Let's Talk About Prostitution

I forget which tv show or movie it is but I love the one where it goes:

COP: Youre under arrest for prostitution
MAN: No, Im paying her to have sex with me AND were FILMING it!
VOICE: Remember kids, its not prostitution if its pornography.

a reply to: AlexandrosTheGreat

Haha, that's funny.
Prostitution is totally fine as long as it is like with everything concerning sexual interactions: It's totally fine as long as two adults freely admit to do this and that, for one thing or the other in exchange.
Everything is kind of a prostitution, every job is you hiring out your talents.
And if there is me having fun and being good at interacting with the other gender, or the same, why not?
I personally would have a problem with the numbers, even then i would prefer a "steady crowd of customers" and it surely has implications for your daily life one can maybe not really imagine, when you sell yourself out of critical life circumstances.
But if somebody wants to make a living out of his/her hobby, who am i to judge?

a reply to: Peeple

That's sort of how I look at it too.

It comes down to the same thing like most other work we do. The more control we have over the conditions and compensation the happier we are about doing the work.

I've done some pretty crappy jobs in my time and some of them were so bad, under horrible conditions and with such bad pay that I would have rather had sex with some random person or a couple of them taking up maybe 30 min or an hours time than working 8 hrs doing what I was doing.

In both cases I'd say I would be getting f*cked in ways I didn't enjoy and for far less money than I deserved.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Wait, did we just agree on this issue? There's a curve ball I didn't see coming!

a reply to: mOjOm

You just crashed one of my childish utopias, where people chose their life circumstances according to their "wants" and not the "least bad".
Wtf happened and so fast?

a reply to: Peeple

I think the problem comes from the fact that you don't always get what you want. You also don't always have a choice in what you get. At least that's what I've come to understand in life. Being able to always choose between things you want sounds pretty nice IMO. I'd say most of the time I'm having to choose between which ever one sucks the least and learn to be happy about it.

a reply to: STTesc

If you make it legal...all the judges, politicians and clergy who use the services of such a profession won't get their 'illicit sexual activity kick' any longer...after all...legal sexual activity isn't illicit sexual activity.

Those clergy, politicians and judiciary love a bit of seedy illicit sex i gather.

a reply to: mOjOm

And now you flushed it down the toilet.

I don't know i celebrate defiance over luxury itmes, like a home, or clothes and stuff. Even if it might very well be my cause of death someday.
But i want to be able to live from what i want, or i just won't participate. Surviving is almost 90% of the day, still. I mean the time consumed to get you ready for work, to work and to recover from work, is pretty much all there is. I can't settle for less than "meaningfull" in one way or another. Or die trying.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE
I guess an obvious question then is does it hurt the wife and/or children of the man involved and if it does...is breaking apart a family enough or considered hurting someone?

If a man cheats on his wife, yes, it hurts her and the family. But that's something the MAN is doing, not the prostitute. The responsibility for cheating is on HIM, not on the prostitute.

Single men visit prostitutes all the time.

I agree with you about it being the man's issue and I believe prostitution should be legal and that what you do with your own body is your own business. However...our society differs...sometimes. You hear people argue that you can't take welfare away from a man who has a family if he cheats the system and is caught, for example. I personally think the man (in this example) is responsible and if he screws up (cheats), he should have to deal with the consequences even if it affects his family. But there is a segment of society (and government) that would say we should outlaw the temptation instead of addressing the person's use of the temptation. As with drugs, guns, etc...the person causes the problem. Personal responsibility. If McDonalds is too tempting...buck up and eat some lettuce. Don't force McDonalds to change their menu.

Just sayin

a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

I agree with you, then. "Outlawing temptation" just makes the activity illegal. It doesn't deter anyone from giving into temptation. That's something each individual has to decide for themselves.

If we all exercised more personal responsibility, this would be a better world.

a reply to: BestinShow

Rhode Island outlawed prostitution in 2009.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: jaffo

It's called freedom. If someone wants to chain smoke while banging strangers for money, I have no right to tell them not to do so, or at least I should not have any such right. People go impotent from all the training they do on a bike for a triathlon. Is that healthy? Because it seems pretty stupid to me. And yet, since it is not my body, I mind my own business.

What else can you do? Yes; mind your own business, turn a blind eye, there is nothing else you as a citizen can do besides consciously turn away from your fellow community members. Freedom? Nah, that's called laziness.

I'm not sure why everyone believes the only solutions to these problems is "fascism" or limiting one's freedoms. The big bad government is going to come and take everything away. I suppose by believing such tripe, there is no better way to continue the indifference to one's own communities as they fall down around them.

Education has served perfectly well against social devience, for instance the decline of smoking, the decline of teen pregnancy, and so on. There are other solutions besides "fascism".

So what exactly is decadent about two people trading sex for money voluntarily? Seems like a rather smug point you're trying to make, my friend.

originally posted by: SallieSunshine
Some pertinent questions for anyone who thinks prostitution should be legal:

1. How do you think most prostitutes end up in that profession?
2. Do you think prostitutes have high self esteem?
3. Do you think prostitutes find happiness and satisfaction in their 'work' ?
4. Would you want to be a prostitute?
5. And lastly, would you want your daughter, mother, or sister to be a prostitute? Why or why not?

Sal

a reply to: STTesc

Answers and other questions:

To preface these remarks, when I was decades younger I was I waiter one spring and summer at a busy high-end club/restaurant in a major Canadian city, became and stayed good friends with a woman who was very attractive and friendly, though hadn't done much school-wise. She became a call-girl later, and we would talk about many of these issues from time to time.

1. Most who do it freely do it for the money, like any job. Why do people do most jobs? Of course the ones who are forced into it should be helped and those forcing them are reprehensible scum who should spend the rest of their lives in jail. But many choose it because they can work fewer hours, say a 4-6 hr shift, and make many multiples of what they would in a day job. The good ones have control over what they do. How many people do you know hate what they do, hate the job, their co-workers, their boss, lack of control etc? Many.

2. How many regular people have truly high-esteem? Okay, so billions of people, who will never be sex-workers, have low self-esteem. So one doesn't have to be a sex-worker to have low self-esteem. Sure, some sex-workers standing on a street corner may not have great self-esteem (which is not necessarily true), but many call girls do (my old friend and some of her friends). They have control over their lives. The profession has forced many of the more intelligent ones to spiritually evolve, for example not judging others and not expecting to be judged. Have you come that far?

3. Yes, many who freely chose to do it would do it any day over a dreary, low-pay office job.

4. Would I want to be a sex-worker? Well, not really, I've been blessed with decent brains, a good education and some opportunities. And I'm a guy, not to be sexist, but due to evolution and genetics I think the opportunities for male sex workers is much smaller than the one for female sex workers. However, if I were an attractive female who hadn't had much education and didn't have great job opportunities, and I had kids to feed as opposed to just buying useless stuff (sorry that is judgement), if I could do it, be safe, make great money I might consider it.

5. The above would apply to any female relatives. Of course it is not what you would choose for anyone, but life has a way of narrowing choices sometimes.

The fact is many people have low self-esteem, hate their jobs, prostitute themselves in their jobs in other ways, and are used and abused in their regular jobs by corporations that focus more on the shareholder and couldn't give a damn about employees.

I think society would be a much better place if we got rid of judgement rather than sex workers. I think judgement is a bigger danger to society, for it is ego derived and by definition unconsciousness, and lack of awareness is dangerous, many heinous crimes are committed by those who are unconscious and ego driven.

originally posted by: SallieSunshine
Some pertinent questions for anyone who thinks prostitution should be legal:

1. How do you think most prostitutes end up in that profession?
2. Do you think prostitutes have high self esteem?
3. Do you think prostitutes find happiness and satisfaction in their 'work' ?
4. Would you want to be a prostitute?
5. And lastly, would you want your daughter, mother, or sister to be a prostitute? Why or why not?

Sal

a reply to: STTesc

Do YOU know the answers?

1. Some women join the BR to make money...good money
2. Legal ones sure seem to. In interviews and documentaries they talk about how guys are quite surprising and how they feel good about making someone feel heard or felt and what not
3. See above. Some of the legal ones sure do
4. No. But this question is pointless in the debate of whether or not it should be legalized because one solitary position does not and should not make the entire vote. I would not be one or visit one even if my partner and I ended in some bitter divorce. But again...my singular voice should be but one minuscule vote in the millions at hand. So really...who cares if I want to be one. The other problem is that even if I do not want to be one, we can legalize and guess what? I am still NOT one. Legalizing changes nothing in my life.
5. I'd have a preference for her not to be, but if she did so on her own will, accord and was happy then fire away. This question is more emotional than practical or relevant to this discussion because (a) I don't choose what my sister does and (b) it's illegal now and women still get into it AND in places like the BR, it IS legal and women do it. So who am I to stop him/her?

originally posted by: SallieSunshine
Some pertinent questions for anyone who thinks prostitution should be legal:

1. How do you think most prostitutes end up in that profession?
2. Do you think prostitutes have high self esteem?
3. Do you think prostitutes find happiness and satisfaction in their 'work' ?
4. Would you want to be a prostitute?
5. And lastly, would you want your daughter, mother, or sister to be a prostitute? Why or why not?

Sal

a reply to: STTesc

One simple answer: Legalize it and let adults choose their own life style.

Two consenting adults. Why not? And as long as it doesn't interfere with other peoples liberties or freedom, who cares?

The way some marriages are done/setup/treated and glamorized by the media, it seems that some marry for profit, instead of love - so why not just let two consenting adults do/get what they want, each goes their separate ways for less frustration, less money exchanged hands and no overloading the courts with needless cases about sex vs. money.

Besides, kids wouldn't get caught in the middle in the 'search for hot tail and money'.

This will probably get flamed, and though the idea goes against many peoples personal beliefs whether religious or otherwise, but there's no denying the fact that something like prostitution could alleviate a lot of 'gold diggers', 'tail-chasers' and hurt adults and kids in the process....

And before anyone says anything about 'not being a perfect solution' - so far, nothing is.

originally posted by: BestinShow
a reply to: STTesc

I'm sorry, but patriotism to me isn't holding an American flag eating hot dogs. It means something more, like giving a damn.

Agreed...

But since you didn't seem to understand it's a State issue, I chose to focus on your lack of diligence. But hey, it looks like RI made it illegal in 2009, so now we are sharing the same Boat.

State....government....so yeah.