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Another fine idea . . . putting women into total destitution in a bad economy
For those who think Europe is more tolerant toward prostitution, think again. Look at what Britain is doing today. "Under proposals to be published today by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, a man who 'knowingly' pays for sex with a woman who has been trafficked or is under the control of a pimp could face a charge of rape, which carries a potential life sentence. "The new offence of paying for sex with somebody who is 'controlled for another person's gain' is to carry a hefty fine and a criminal record." But the devil is in the details. If you wonder what "knowingly pays for sex" means, it means paying for sex at all: "The home secretary has made clear that under the new offence it will not be enough for a man to say 'I didn't know'. The new offence will include a 'strict liability, test so that police will only have to prove that the man paid for sex, and that the woman had been trafficked. There will be no need to prove he knew it at the time." Does "knowingly" mean anything then? I'm glad they thought to protect men who accidentally pay for sex.. That "strict liability" test doesn't sound like a test at all, but an automatic "F". Now, I hate traffickers, and I think most pimps are contemptible, and I know that streetwalking in Britain has become a terrible problem, but this law, IMHO, is an extremely bad idea. There must be better ways to go after traffickers. This is aimed too broadly. This will discourage clients at all levels of the business, even those who are consciencious, and there are many. It means women would have to drop their prices and have more clients to stave off complete destitution and to feed their children, thus exposing them to more risks of disease. A major component of the streetwalker/kerb crawler invasion in Britain is apparently out-of-control drug problem. Addicts will do anything to stave off drug-sickness. Are there still no good treatments for this sickness? If not, I can't believe it's from anything but the stigma attached to drug addiction, which is, doubtlessly, a very threatening illness. The law might have the effect of getting more women to go clean; I doubt it, but it could happen. In my opinion, The problem mostly is tht treatment must be more available, and it must be effective on people who also have mental illnesses including personality disorders. For the rest, though, the law will be nightmare if it's enforced. Though, I doubt that it's enforced often except at first and on the poorest clients, unable to defend themselves from the law. Prosecuting the clients doesn't have a much better record of curbing prostitution than arresting the women. The problem is that enforcement against the clients always lapses for some odd reason. No matter what officials say, they still go after the prostitute more often than the clients. There are a few reasons why the women are prosecuted more than the men. One is practical: the streetwalker is on her stroll a great amount of the time. She is always disturbing to neighborhood residents. The client is only there for a matter of minutes. He's as unwelcomed as a fly that lands on your hamburger, but he's gone just as quickly. So, she's the easier target for arrest. However, this isn't the whole story. There is just an inherent cultural sexism which guarantees that LE goes after the women more than the men. The prostitute and most of all, the streetwalker is just treated like an easy target, men will always feel some sense of power in dominating somebody, and crucially, men will close ranks against a woman far more often than women will close ranks to defend a woman, especially a prostitute, who is just too disturbing to other women. That's a chasm that has to be bridged if any progress is to be made in decriminalizing prostitution. And if prostitution is going to become decriminalized, the fact that the laws inevitably attack women and not men will be a major reason.
Getting deflated.
I went shopping at the local Target for some clothes last night, and noted how much prices had been marked down. It's the positive side of a bad economy: deflation, and I'm enjoying it before things get worse. I've been wondering what effect the economy is going to have on the hobby? It would seem to me that more women would at least try to enter the field. Many of them won't be cut out for doing it, though. Unfortunately, many of those women would stay in the field. There will be a shrinking pool of men who can afford to hobby that often, as there could be a lot of unemployment. At night I've been looking through blogs abd videos on the subject of prostitution, just to get a better grasp of the attitudes. CNBC's poll of whether prostitution should be legalized is about 82-18 in favor, but that says more about the people visiting the website than an actual sentiment of the public at large. There was one vid that showed an interview with a john who patronized streetwalkers. I noticed that the guy gave a pretty bad answer when asked how he could be taking advantage of these "poor" women. A good answer would have been they would they be worse off if I weren't buying what they were selling? He just said, yes, it's problematic. Not that I think streetwalking should be tolerated, especially when people find syringes and singed cans all over the place. But that's not the john's fault. Anyway, I'm doing okay. I had a lazy weekend off. I have to go to work today, and do some serious things tonight. My social life right now is pretty dull. Seeing a provider right now would brighten things up, but it's not going to happen yet.
Sweeps month continues with more hobby sightings . . .
Diane Sawyer has interviewed Ashley Dupre, Elliot Spitzer's ATF, and it will air next Friday, November 21st. As jaded as I am about the mainstream media and the hobby, of course I want to see it. I don't have TIVO or a recorder, however, and I'm working that night. Anybody know when else this might be playing? I have wondered about the "high-end" side of the business and what rich hobbyists are getting for the high rates. Maybe the guarantee of discretion, but we all know how well that worked for Spitzer. Any woman off Escortblogs would have been safer in terms of record-keeping. I'm thinking he could have just hired any of them, and given a huge tip, or become their sugar-daddy? They would have appreciated it more. What did he think the agency was giving him that a well-selected independent couldn't? Spitzer's level of deception might have been difficult to take. He did prosecute indies and agencies, but he was expected to do that. Maybe he got rid of the competition for the agency he worked with? The decisions of the very wealthy are strange. Now the attention to the hobby might be bad in the short run. It brings us all attention from LE. In the long run, I think it works to the advantage of having it eventually decriminalized. The fact that the media plays it in sweeps months shows that they know people are interested and even fascinated with it. Some retired provider/MILF needs to become our spokesman*, the "expert" the media consults everytime they do a story on us. I mean, it's a good retirement career, I think. It's going to be a long time before hobbyists are going to be consulted. For Myself: I was writing an entry on a possible strategy for legalizing or at least decriminalizing the hobby. I haven't put it up yet because the subject is difficult, and I have to think about the assumptions I'm making. In the meantime, I'm doing okay. Work has given me a much-needed three days off. Tonight I'm watching CNBC's "The Business of High-End Prostitution." For those who haven't seein it, it's on at midnight central time. It's a rainy day, so I'm going to be home reading, playing Civilization, and cruising the internet, and generally resting up. I'm really happy that Traci's problem of finding a permanent home have been resolved. Again, people in the hobby show their worth! BTW, for those who need to catch up on TV shows, Hulu is a very good site.
Hobby, election, broken friendship and notes
There has been so much to write about. Barack Obama's election being the biggest thing. I voted for him, of course. Maybe he's somewhat inexperienced, but IMHO, we've never seen a more adept politician in our lives. That is to say a real politician, like Bill Clinton and JFK, only more so. I do expect a lot from him, and just by having him in office the country is going to change; poor Black communities will be better, because there won't be the perception of having to fight against the Man, which makes criminality too much like a form of protest. There's much more I could write about that, but I'm running out of time before work. With Craigslist measure, I'm afraid the Hobby is going to be on lock-down. Proposition K was harshly rejected. Really, the only path the Hobby has toward legalization is toward the issue of rights: the rights of consenting adults to choose to have sex on whatever basis they choose, and the rights of women to their sexuality. It's very problematic, though. The States see it as in their interest to support marriage instead. Wives are going to be dead-set against it. Worse, there is definitely a huge gulf to bridge between providers and other women. It's positively weird how the rest of woman-hood can't understand providers, aren't interested in doing so. The men for the most part publically follow the most dominant female opinion, not that they're totally neutral or opportunistic. Many men have never met a provider and only hear one side. Again, I'm running short of time. For myself, I'm doing fine. The business opportunity fell through. The company is a rip off. Their phone is disconnected now. I feel I'm such a fool for believing it, of course, but I'm desperate now. I've thought of another business I could run and I'm going to look into that. But really, right now I'm brainstorming. I've been brooding over the friendship I lost. I'd tell her I'm sorry, but the fact is, I'm not. Adamently, I stand behind what I said and what it meant. I meant that she should defy the physically problems that are keeping her down and don't let herself grow old and dependent. It makes me bitter. Worse, she kept suggesting that I put Fritz down just because he throws up about once a week. Why? Because she wants me to move in with her, but she doesn't want him in the house. She frames it as sympathetic. She really wanted something closer, but it was a friends/FWB arrangement that kept on moving from one to the other, and it wasn't going to change. Anyway, Fritz is on the desk right now, nuzzling me getting in front of the screen, and just generally making it difficult to finish this, lol. How I love him. I've been spending too much time playing Civilization 4, and losing I'm afraid. My ankle is still bad. It's in need of physical therapy. I've been alternating heat and cold on it. I won a bet on Obama winning the election, made back in June, and the money will come in handy.
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