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Anybody who has been following the news lately knows that Eliot Spitzer's career is over.
He is now lumped with the likes of Larry Craig as a sleazy politician who didn't practice what he preached. He is a hypocrite in every right.
Publicly, he fought against prostitution. But privately, he may have spent upward of $80,000 on prostitution services. But to think that his actions are unique is laughable. Politicians and prostitutes have been doing business for centuries. Spitzer just got caught.
This incident, along with the "D.C. Madam" scandal a year ago, shows the innate disconnect between policy and practice.
Nearly every politician and social leader condemns prostitution as immoral, but that doesn't make them immune to human nature. The Spitzer affair brings to light how flawed our policy toward prostitution is in this country and that change is long overdue.
Now I'm not one of those extremist liberals who thinks all prostitution should be legalized. If the solution were that simple, then it would have been done already. But history has shown time and again that prohibition doesn't work. It didn't work for alcohol and it doesn't work for prostitution.
Prostitution has a good side and a bad side. On the bad side, there are the horrific stories of women who have been trafficked across the world for sex work and sold into a life of slavery and abuse. On the good side, there are people who earn a six-figure salary working only part-time doing something they enjoy. And yes, there are men and women who enjoy sex work.
In the middle of each side are those who solicit prostitutes, also known as "Johns." Some are sordid pigs who do terrible things to these women, but the majority of them are normal, respectable members of society. Currently, most state laws criminalize both parties, usually penalizing the prostitutes more severely. But no matter how many prostitutes and Johns go to jail, there are always more to take their place.
The difference lies in the context. Research done by George Washington University shows there is a distinct difference between street prostitution and indoor prostitution. Street prostitution usually involves girls with little money, no home and few options. Substance abuse is also a major problem, but according to a study done by the "Journal of Sex Research," two-thirds of women who were active in prostitution had issues with substance abuse before they began their trade.
In contrast, prostitution done indoors in places such as brothels and massage parlors have a much lower rate of violence, abuse and exploitation.
Call girls and escorts, as the ones involved in the Spitzer case, are even better off by comparison because the women are more in control of their environment. These forms of prostitution tend to cause fewer problems because they happen in private and out of the public domain.
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The thing is... solicitation is generally illegal everywhere except (i think) Nevada. (I could be wrong) But even then, its not the prostituting thats wrong, its the solicitation thats illegal. If a man offers a woman money for $ex... where is the crime, not that I agree. Im just saying, its hard to pounce on a persons right to offer someone money for a service if one person is willingly offering and the other is willing to pay. If you do that, then i personally believe it sets a dangerous precedent and a generally bad example. Whoredom is bad. Are we all agreed? Good! So is cheating on your wife and no matter WHAT policy says, you ARE a hypocrite by cheating on your wife, hooker or no hooker, call girl or no call girl. Stronger legislation wouldn't affect me one way or the other so Im all for it. But if you think its going to stop men, poor and rich alike, from finding other avenues to satisfy their desires, then you are wrong.
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you say your not for legalization but your really sound like you are. You presented no other options.
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Just to clear something up, when I said I wasn't for legalization I meant I wasn't for throwing out all laws regarding prostitution. I also meant by not being for legalization that I wasn't for government regulation either, which is what they do have in Nevada. I'm against street prostitution. That should stay a crime because it has been shown to be primarily a product of the black market. Indoor prostitution, however, has been shown by research to be a much safer and more effective avenue in dealing with prostitution and by offering legal protection of the service as the state would any business, it has the most benefits. I don't believe it sets a dangerous precedent because as George Carlin also said, "Of all the things you could do to a person, giving them an orgasm hardly seems bad" so as long as no harm comes to anybody there's no reason it should be criminalized. Hope that clears some things up.
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Regarding STDs, even with condoms, uncovered skin of penises/vulvas can spread diseases. Herpes and HPV ("CANCER") can be contracted this way At onset, herpes can't even be SEEN, BUT STILL CAN BE SPREAD, and it can't be "washed off." Prostitution is physically dangerous, demeaning to all directly and indirectly involved. It divides physical participants from their emotional selves. It involves lying which compromises the integrity and safety of participants and spouses. For many people, $ex has become an addiction. A twelve-step group like $exaholics Anonymous (see www.sa.org) can help, as it has my husband. It would be best if a program of studies was instituted in grades K-12 that concentrated on the value of each child to help them to become confident, caring and capable individuals. If you are a spouse whose life was affected by their husband’s “harmless orgasms†with prostitutes or self-seeking women, S-Anon may be help you (s-anon.org). I was not allowed to include the word “$ex†or derivatives of it, so I had to substitute a dollar sign for the letter “s†in order to post this. Not allowing the word “$ex†in a reply regarding an article about it is ridiculous, though isn’t it funny that the “$†is the acceptable substitute and not the “*†as I tried to use first?
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How many prostitutes have you interviewed or known personally that you can make a statement about how they love their work? I'm talking about in depth, where they were analyzed for drug abuse, childhood abuse, bipolar, depression etc. I would love to see those references. I've heard people talk about it but I've never seen a study on these people you claim "love what they do", and make good money at it. You can make good money as a hit man I'm not sure the making good money says anything good about being a prosititue.
You "can't get rid of it", it's been in our society for ever...ummmm so has murder and child molesters so if you can't stop them join them? It is not okay to sell your body - I don't care who you are. It is not a fairy-tale, you do not get to pick and choose your clients, and most of them are not shelling out $2,000.00 a pop. The black market shows up if it's legal or not. If it is legal it's actually a great way to hide the cash if you can legally advertise, and run a "legitimate business" while manipulating the money.
Also hookers who go after married politicians or married what ever have huge ethical gaps in their thinking, I'm not sure I get the debate about any of it. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong!
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