EDIT: On Extinguishing Shame

There is a candidate in the Vicksburg, Miss. mayoral race with a backstory most people would never discuss. On Wednesday, Linda Fondren revealed her history as a “working girl” in a television interview with Fox40. The brothel she worked in 30 years ago was entirely legal, and she even met her husband of 28 years while she was there. Fondren can certainly expect criticism of her morality because she was a sex worker, especially considering where she is running. However, she has potential for being the most transparent candidate her constituents could have hoped for because she had the confidence to reveal her past before a news outlet broke the story.

By divulging her past so frankly in the interview, she has erased the shame associated with her sex work. The core of shame is having a sense of oneself as being unacceptable and flawed, leading to a sense of pitifulness and therefore to an experience of feeling unloved, unaccepted and scorned by family and society. If she can emancipate herself from the shame people place on her, she must have the self-confidence to lead Vicksburg.

Shame is an interpersonal experience in which the external negative message can become internalized through intensity or repetition. There is an incredibly paralyzing stigma that follows sex workers long after their careers are over. This is not to say that Vicksburg residents are all sex workers, but the possibility of electing a mayor who can speak about her experience as a prostitute can help other people come to accepting terms with their sexual habits. She is a role model, especially for women who followed a similar path.

Fondren’s husband even looks past her life as a prostitute. If they have been married for 28 years, he obviously does not stigmatize her. Hopefully, the people of Vicksburg will do the same. If she is elected, she could set the stage for future potential leaders with a past in prostitution. She can be the catalyst in humanizing politicians. If she is elected, it is a sign that politicians can be less like suits with perfect records and more like us everyday people with varied histories.

Most importantly, she will not perpetuate a culture of shame, whether it is associated with sex work or another’s “strange” habits. Even though she will likely face unjust criticism on her past, that does not affect her ability to lead. What she did was legal. In a way, coming forward is fantastic for her media relations because it makes her seem unafraid of sharing her personal life. Regardless, more people should be like Fondren — open, proud and unashamed.