[AFAIK]

You should read a book on this topic, or books, or pay attention to activists/journalists who speak to actual prostitutes and victims of trafficking and report on the same. Maybe start with The Pimping of Prostitution by Julie Bindel. Or Rachel Moran's actual experience for many years as a prostituted woman. Her memoir is actually a really well written book, she spent a decade on it while experiencing therapy at the time to deal with the trauma that so-called job entails.

Thanks for proving my point. If it only takes 10 seconds of laziness for me to contradict your anecdotes why do you think I'd spend hours reading your agenda? Are you too lazy to form and articulate your own opinions on the issue? Perhaps it's stupidity or tunnel vision. You misinterpreted my post as praise for prostitution when my point was how shit and easily contradicted anecdotes are. "Here's one person who thinks prostitution is awful, here's someone who thinks it's awesome, oh I guess it's a wash."

I'm pretty ambivalent on prostitution and see merit in legalising and regulating it to reduce harm as well as criminalising it to reduce demand so I'll just leave it to individual countries to make their own way depending on their circumstances and values.

I also find it amusing that when I try to broaden the discussion to other exploited workers in an attempt to highlight structural problems that push people into unsavoury work your response is to tell me that you only care about women and Palestinians and acknowledging anyone else's suffering is a distraction.

[skinster]

Thanks for proving my point. If it only takes 10 seconds of laziness for me to contradict your anecdotes why do you think I'd spend hours reading your agenda? Are you too lazy to form and articulate your own opinions on the issue? Perhaps it's stupidity or tunnel vision. You misinterpreted my post as praise for prostitution when my point was how shit and easily contradicted anecdotes are. "Here's one person who thinks prostitution is awful, here's someone who thinks it's awesome, oh I guess it's a wash."

You didn't prove or contradict anything because as I said, those who shill prostitution tend to be women who aren't on-the-streets-or-in-brothels prostitutes, pimps and johns. The two articles you shared were written by a web cam girl and a pimp.

Thanks again for displaying how intellectually lazy you are ITT, a weird thing to admit to in a topic you're trying to make an argument for, but okay, works for me.

I also find it amusing that when I try to broaden the discussion to other exploited workers in an attempt to highlight structural problems that push people into unsavoury work your response is to tell me that you only care about women and Palestinians and acknowledging anyone else's suffering is a distraction.

That's not what happened. You deflected by asking me why I don't speak of the plight of fishermen and I told you an example of when I had, and now you try to twist shit like people can't read your bullshit for what it is. Anyone only has to flick back a page to see you're talking shit.

[Drlee]

Seriously Skinster. You are intent in making decisions about what adult women can do with their own bodies. I got that. No doubt you are anti-abortion too. That said.

Do you actually know any street prostitutes? I ask because I know quite a few of them and your characterizations of them leaves a great deal to be desired.

[Sivad]

Do you actually know any street prostitutes? I ask because I know quite a few of them

[skinster]

Of course Drlee "knows" street prostitutes, I bet they talk about how much they love their job that is like any other and how empowering it is.

I am actually pro-abortion, pro it way past birth for some people too, but I don't need to name any names, in the spirit of being positive and such...

[Drlee]

Of course Drlee "knows" street prostitutes, I bet they talk about how much they love their job that is like any other and how empowering it is.

Very funny. Serious talk on this subject seems to be beyond you. Too bad real prostitutes will never have a voice in this thread. To much lecturing and too little discussion.

[skinster]

I am seriously talking about this subject. It's you who thinks your anecdotes prove anything. But, you are yet to prove anything.

Prove that women are willingly prostitutes or whether it's due to avoiding starvation / feeding their kids. Prove to me any woman or child enjoys being a prostitute.

And, you really shouldn't talk to anyone about lecturing because it makes me laugh, coming from you.

[One Degree]

No matter which side of an argument you are on, to dismiss first hand experience for statistics is to place fantasy before reality.

[skinster]

Indeed. The way the johns ITT dismissed Rachel Moran's experience of being a prostituted woman wasn't very nice. But apparently that's allowed and I should pay attention to the prostituted women john...I mean Drlee, "feeds".

[One Degree]

I did not take a side and am not surprised people have different views of the same experience. Perhaps this is why we should not try to make one size fit all. I think it works fine for Nevada to legalize prostitution and others not to.

[skinster]

You obviously take a side if you think prostitution is fine anywhere.

Still, legalisation of prostitution wherever it's happened has resulted in more trafficking - AKA slavery - not less.

[Zionist Nationalist]

Prostitution is just like drugs it will always exist there is no point in fighting it.

And I dont think there is anything wrong with prostitution as someone who went to plenty of prostitutes I wont be hypocrite and say that Im against it

[One Degree]

You obviously take a side if you think prostitution is fine anywhere.

Still, legalisation of prostitution wherever it's happened has resulted in more trafficking - AKA slavery - not less.

Value judgements have their basis in the belief humans are different from the reality of our environment. Nothing else in reality operates on these rules. We made them up.
Therefore, anything a group of people willingly decides to do is fine with me as long as they don’t export it through some type of pressure on others.

[skinster]

And I dont think there is anything wrong with prostitution as someone who went to plenty of prostitutes I wont be hypocrite and say that Im against it

Your honesty is always refreshing, ZN.

I mean that.

[One Degree]

I never saw the attraction of having sex with someone who just viewed me as a customer. Just me.

[QatzelOk]

It was AFAIK that started the Happy Hooker trend in this thread.

There are women who work as prostitutes willfully because they enjoy sex and like money. Why are you ignoring them?

"We" are ignoring them for the same reason we're ignoring all those West Africans who enjoyed travel and working outside and then went on to happily become chattel slaves in America. "Here's the story... of a boy named Toby... who was living in a far-off African land" soundtrack

Celebrating "happy victims" of power inequality is exactly why soft-core movies like "the Happy Hooker" were made. It's a way of depicting desperate people with low levels of dignity or agency as "resilient, adaptive, and content in their daily struggle."

POINT: Obviously many women enjoy sex, and many women like money. This doesn't add up to "women are all basically whores" - the seedy narrative you've contributed to the dimly lit back alleys of this thread.

There are peole who work in all sorts of miserable and degrading conditions due to economic circumstances. Why aren't they worthy of your sympathy?

Wait. But didn't you just suggest these people were happy? Obviously, if a vagina or anus are things that are okay to exploit for material gain, then sleep, weekends, family, friends, free time, health, human rights and many other things are also expendable/exploitable if enough money (or enough money to survive) is involved.

[Crantag]

On this hooker topic, my view is a little skewed, because I've been living in Asia for many years.

I'm sat in China. The alley behind my apartment is full of hookers.

Say of it what you like, but the shit is everywhere here.

You can't throw a dead rat without hitting a 'foot' massage parlor.

After a while, you get use to it.

I have a Chinese girlfriend, and I don't go to these girls, but that doesn't mean they don't solicit me on a near daily basis.

[AFAIK]

So despite the huge diversity in human experiences, cultures and personalities I'm supposed to believe that it is impossible for an adult to freely choose to have sex for money. I suppose their customers are also completely lacking in agency, too.

How sad.

[QatzelOk]

So despite the huge diversity in human experiences, cultures and personalities I'm supposed to believe that it is impossible for an adult to freely choose to have sex for money. I suppose their customers are also completely lacking in agency, too.

How sad.

The most important "diversity" that leads to prostitution is a "diversity" of income levels and levels of opportunity.
This kind of inequality doesn't exist in nature, so it's likely a cause of many social neuroses. That some decadent, old cultures feature whores.... doesn't prove that this phenomenon is healthy or natural at all.

That whoring exists in this or that culture... in no way diminishes the idea that prostitution is a type of rape caused by being economically "weak prey" doing the bidding of much wealthier "predators."

Predation is the cause of all evil. The systemically unequal distribution of money is a major form of predation.

How sad.

There are many potential sadnesses here. The one you invoke is manipulative and self-serving.

[One Degree]

I don’t have any statistics, but I strongly suspect you can only show poverty as the main cause if you don’t consider the reason for their poverty. I believe the main reason for prostitution is drug addiction.