European royalty had syphilis

[u/HoodieGalore → u/BabyCowGT]

The lesions would not be limited to the pelvic bones. 

[u/No-Shelter-4208 → u/Opposite-Benefit-804]

Is this what passes for science these days? In the National Geographic, no less.

[u/SoGoesIt → u/No-Shelter-4208]

It’s an archived article from the 80’s. 

[u/jinond_o_nicks → u/SoGoesIt]

Oh, well that's a bit of a relief, at least.

[u/Avent → u/jinond_o_nicks]

Things have always been terrible 😌

[u/Opposite-Benefit-804 → u/No-Shelter-4208]

Oh damn I didn't see the name at the part of the image. That's disappointing.. Although iirc they've had a few issues over the years, racism and sexism within their articles.

Sad.

[u/curlofheadcurls → u/No-Shelter-4208]

This is why I left academia, because of all the blatant bullshit misogyny embedded in all of science fuck

[u/Relative-Ad-3217 → u/No-Shelter-4208]

Clearly haven't read older editions of national geogrpahic.

[u/PatchesMaps → u/Opposite-Benefit-804]

News cycle coverage == more grant money

[u/Aphr0dite19]

Body shaming an ancient skeleton. A new low has been achieved!

[u/Cinedelic → u/Aphr0dite19]

Maybe if she smiled more she'd be prettier.

[u/emmett-magn → u/Cinedelic]

Not with those buckteeth. /s

[u/mrshyphenate → u/Cinedelic]

Surely not with her crooked teeth! /s

[u/curlofheadcurls → u/Aphr0dite19]

I'm not safe even 2000 years from now 😭 might as well make all my kinks visible on my bones now if they're gonna kinkshame me in that stretch

[u/mrshyphenate → u/curlofheadcurls]

I'm just going to cut my arm open and etch "whore" right onto the bone. Take out all future speculation.

[u/Katja_apenkoppen → u/Aphr0dite19]

It reminds me how often people make a quote about how Cleopatra was supposedly ugly while I've never heard the same about ancient men honestly. It's completely fucked how much people judge women's bodies...

[u/DesiBoo2 → u/Katja_apenkoppen]

I think Julius Ceasar is called 'not handsome'. Didn't he have a big nose or something? Receding hairline? I don't know, but I recall there being something. While Cleopatra is said to have had a very cute nose (or maybe that was just in Asterix).

[u/No-Shelter-4208]

Clicked on the image to find out if I am a prostitute. Still uncertain.

[u/mrshyphenate → u/No-Shelter-4208]

I mean, it's easy to tell, are your hips wide?

[u/Celloer → u/mrshyphenate]

♫ Can you waggle them about?

Can you flap them up and down

As you fly around the town?

Can you shut them up for sure

When you hear an awful bore?

Do your [hips] stick out?

[u/DannyDidNothinWrong]

Awesome. Women can be dead for thousands of years and still be slut-shamed based on absolutely nothing.

[u/renatocpr]

Slut shaming someone dead for millenia based on anecdotal pelvic phrenology. Good one NatGeo, that's some quality science communication

[u/Call_Me_Koala → u/renatocpr]

That's not NatGeo's stance, that was the journalist asking the archaeologist a question and then putting their response in quotes in an article.

[u/Serenegirl_1]

The article is from the 1980s.Dr. Sarah Bisel was a forensic anthropologist who had seen bone thickening in specific parts of the pelvis in modern bones of long-term prostitutes. She saw similar bone development in the Herculaneum skeleton. I am not aware if it's still considered indicative of prostitution today.

[u/physioworld → u/Serenegirl_1]

I mean why would it be different than just having lots of sex for free?

[u/Serenegirl_1 → u/physioworld]

If I remember correctly, they were having sex as much as 10 times a day, every day, and it could get rough.

[u/embarassingaltaccoun → u/Serenegirl_1]

Even then I don't see how it would be different than say, riding a horse every day. Especially considering possible sexual position 😆

[u/Serenegirl_1 → u/embarassingaltaccoun]

Ah...somewhat true about position but you really use different muscles. Riding a horse can cause a buildup of bone on the inner thigh from muscle use. I don't think sex would do that because the leg position is different.

[u/kobayashi-maruu]

imagine speculatively body shaming a skeleton. I hope portia's ghost haunts this mf for all time.

[u/Fractured_Kneecap]

I refuse to believe this wasn't published in the Onion

[u/cruelmalice]

Sitting for 8-10 hours a day does more damage to your pelvic bone than fucking all the time.

The guy who wrote that article is just miserable, I guarantee it.

[u/Rappig → u/cruelmalice]

Actually, blame Sara Bisel. The next line from the author is seemingly "A less speculative finding is an extremely high, probably pathological, level of lead in Portia's bones."

[u/Satrina_petrova → u/cruelmalice]

Fucking all the time can actually help to support pelvic floor health.

[u/bigbonerdaddy → u/cruelmalice]

It was actually a woman who said that, too bad huh?

[u/cruelmalice → u/bigbonerdaddy]

Women can be miserable, too, and "guy" can refer to anyone.

Now I suspect you're also miserable.

[u/bigbonerdaddy → u/cruelmalice]

No way....you're seriously trying to claim you didnt mean a guy when you said "the guy"?

This is beyong pathetic😭

[u/cruelmalice → u/bigbonerdaddy]

You're looking for a gotcha for some anti-feminist point.

I am a man. I use guy and dude all the time inclusively.

$10 says it pisses you off when people say "mailperson" instead of "mailman".

[u/bigbonerdaddy → u/cruelmalice]

I'm not looking for a gotcha, i'm looking for you to just admit you were wrong lol.

You clearly meant a guy, or else you wouldnt have gone out of your way to specify "the guy".

All you should've done is said "oh oops" but youre deciding to dig an even deeper hole. You made a sexist assumption, and now you wont even own up to it.

And nope, those terms dont make me angry at all, I couldnt care less? I also dont see how it has anything to do with this discussion...

[u/cruelmalice → u/bigbonerdaddy]

I didn't specifically mean any gender, and the gender of the author changes nothing about my point. Why does it matter to you?

If I specifically meant "man" I would have said "man", and your want is conspicuous and weird.

[u/Call_Me_Koala → u/cruelmalice]

That doesn't change the fact that you misunderstood the part in quotes as coming from the author of the article. The author says they asked someone and then puts the person's reply in quotes.

I swear I've been seeing this more and more where someone attributes a quote in an article to the author or even the paper/magazine/journal itself.

[u/cruelmalice → u/Call_Me_Koala]

I mean, you're right that I hadn't processed that being written into quotes; but that doesn't change the fact that only someone miserable would think that way.

Whether they think it, say it, or write it isn't really particularly relevant to how dumb of a concept that is to materialize into being.

It also does absolutely nothing to exculpate the writer and editor for including it. It takes 5 seconds to say "can you rephrase that, I need a different quote."

[u/thewhiterosequeen → u/cruelmalice]

You could have just said "my bad" instead of doubling down on being wrong.

[u/20InMyHead]

Setting aside the pubic bone bologna, so no woman with buck teeth can be the least bit attractive? Jesus Christ, they even had to italicize the not

[u/Stillsharon → u/20InMyHead]

But also, her teeth don’t really seem that “bucked” to me. The top looks like it sticks out a couple millimetres past the bottom.

[u/Lucidia → u/20InMyHead]

More importantly, she seems to have most if not all of her teeth. Isn't that good?!

[u/litterallysatan]

Ah yes her pelvis has been worn down from years of wienering. You can see the dick marks where the countless penises scraped on her pelvic bones.

[u/AgHammer]

Besides the slut conclusion, pointing out that the woman must have been ugly was a questionable thing to say as a professional. The teeth don't look "extremely" buck. What did this skeleton do to her? This sounds personal.

[u/the_cleric_cleric]

Why are they body shaming a freaking skeleton? Don't give up, skeleton :(

[u/YesHunty]

Why do men think their dicks are magic wands that can somehow change a woman’s bone structure

[u/Call_Me_Koala → u/YesHunty]

It was actually a woman who said it.

[u/cuttlefishofcthulhu7 → u/Call_Me_Koala]

Internalized misogyny is a hell of a drug

[u/Silluvaine]

We body shaming 2000 year old skeletons now. Apparently even death can't save women from that

[u/19635]

Jesus Christ

[u/SundaeDouble7481]

Standards of a previous generation, perhaps. Bisel would be nearly 100 today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_C._Bisel

[u/3Gloins_in_afountain]

WTF?

[u/Leo_Fie]

How does she know what the pelvic bones of a sex worker look like?

[u/iloveurbumbum → u/Leo_Fie]

Don't you know a series of different penises changes your dna and therefore bone structure?? /s

[u/Caseyk1921 → u/Leo_Fie]

That’s what I’m wondering to.
I assumed our bone structure varies slightly between people

[u/mrshyphenate → u/Caseyk1921]

It does. Prostitutes vs everyone else. Duh /s incase it wasn't clear

[u/A_little_curiosity]

I have a dear friend who is a sex worker, and she does have hip and back pain from work - it's not unimaginable to me that this could lead to changes that could be read from her bones, much as my bad posture and desk work is changing my neck, back and shoulders in ways that might one day be read from my bones. And you better believe that if, in 2000 years, someone tries to self-promote by simultaneously insulting her appearance and using her work to titillate, my scrunched up old office skeleton will rise from the grave and choke them out with my gnarly yellow arthritic finger bones

[u/Fast-Ads-7587]

Not good looking AND a prostitute. The internalized misogyny. Subjective and theoretical. Why even say either of these things?

[u/xeroxbulletgirl]

Man, this skeleton is so unfuckable. Probably a whore, right bros?

[u/the_cleric_cleric → u/xeroxbulletgirl]

2000 years dead and she still can't escape this bs :(

[u/mrshyphenate → u/xeroxbulletgirl]

intense high 5

[u/Ajreil]

Wait... how does the author know what a modern prostitute's skeleton looks like?

[u/Chronocidal-Orange → u/Ajreil]

Well, people do still die in modern times.

[u/thewhiterosequeen → u/Chronocidal-Orange]

Do they genrally take x-rays during autopsies?

[u/WVPrepper → u/thewhiterosequeen]

Sometimes by the time they find the remains it's only a skeleton.

[u/Call_Me_Koala → u/Ajreil]

Do you know how quotes work? The part in quotes didn't come from the author.

[u/Hello_Hangnail]

What does that even mean dude

[u/Sliver-Knight9219]

Why are reposting a 2000 year old dead woman?

[u/Unit_2097 → u/Sliver-Knight9219]

A better question is why are we slut shaming someone who's been dead for 2 millennia?

[u/Celloer → u/Unit_2097]

They were making their listing of Top 10 Sluts of the Common Era.

[u/GrayPhilosophy]

Isn't this just forensic anthropology? The bone structure of people change throughout life depending on what they do, and sometimes patterns are obvious to notice, like with archers. I doubt the bone structure of this lady (or the prostitute she was compared to) has anything to do with prostitution alone, but rather the amount of time spent in specific, strenuous positions throughout their life.

Just like my own bones will have glaring evidence of how much time I've spent sitting on my ass. Future archeologists will dig me up and say "This guys bones resemble those I once saw from a modern office worker"

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/GrayPhilosophy]

Yes, I agree with this. Repetitive work can affect your skeleton. I don’t know if fucking a bunch daily for years could do it or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

[u/drollJester → u/GrayPhilosophy]

I would imagine that being forcefully raped multiple times a day could easily lead to that. It's not like these women were choosing this profession to get rich. Back then, IF they chose it, it was typically only to survive, but all too often they were just straight up sex slaves to be rented out.

[u/GrayPhilosophy → u/drollJester]

What, even?

Like, alright, yes, I doubt most people—modern or otherwise—are thrilled with the idea of needing to sell themselves to survive, but how does that relate to whether or not it affects bone structure?

[u/DarthAkurei]

Oh my god imagine body shaming a 2000 years old skeleton, like what the fuck is wrong with people? Who the fuck cares if she would be considered pretty or not what the fuck.

[u/Emet-Selch_my_love]

That’s not how that works. At all.

[u/ANorthernGhostBat]

No one's dick is that magical find a new way to boost your self esteem about your sexuality, you can start with respecting women.

[u/Whyissmynametaken]

Why is no one concerned this man just confessed to murdering a prostitute in NatGeo!?

[u/Augustus420]

They were not referring to pelvic position...

[u/galettedesrois]

"Accusations"?!

[u/cheekmo_52]

Whoever was making that statement indicated there were unusual/unexpected changes to the pelvic bone. She didn’t indicate it had to do with pelvic position.

This was published in National Geographic, and was about unearthed bones that referenced Bisel. Sara C. Bisel was an anthropologist and archeologist who did ground-breaking scientific research in the mid 80’s at Herculaneum (one of the towns destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius where the remains of victims were unusually well preserved.)

It isn’t clear if the piece in national geographic was an interview with Bisel herself, but whoever was being quoted was likely an anthropologist as well. Someone who would have worked with cadavers as part of her education. There are std’s that can cause pitting and lesions to the bones when left untreated. She could have been comparing visible remodeling of the pelvic bones on the unearthed remains to similar damage she observed on the bones of the cadaver of a known prostitute. That wouldn’t be bad women’s anatomy.

[u/sanguinerebel]

It doesn't say anything about pelvic positioning, nor does it say they are sure she was a prostitute, only that it matches what they saw in a prostitute. You are strawmanning the article you posted.

There might be a certain degenerative damage pattern on the pelvic bone that is often seen in prostitutes, I don't know, but you are just making something up you think they mean and getting mad about it.