Topic Index
Poll: Prostitution


Should prostitution be legal
Yes
60.9% (335)
60.9% (335)
No
17.6% (97)
17.6% (97)
Maybe
7.8% (43)
7.8% (43)
Sometimes
13.6% (75)
13.6% (75)
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Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

Susan Arendt:

Geekmaster:
I don't think it's healthy for anyone to see their body as a product since it might just screw badly with your self esteem in the long run so...... No.

While I understand what you're saying, prostitution is not the only profession in which one's body is a product. Models, pro athletes...they're making a living based on their bodies, too.

The blow to one's self esteem comes from treated as though you are doing something wrong, that your choices somehow make you less than other people. Theoretically, if prostitution was a legalized and accepted form of employment, then being a whore would be just another job, and no more a blow to one's self esteem than being an accountant or a banker.

If that was the case, then what do you think of the following:
http://jezebel.com/384994/father-gives-daughter-bikini-waxes-rides-to-work-at-a-brothel

Seems like the ideal father, no?
http://jezebel.com/5050544/dad-who-waxes-daughters-bikini-area-returns-to-tyra

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 599
Joined: 14 Feb 2008

LostInTheCosmos:

Here is where I'm curious... Why "to each thing to their own place?" and compare a brothel to a chemical plant? Already you've made the association that a brothel is a BAD place to put next to a school. If a brothel was a legitimate business like any other then the comparison would be more like a hair salon or department store - which wouldn't be bad to place next to a school.

And I'm still curious...

If the sex in marriage is not love, then why is it that your wife would not have sex with someone other than you? You say she wouldn't want to have sex with another person because she loves you. But if sex weren't a special expression of love why would it matter to you if she were monogamous?

Let me state it another way.

You don't believe that the sex in marriage equals love. So, if she bangs all of your friends but insists she loves you, isn't that just as equal to if she chose not to have sex with all of your friends and says she loves you?

ohh i wouldnt have a problem myself with putting a brothel next to a school but i can see where others might. i myself wouldnt really have a problem with putting a nuclear power plant next to a school but again i could see where others might.

im certianly not saying that brothels are a GOOD thing but i dont think that they are a BAD thing either. atleast not bad enough to make them illegal. i use the nuclear plant and the chemical plant for very good reasons, they offer good things with some (possable) bad side effects, its the same with hookers. your on the right track when you point out that alot of stuff CAN come with brothels (drugs, crime etc) and if we are realistic about it we dont put a potential hazard like that next to a school. but at the same time we dont make it ILLEGAL either, we simply make a place for it where we can maximise the the 'good' and minimize the 'bad' aspects.

i say to you that alot of the 'bad' comes not as a result of prostitution itself but rather as a result of it being illegal. people since the dawn of man have been fucking for money. no law or society has EVER found a way of stoping this and its a seriously ignorant person that refuses to see this. when you make it illegal the only thing you accomplish is that you drive those that are going to do it anyhow to create those very slums you discribe. you make a hooker the same thing as a drug dealer on the 'social' scale since they are both doing things that should otherwise be legal and they naturaly make common cause to survive and wam you have slums. and after creating these slums with foolish laws you point and shout "LOOK WHAT HAPPENES WHEN DRUGS AND HOOKERS MOVE INTO AN AREA" you CREATED these slums with YOUR laws and then blame the people in those slums for being what they are. its foolishness.

lookit im not saying that every hooker is a saint or every John is either. im certianly not saying every drug dealer is a saint nor every user. what i AM saying to you is that people will go to hookers and drug dealers no matter what the law says and the only way to actualy deal with these things isnt to make them illegal and lock up people for years. if the goal is to minimize the bad aspects of these things on society (and i say it is) than making it illegal doesnt acomplish that. its illegal NOW and we STILL have those bad aspects to deal with, all making it illegal has accomplished is to make the bad aspects even WORSE, there is huge money to be made from providing illegal things to people and that huge money will ALLWAYS attract REAL criminals and time after time in case after case cops and courts are wasting their time trying to clean out all the small fish cought in this net and the BIG ones continue to swim free.

the laws we have now dont work. thats not up for argument its a simple basic fact. drugs and prostitution have been illegal in most of America forever and its as popular today as its ever been. we need to just accept these things and then come up with a way that will minimize their bad impact on our society. but i think you will find that simple making them legal would accomplish much of that, if cops and courts didnt have to spend time arresting and putting on trail a poor working slob that just wanted to get his kicks on a friday night before going back to work monday with a case of crabs and a world class hang-over they could be dealing with REAL crimes , crimes they might actualy be able to STOP for longer than it takes them to cruise out of sight of a given street corner.

now to deal with your interest in my views on love and sex. let me repeat once more for you the part where i say

"sex between married couples can be very special but its not the SEX that makes it so its the love"

notice the first word of that statment? sex? it sets the context for all the words that follow ........ put another way perhaps it will make more sence to you "sex IS special between married people but its the LOVE that makes it so not the sex itself"

but i think i see where your stuck (or im stuck depending on how you look at it) your saying that my wife could love me and have that 'special sex' with me but that i should be ok with her having just plane old sex with my buddies at the same time is that it? after all i say sex is just sex and that it shouldnt hurt for her to pork my pals as long as she LOVES me and OUR sex remains special? well now you might have a point except that number 1 there are millions of couples out there that think JUST that. they are called swingers and have 'open marriages' so yeah i guess if i WAS saying that than id be right.

but thats not what im saying. its more basic than that. speaking only for myself ive been in love, true love, and i didnt want to have sex with another woman because i was in love with this one. the urge just wasnt in me, there was no attraction to other women, my 'animal nature' was turned off and the basic male need to rutt with other females didnt work. what im saying is that if this love wasnt in play, if i didnt have that sex drive turned off too all but my mate than i dont want her as a mate and the same thing from her end. if her sex drive wasnt limited to only me (of her own free will and because thats what she FELT) than we have bigger issues than who we are screwing. its not about sex its about love, if you have love than you limit yourself, no not even that, 'limit yourself' implys that its a choice and its not, its more basic, you simply feel no attraction to anyone but your mate. if this doesnt happen and you dont feel this way than its not love and you have bigger issues to deal with than sex.

Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

I think to really address the issue of prostitution, we need to take a step back.

I believe that the Kantian formula for morality is one of the best formulations for what is good vs. what is evil:
"We ought to love people and use things. We ought not to use people and love things."

The issue of prostitution (as well as other crimes) is that at root, it uses people as a means to an end. Pornography and prostitution both teach that it is ok to use people as a means of pleasure - sexual pleasure.

Love is just the opposite as you point out. The pleasure of sex is not the end goal in marital love. The object of love is the other person. Sex is merely one of many means to express that love.

And because you love the other person, you will not let yourself be denigrated as an object that someone else uses.

I've known many "open marriages" both in college and after college. Not a single one of their marriages has survived being "swingers" or "polyamorous." That is because the difference of being loved and being used is crossed many times over that they no longer can distinguish between the two.

I believe that part of the confusion of the issue of prostitution has a lot to do with the mainstreaming of pornography. Because we allow one form of using people for pleasure through the eye of the camera, why not other forms such as prostitution? I agree there is hypocrisy to allow one and not the other.

I believe that crime follows prostitution not because prostitution is illegal, but because all crimes have at root the same moral problem - "that people are to be used and things to be loved." It trains people to dehumanize each other into mere objects of use than true subjects whose identity is to be treasured.

Time Lord
Posts: 10079
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

LostInTheCosmos:

The issue of prostitution (as well as other crimes) is that at root, it uses people as a means to an end. Pornography and prostitution both teach that it is ok to use people as a means of pleasure - sexual pleasure.

Hands up those who have looked at pornography here? Whoa...lot of hands...
Keep your hands up (not there you pervert) those who think it's ok to use their partners as tools? ...Hrrm...not many...In fact I can't see one.

/Disproved

Love is just the opposite as you point out. The pleasure of sex is not the end goal in marital love. The object of love is the other person. Sex is merely one of many means to express that love.

Don't see that many divorces from prostitutes...or unsatisfied customers...

Nietsche - "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."

And because you love the other person, you will not let yourself be denigrated as an object that someone else uses.

Hands back up all those who've been in an abusive relationship? Oooh....quite a few there.

I've known many "open marriages" both in college and after college. Not a single one of their marriages has survived being "swingers" or "polyamorous."

Hands? Oh still quite a few.

That is because the difference of being loved and being used is crossed many times over that they no longer can distinguish between the two.

Hold on...bit of a jump from "I know these people" to "I know why their relationship didn't work".

Perhaps the basis of love, and thus sex, is about 'understanding each other'?

If you can find evidence of a 'one love for life' gene in our makeup that's not in any other species (One only has to look at the Bonobo monkey's (Our nearest sexual makeup)), then I'd say you have a point. At the moment, all you have is a theory based on things you cannot know.

Oh, and Mary Magdelane? Jesus's closest friend? Lot of time on her back.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3701
Joined: 8 May 2008

The_root_of_all_evil:

Oh, and Mary Magdelane? Jesus's closest friend? Lot of time on her back.

Hey, even Jesus had needs. Plus with 12 diciples she woulda been over flowing with coins (and thats not all)

On the Record
Posts: 5015
Joined: 28 Feb 2008

Prostitution would make things safer for everyone-
The prostitutes would have to have clean bills of health, lessening the spread of horrible disease.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1220
Joined: 18 Jun 2008

rossatdi:
I think two conditions ought to be part of the regulation:

1) Monthly (is that too extreme) STD checks, and healthy insurance (supplied by the brothel or government or what have you, I'm British so we don't need it but it's a concern)

I agree with both, except I don't think it's extreme enough.
it should be once a week. There is precedent, as an article I read in Natl. Geo. did an article about the prostitutes in some South American nation. Every Sunday morning they had to check in or they could be arrested for their activities.

Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

The_root_of_all_evil:

LostInTheCosmos:

The issue of prostitution (as well as other crimes) is that at root, it uses people as a means to an end. Pornography and prostitution both teach that it is ok to use people as a means of pleasure - sexual pleasure.

Hands up those who have looked at pornography here? Whoa...lot of hands...
Keep your hands up (not there you pervert) those who think it's ok to use their partners as tools? ...Hrrm...not many...In fact I can't see one.

/Disproved

Not so fast there. If you look at the trending of divorce cases, since 1995 (the mainstreaming of the Internet) pornography has become one of the main issues of divorce cases.

The_root_of_all_evil:

Love is just the opposite as you point out. The pleasure of sex is not the end goal in marital love. The object of love is the other person. Sex is merely one of many means to express that love.

Don't see that many divorces from prostitutes...or unsatisfied customers...

So... Where have you researched your numbers that affairs (which include prostitutes) don't cause divorces?

The_root_of_all_evil:
If you can find evidence of a 'one love for life' gene in our makeup that's not in any other species (One only has to look at the Bonobo monkey's (Our nearest sexual makeup)), then I'd say you have a point. At the moment, all you have is a theory based on things you cannot know.

I love it when people use the "animals do it too" line of reasoning to back up their habits. Animals also have sex with siblings, their children, their parents. Animals also rape and have sex with other species.

Just because animals exhibit these behaviors does not mean it justifies our own.

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 550
Joined: 28 Aug 2008

59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good. However in Netherland it is apparently legal, so for those of you who lives in Netherlands... Good for you.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1600
Joined: 1 Nov 2008

If both people involved want to be there, doing the deed - and if there are also controls that stop those that are in that line of work from coming to harm - then I don't see why others feel the need to interfere.
There should also be regulations put in place such as healthcare and check ups, and mandatory protection (sorry for the vulgarity... but it's the best way to protect both parties).

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1400
Joined: 10 May 2008

Danglybits:
If porn is legal, then prostitution should be legal. Why is it okay to accept money for sex if there's a camera running, but if not then everyone involved goes to jail?

Best thing i've read all day, you are so damn right.

I honestly fail to see why Prostitution is illegal in the first place, shouldnt your own body be yours?, and not the governments?

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1400
Joined: 10 May 2008

Murrah:
59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good. However in Netherland it is apparently legal, so for those of you who lives in Netherlands... Good for you.

whats bad about it?, if you enjoy your own body and want to make money from it, why shouldn't you be allowed to?, oh, and not everyone has it as good as you and can find boy/girlfriends and fuck-friends everywhere, some of us cant find love, so i'd like it if you showed a little respect for those not as blessed as you...

BANNED
Posts: 4378
Joined: 21 Aug 2008

Do you seriously think the vast majority of prostitutes do what they do because they "enjoy their own body?"

What the hell?

Do you kids seriously believe the Belle du Jour myth?

Which brings us neatly to the much-pored-over Belle de Jour scenario, in which, supposedly, an attractive and intelligent young middle-class women with no abusive background and no lack of choices in her life, sells sex simply because she loves it. She embodies the libertarian idea that the moralistic state is attacking her freedom to choose her profession, and limiting her economic choices, just because they are sexual prudes who do not approve of her.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/deborah-orr/deborah-orr-for-most-women-prostitution-is-not-a-life-choice-1024511.html

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 550
Joined: 28 Aug 2008

Fronken:

Murrah:
59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good. However in Netherland it is apparently legal, so for those of you who lives in Netherlands... Good for you.

whats bad about it?, if you enjoy your own body and want to make money from it, why shouldn't you be allowed to?, oh, and not everyone has it as good as you and can find boy/girlfriends and fuck-friends everywhere, some of us cant find love, so i'd like it if you showed a little respect for those not as blessed as you...

Who said Im blessed? I dont want to make an argument about it.

Time Lord
Posts: 10079
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

LostInTheCosmos:

The_root_of_all_evil:

LostInTheCosmos:

The issue of prostitution (as well as other crimes) is that at root, it uses people as a means to an end. Pornography and prostitution both teach that it is ok to use people as a means of pleasure - sexual pleasure.

Hands up those who have looked at pornography here? Whoa...lot of hands...
Keep your hands up (not there you pervert) those who think it's ok to use their partners as tools? ...Hrrm...not many...In fact I can't see one.

/Disproved

Not so fast there. If you look at the trending of divorce cases, since 1995 (the mainstreaming of the Internet) pornography has become one of the main issues of divorce cases.

Really? Then you've no problem with the fact that the divorce rate for 2008 is the lowest it's been for 26 years? I don't believe there's been a ban on porn or prostitution lately.

And actually, you're completely wrong on pornography. From the BBC itself

MAIN REASONS FOR DIVORCE 2004
Extra-marital affair - 27%
Family strains - 18%
Abuse - 17%
Mid-life crisis - 13%
Addictions - 6%
Workaholism - 6%

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4198951.stm

Don't see looking at porn anywhere in there. And before you jump on the 27%, that's down from last year; and affairs usually happen with work colleagues rather than prostitutes.

The_root_of_all_evil:

Love is just the opposite as you point out. The pleasure of sex is not the end goal in marital love. The object of love is the other person. Sex is merely one of many means to express that love.

Don't see that many divorces from prostitutes...or unsatisfied customers...

So... Where have you researched your numbers that affairs (which include prostitutes) don't cause divorces?

I hadn't but see above. You can't really get divorced FROM a prostitute though. As for BECAUSE of a prostitute, there are no hard and fast figures.(Gosh, that's rather appropriate)

[quote="The_root_of_all_evil" post="18.77806.962205"]If you can find evidence of a 'one love for life' gene in our makeup that's not in any other species (One only has to look at the Bonobo monkey's (Our nearest sexual makeup)), then I'd say you have a point. At the moment, all you have is a theory based on things you cannot know.

I love it when people use the "animals do it too" line of reasoning to back up their habits. Animals also have sex with siblings, their children, their parents. Animals also rape and have sex with other species.

Just because animals exhibit these behaviors does not mean it justifies our own.

Dude, Homo Sapiens IS an animal. Just because we've come down from the trees doesn't mean our bodies have.

I believe our old friends the Japanese or the Arabians have made pornography illegal, but there's still quite a high divorce rate. As well as the Ancient Romans, the Ancient Greeks, or ...every other race or creed in the world's history.

Even Hera had a divorce after Zeus had his way with a selection of strumpets, but that family was more dysfunctional than the Simpsons.

Time Lord
Posts: 10079
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

Murrah:
59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good.

LMAO. So a prostitute who charges is TEH BAD, but a fuck buddy is OK? So you're just quibbling over paying for it?

BANNED
Posts: 4378
Joined: 21 Aug 2008

The_root_of_all_evil:
Dude, Homo Sapiens IS an animal. Just because we've come down from the trees doesn't mean our bodies have.

But that doesn't mean we have to follow everything our bodies might tell us to do...Especially when it would cause sizable problems in modern times. Forgetting that, isn't being able to address our evolutionary psychology (instead of blindly following it) one of the main tenets of the human condition?

Naturalistic fallacy much?

*sigh*

Anonymous Source
Posts: 8
Joined: 29 Jun 2008

This has probably been pointed out a gazillion times in this thread already; but seeing as my interest in prostitution is low to nonexistant I can't be arsed to read it all... anyway: prostitution IS legal where I live. (Finland. Woo. Woo.)

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 550
Joined: 28 Aug 2008

The_root_of_all_evil:

Murrah:
59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good.

LMAO. So a prostitute who charges is TEH BAD, but a fuck buddy is OK? So you're just quibbling over paying for it?

Yeah, fuck buddy. *shifty eyes*

Time Lord
Posts: 10079
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

Eggo:

Which brings us neatly to the much-pored-over Belle de Jour scenario, in which, supposedly, an attractive and intelligent young middle-class women with no abusive background and no lack of choices in her life, sells sex simply because she loves it. She embodies the libertarian idea that the moralistic state is attacking her freedom to choose her profession, and limiting her economic choices, just because they are sexual prudes who do not approve of her.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/deborah-orr/deborah-orr-for-most-women-prostitution-is-not-a-life-choice-1024511.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/deborah-orr/deborah-orr-can-we-agree-on-this-you-dont-discuss-other-peoples-sex-lives-981748.html

Hypocrite much?

BANNED
Posts: 4378
Joined: 21 Aug 2008

Not really, since she says in the sentence right after the quote I posted that she's not interested in talking about that.

Whether Belle de Jour is "real" or not - and I can't say I personally care - there are plenty of people who insist that her arguments are legitimate. A lot of the women who sell sex - or who sell other sexual services - reject the mantle of victimhood. They insist that it is they who are doing the exploiting, while their clients are the ones at the vulnerable end of the equation.

Nice try at contextomy though.

Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

Here is the divorce rates by Country:
http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml

Middle Eastern countries have substantially lower rates of divorce than Western nations.

At a 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended said the Internet played a significant role in the divorces in the past year, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half such cases. Pornography had an almost non-existent role in divorce just seven or eight years ago.

From: http://www.divorcewizards.com/Divorce-Statistics-Pornography.html
And: http://www.time.com/time/2004/sex/article/the_porn_factor_in_the_01a.html

Keep in mind that the survey given may not have had porn as a factor. Plus you have no way of knowing how many affairs were prostitute related or not - but you can be certain that if there is a prostitute involved that divorce happens.

Given that divorce has always been part of our culture, the current rates are unprecedented:
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/socy441/trends/divorce.html

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 4581
Joined: 22 Jun 2008

Murrah:

The_root_of_all_evil:

Murrah:
59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good.

LMAO. So a prostitute who charges is TEH BAD, but a fuck buddy is OK? So you're just quibbling over paying for it?

Yeah, fuck buddy. *shifty eyes*

Atleast a fuck buddy might have mild standards.

I say prostitution should be legal, I may not like it but until the day I take over a world/country/city/street I will not be able to tell someone what they should and shoudn't do if it has little effect on the person.(Weekly STD checks, and condoms being a requirement if prostitution would be legalized. Oh yeah, and a big burly bouncer to bounce out people that try and get more then they pay for.)

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1400
Joined: 10 May 2008

Murrah:

Fronken:

Murrah:
59% said "Yes"?
What is the matter with all of you? Well not all of you.. I mean to those people who agreed with this Prostitution is not good at all. Find a Girl/Boyfriend or "F**k buddies" if you prefer, but prostitution is not good. However in Netherland it is apparently legal, so for those of you who lives in Netherlands... Good for you.

whats bad about it?, if you enjoy your own body and want to make money from it, why shouldn't you be allowed to?, oh, and not everyone has it as good as you and can find boy/girlfriends and fuck-friends everywhere, some of us cant find love, so i'd like it if you showed a little respect for those not as blessed as you...

Who said Im blessed? I dont want to make an argument about it.

well, by the look of your post it would appear that you've never felt the need for a prostitute, unlike some of us that cant find a girl to have sex with us, prostitutes are the only option, so dont bash something you dont even need in the first place, and would you care to explain whats bad about prostitution if it were to be legalized and regulated?

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 599
Joined: 14 Feb 2008

LostInTheCosmos:
I think to really address the issue of prostitution, we need to take a step back.

I believe that the Kantian formula for morality is one of the best formulations for what is good vs. what is evil:
"We ought to love people and use things. We ought not to use people and love things."

you use the word "use" here as a bad thing when no morality is connected. of corse hookers are used, thats the POINT to going to a hooker. when a woman (or man) decides to become a hooker they arent going into the job with the idea that they are gunna find true love, they are going into it with the idea that spreading their legs will help them pay the rent. just like when i go to work every day i dont expect my boss to bring me flowers and profess his undieing love for me i expect him to rise my ass when i screw up and hand me a pay check at the end of the week, should we outlaw JOBS because people get 'used' in them?

Fronken:

Danglybits:
If porn is legal, then prostitution should be legal. Why is it okay to accept money for sex if there's a camera running, but if not then everyone involved goes to jail?

Best thing i've read all day, you are so damn right.

I honestly fail to see why Prostitution is illegal in the first place, shouldnt your own body be yours?, and not the governments?

well to be fair Porn IS illegal in most of the United States. the laws reguarding it just arent enforced most of the time. and the actual wording of the federal law is so vague as to be usless. it makes referance to things like 'reasonable adults' and 'moral standards of the local community' and other unprovable shit like that.

LostInTheCosmos:
Here is the divorce rates by Country:
http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml

Middle Eastern countries have substantially lower rates of divorce than Western nations.

At a 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended said the Internet played a significant role in the divorces in the past year, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half such cases. Pornography had an almost non-existent role in divorce just seven or eight years ago.

From: http://www.divorcewizards.com/Divorce-Statistics-Pornography.html
And: http://www.time.com/time/2004/sex/article/the_porn_factor_in_the_01a.html

Keep in mind that the survey given may not have had porn as a factor. Plus you have no way of knowing how many affairs were prostitute related or not - but you can be certain that if there is a prostitute involved that divorce happens.

Given that divorce has always been part of our culture, the current rates are unprecedented:
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/socy441/trends/divorce.html

good argument ....... except a few things. number 1 middle east divorce rates dont apply. husbands in more than one middle eastern countrys can kill their wives, also wives cant divorce they can only BE divorced plus there is the who other bunch of shit like wives not being allwed to leave their houses without covering their entire body head to foot, they cant drive cars, they cant even take taxi rides because they arent allowed in the company of men they arent related too without a related man WITH them. no such a good example of trying to compair divorces rates.

second 350 lawyers said it so it must be fact? how many divorce lawyers are there in just the United states? how about some official US government records about reasons for divorces to back this up? not some study done by Uncle Ahabs anti-porn and deer hunting truck stop. you may in fact have a valid poit but you arent providing much actual proof to back it up, i can find 6 or 7 websights that stress divorce rates on on the rise for about 3000 OTHER reasons, who ever has an axe to grind about what ever social question can come up with all kinds of ways to spin it. hell

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27808110/

front page on MSNBC saying that divorce rates are DROPING because its cheaper to stay married. you spose that its NOT as they say and that people are just choosing to look at less porn?

and finaly. how many public figures have you known that have gotten busted for picking up a hooker and were married? now how many of those got a divorce because of it? on the other hand how many wives do you see standing by their 'man' at some press conferance while he 'confesses' to it and she 'forgives' him?

lookit i know your intentions are well ment. your obviously a Christian as am i and you feel compelled to speak out against these things. truth is i do too on one hand, but i cant help but think that at the end of the day its not MY place to decide peoples morals for them. you can lead a person to Knowledge but you cant make them THINK. its self evident that paying for sex is moraly wrong, but so is having sex outside of marriage, were you a virgin when you got married? was your wife? if the answer is NO to either of those questions than who are you to judge anyone else? do you tithe? (thats giving 10% of your income to a church for those that dont know) have you allways respected your mother and your father? have you never felt greed or lust? have you ever told a lie?

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. perhaps the most relivent teaching of Jesus to this topic.

Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

Hi Wyatt,

I think that you are digressing into an ad hominem, which I think isn't your intention. And I hope you understand that the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" is an absurd argument. Usually people use it as an STFU since the person in question is not perfect. But can you imagine a criminal using that argument to stop people from putting him in jail? That's why the argument is absurd.

Again, I think you are projecting a moral argument against judging someone's motives. No doubt a person who uses prostitutes is a person who has deep hurts. Also, prostitutes aren't necessarily bad people either - they too have their own hurts and pains. I've posted multiple times a video that puts a face into one such a person who worked at the infamous "Bunny Ranch." And you can see the hurt in her face, even with a very encouraging father.

Also, I think you can see the distinction between a job that uses your skills and a job that makes you PERSONALLY feel used. There is a big difference and I think that you can see that in how a manager treats you - either as a person of worthy skill and respect (no matter what job you perform) OR as a cog in the machine, something that you can use of and dispose when useless. Prostitution, falls in the latter category.

We can go into correlation vs. causation and all sorts of ways to invalidate data. But that's all it is data - evidence. I submit it for consideration, not proof. And all I can ask is for people to just read, think and discuss. I don't expect agreement, nor do I hope I have expressed any condemnation.

If I have, then I apologize.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1169
Joined: 2 Sep 2008

The first post is talking about the women who are forced into prostitution, not prostitution in general.

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 599
Joined: 14 Feb 2008

i dont agree that all who uses a hooker has deep pains. nor do i agree that all hookers themselves have deep pains. i also dont agree that there is any kind of a difference between using your body for sex or someone using your body to do manual labor, in fact at the end of a long hard shift of construction (something i did in my youth) im certian id much rather have spent the day screwing for cash rather than hauling bricks up 3 flights of stairs, the work is a hell of alot eaiser and the moneys better.

now as ive read your entire argument you make many many many MORAL points against hookers. you dont speak of anything BUT a moral position and if you choose to argue this case against based on MORAL judgments than im certianly creditable when i ask you to show how your morality is justified in being used to judge anothers. if you have no sin than you can in fact cast stones in this argument about the MORALITY of prostitution. your argument about criminals not being able to get away with it isnt relivent. one is talking about laws in the case of the criminal while we are arguing a moral point. one has no connection to the other.

i say the laws against it are unjust from a legal point of view, that being that the government has no right to dictate what a person does with their body, you argue that he laws are totaly just because its immoral. since you choose to argue morality i question your own and that being the basis for your judgments.

i do like how you ended it though. information, education, expression of opinions all good things. think about why your world is the way it is and seek to change those parts you dont like. the key is too THINK though. not just blindly react because 'thats just the way it is'.

Beat Writer
Posts: 207
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

The way I see it, this message board is probably about 75% male and 95% percent gamer and the OP knew what answer he/she would get before he/she even posted.

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 538
Joined: 20 May 2008

orifice:
should be legal, regulation can increase the safety of the people concerned.
it would also generate tax revenue!

yeah i was gunna say that, and its sorta logical too, people sell stuff, people fuck, so why shouldn't people sell fucking. (although personally i wouldn't be involved, i prefer more romance than that)

Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

Wyatt:
i dont agree that all who uses a hooker has deep pains. nor do i agree that all hookers themselves have deep pains. i also dont agree that there is any kind of a difference between using your body for sex or someone using your body to do manual labor, in fact at the end of a long hard shift of construction (something i did in my youth) im certian id much rather have spent the day screwing for cash rather than hauling bricks up 3 flights of stairs, the work is a hell of alot eaiser and the moneys better.

In terms of effort, prostitution is very easy compared to hard manual labor and the returns are much higher - but there is a big difference in how sex affects the psyche than does lifting bricks.

I would never make a generalization to cover "all prostitutes" or "all users of prostitutes." It is a recognition that there is a lot more to the story than simple generalizations. Calling a behavior wrong does not equate making the person to be evil.

Wyatt:
now as ive read your entire argument you make many many many MORAL points against hookers. you dont speak of anything BUT a moral position and if you choose to argue this case against based on MORAL judgments than im certianly creditable when i ask you to show how your morality is justified in being used to judge anothers.

Case in point - I judge the sin, not the sinner. Murder is wrong. But the person doing the murder may have been someone suffering from emotional and physical abuse from their attacker for months or years. Circumstances doesn't change the fact that murder is wrong, but it does give context to one's culpability.

Wyatt:
if you have no sin than you can in fact cast stones in this argument about the MORALITY of prostitution. your argument about criminals not being able to get away with it isnt relivent. one is talking about laws in the case of the criminal while we are arguing a moral point. one has no connection to the other.

So are you saying that laws have nothing to do with morality? Some laws have more to do with custom, but a good majority of laws always have to do with morals. I think that making the case that this is an argument against laws and not against morality is splitting hairs.

Murder is immoral. Therefore it is illegal. Murder is not immoral BECAUSE it is illegal.

Wyatt:
i say the laws against it are unjust from a legal point of view, that being that the government has no right to dictate what a person does with their body, you argue that he laws are totaly just because its immoral. since you choose to argue morality i question your own and that being the basis for your judgments.

Well, we will agree that the execution of anti-prostitution laws are flawed. In some cases, it lets on more abuse and leaves women in prostitution with no where to turn to for help. That we will agree - and I recognize the flaw of human laws.

I will contend that questioning my ability to live up to my own morality is irrelevant. It is an ad hominem. Instead of focusing on the legitimacy of my arguments as they stand on their own, you are turning the focus on my character. As a reasonable person of logic, you must recognize the fallacy of this line of questioning.

Scripturally speaking, Jesus did not tell us to turn our brains off. After he said, "Ye who is without sin cast the first stone", he also said to the Prostitute, "Go and sin no more." Jesus himself did not say that "anything goes because everyone makes mistakes" but to see the human person who has flaws apart from the horror of the sin - to make distinctions between the addiction which we must hate and addict whom we must love.

I am a moral perfectionist. And as such I will always fall short of my own highest aspirations. But I will refuse to lower my aspirations because I know that level of perfection is attainable - not in that I will never have fallen trying to reach that goal, but that I will never fall when I attain it.

Just because I have fallen time and time again doesn't prove that it is impossible to walk without falling. The journey of the moral perfectionist is not about never failing on the journey, but aspiring to arrive where you will never fail again.

I will always want to be a better person than I am now. And as such I will always expect to fail. I will never be satisfied with being "good enough."

And to anyone who I would call a friend, I would ask the same of them - to always strive to be better than who they are now - in every way. Will they fail, yes. But that is not a condemnation and never was.

The argument against Prostitution isn't ultimately about them being bad people. But that they deserve much better. That the Prostitute should be honored, loved and cherished for the beauty of her heart and not just for her body. That the lonely man deserves real love, attention, and affection not bought by money.

They deserve more than that. And unfortunately, whether by choice or circumstance, that is what they are allotted.

Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 935
Joined: 22 Jul 2008

Yes, because without legislation there can be no regulation.

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 599
Joined: 14 Feb 2008

LostInTheCosmos:
In terms of effort, prostitution is very easy compared to hard manual labor and the returns are much higher - but there is a big difference in how sex affects the psyche than does lifting bricks.

I would never make a generalization to cover "all prostitutes" or "all users of prostitutes." It is a recognition that there is a lot more to the story than simple generalizations. Calling a behavior wrong does not equate making the person to be evil.

there is no difference in the feelings of being used wether your being used because your on your back or your being used by a uncaring boss. trust me i know. and whens the last time you seen on the news where a hooker went 'postal' and started shooting everyone they worked with? most jobs are meaningless and degrading to the people working them, have you ever done a manual labor job? a factory/production job? or any other job where you get paid for what you DO and not what you KNOW?

Case in point - I judge the sin, not the sinner. Murder is wrong. But the person doing the murder may have been someone suffering from emotional and physical abuse from their attacker for months or years. Circumstances doesn't change the fact that murder is wrong, but it does give context to one's culpability.

it certianly does change the fact that muder is 'wrong'. have you never heard of different degrees of 'murder' have you never heard of people commiting 'murder' and not even being charged for it due to the circumstances? from amoral standpoint takeing anyone elses life is murder without exception, the 10 commandments doesnt make any exceptions to thou shalt not kill, no thou shalt not kill except in cses of ..... X

of course one could allways argue that killing in say .... self defence isnt really murder, but the moral standpoint is to turn the other cheek even if it means your own death before your attackers. the bible (our basis for morality says it is so. Jesus calles for time and time again to die for your beliefs if its required. if you believe in do not kill than you should in fact DIE before you kill. reguardless of the circumstances. (more in a second)

So are you saying that laws have nothing to do with morality? Some laws have more to do with custom, but a good majority of laws always have to do with morals. I think that making the case that this is an argument against laws and not against morality is splitting hairs.

Murder is immoral. Therefore it is illegal. Murder is not immoral BECAUSE it is illegal.

(this is the more) murder isnt illegal due to morality its illegal becuse laws are needed to regualte human behavior. now ill admit that morality and the LAW overlap in many cases but one is only connected on a basic level and only in a society that shars a common basis for morality. murder being against the LAW isnt because its immoral, its because to allow it would brake down society. dont ever confuse morality for the law. morality is Gods law (in our common context), mans law (what we are talking about) has nothing to do with it except in the loosest connection.

its self evident to you that murder is moraly wrong and its against mans laws because of this, but i simply point out to you what of the people who dont share our basis for morals? is murder then NOT against the law for them? i can point out cases in other nations where what we concider immoral actions are not only sanctioned but REQUIRED under their laws. most of the hard core Muslem teachings show this. when a father kills his daughter because shes no longer a virgin for instiance, or they stone her because she leaves her house without a vale.

Well, we will agree that the execution of anti-prostitution laws are flawed. In some cases, it lets on more abuse and leaves women in prostitution with no where to turn to for help. That we will agree - and I recognize the flaw of human laws.

I will contend that questioning my ability to live up to my own morality is irrelevant. It is an ad hominem. Instead of focusing on the legitimacy of my arguments as they stand on their own, you are turning the focus on my character. As a reasonable person of logic, you must recognize the fallacy of this line of questioning.

Scripturally speaking, Jesus did not tell us to turn our brains off. After he said, "Ye who is without sin cast the first stone", he also said to the Prostitute, "Go and sin no more." Jesus himself did not say that "anything goes because everyone makes mistakes" but to see the human person who has flaws apart from the horror of the sin - to make distinctions between the addiction which we must hate and addict whom we must love.

I am a moral perfectionist. And as such I will always fall short of my own highest aspirations. But I will refuse to lower my aspirations because I know that level of perfection is attainable - not in that I will never have fallen trying to reach that goal, but that I will never fall when I attain it.

Just because I have fallen time and time again doesn't prove that it is impossible to walk without falling. The journey of the moral perfectionist is not about never failing on the journey, but aspiring to arrive where you will never fail again.

I will always want to be a better person than I am now. And as such I will always expect to fail. I will never be satisfied with being "good enough."

And to anyone who I would call a friend, I would ask the same of them - to always strive to be better than who they are now - in every way. Will they fail, yes. But that is not a condemnation and never was.

The argument against Prostitution isn't ultimately about them being bad people. But that they deserve much better. That the Prostitute should be honored, loved and cherished for the beauty of her heart and not just for her body. That the lonely man deserves real love, attention, and affection not bought by money.

They deserve more than that. And unfortunately, whether by choice or circumstance, that is what they are allotted.

ohh i know your argument. and i feel the same to a large extent. your totaly right they DO diserve better. but the question is first do they WANT it, and the second is how do they GET it? you refuse to accept the fact that not all people that are invovled in this life arent there by choice. and you also make the mistake of thinking that YOUR opinions and views are more importiant than theirs when it comes to how they should live THEIR lives.

im not in the least being sarcastic when i say 'good for you' when you speak of self improvment, indeed i totaly agree that you should love the sinner but hate the sin. but here is a point that you should be made aware of.

your judgment of what is sin is getting in your way of seeing the world as it is rather than as how you think it SHOULD be. you and i can agree that sex outside of marriage is a sin. we can certianly agree that selling sex for cash is a sin (though i would argue that sex in any form outside marriage is sin adding a cash componant doesnt make it worse its just a cherry on top) we can love a hooker and hate her job. but i must point out that its rather arrogent of us, not to actualy make a judgment that shes sinning, the arrogence comes in when we seek to ACT on our moral judgment, impose uppon her and expect her to change her life to bring it into accord with OUR beliefs.

"Judge not lest you be judged" was put into the bible JUST for this reason. i hold that God doesnt want us to make judgments, he wants us to spread his word. to connect those 'lost sheep' with the teachings of the Father and let THEM make any changes they see fit too their lives.

Gods answer to things like this isnt to make a moral judgment and toss people into jail, its to take time out of YOUR life, find one of these people , teach them about Jesus and let THEM make the changes in their OWN life. not to use mans laws to IMPOSE that change on them.

if your truly worried about Sin i say to you FIRST remove the sin from your OWN life. you can wiggle all you want and use fancy words to try and ignore what im saying but its a basic argument that cant be overcome by ignoring it. in order for you to set in moral judgment of others YOUR morals must be perfect. again i refer you to the "judge not lest you BE judged" line. you do NOT get to say to a hooker, well what your doing is immoral (a sin) so we are gunna lock you up , but you dont get to point out MY sins as a defence. your saying basicaly do as i SAY and not as i DO.

certianly you can see this. ive read the bible and no place in it do i see a set of moral laws that list being a prostitue as 'worse' than not being a virgin on your wedding night, or worse than being a lier, certianly if your going to take away someones freedom based on something you would call a sin than you should also lose your freedom for sinning? if this ISNT the case than you have no MORAL authority for makeing ANY judgments. the best you can do is to get together with enough of your fellow MEN to make MANS laws and impose your will on others. not based on Gods morality but on your OWN and not done under Gods authority but on your OWN. MANS laws seek to put man on the same level as God, its formed to let US make judgments on our fellow man all the while allowing us to ignore our OWN breaking of Gods law under the guise of ranking our sins. MY sin isnt bad enough to lock me up but HERS is ..... because MY set of laws says so. but in truth Gods law has us ALL in the same docket, we wont be devided into lawgivers and those under the law when we face God , we will ALL be equil and we ALL be judged for our sins by the only perfect sinless being ever to exist ........ follow?

Copy Clerk
Posts: 119
Joined: 22 Nov 2008

Wyatt:
there is no difference in the feelings of being used wether your being used because your on your back or your being used by a uncaring boss. trust me i know. and whens the last time you seen on the news where a hooker went 'postal' and started shooting everyone they worked with? most jobs are meaningless and degrading to the people working them, have you ever done a manual labor job? a factory/production job? or any other job where you get paid for what you DO and not what you KNOW?

If you go back a few posts, I actually agree with you here. There is nothing wrong with manual labor is what I propose. What is wrong is when your boss or company makes you feel used. Even the most arduous jobs can be made meaningful and your skills (no matter how small) are valued. It becomes wrong when management treats labor merely as a commodity.

A manual labor job isn't inherently treating a human person as a commodity (it depends on how labor is treated by the management - and I agree that it CAN be), I contrast that with prostitution where the human person IS the commodity.

Wyatt:
it certianly does change the fact that muder is 'wrong'. have you never heard of different degrees of 'murder' have you never heard of people commiting 'murder' and not even being charged for it due to the circumstances? from amoral standpoint takeing anyone elses life is murder without exception, the 10 commandments doesnt make any exceptions to thou shalt not kill, no thou shalt not kill except in cses of ..... X

of course one could allways argue that killing in say .... self defence isnt really murder, but the moral standpoint is to turn the other cheek even if it means your own death before your attackers. the bible (our basis for morality says it is so. Jesus calles for time and time again to die for your beliefs if its required. if you believe in do not kill than you should in fact DIE before you kill. reguardless of the circumstances. (more in a second)

Actually, we don't disagree here. We can agree murder is wrong, but the level of culpability is variable depending on the situation and circumstances. That is where Western Civilization implemented the "hate the sin" / "love the sinner" and put it into its judicial law system.

Wyatt:
its self evident to you that murder is moraly wrong and its against mans laws because of this, but i simply point out to you what of the people who dont share our basis for morals? is murder then NOT against the law for them? i can point out cases in other nations where what we concider immoral actions are not only sanctioned but REQUIRED under their laws. most of the hard core Muslem teachings show this. when a father kills his daughter because shes no longer a virgin for instiance, or they stone her because she leaves her house without a vale.

This is where I need to point out that being too "culturally sensitive" is an exercise in absurdity. Some cultures have child brides - like Fundamentalist Mormons, Hindus and Muslims. Some cultures practice rape of women, girls and boys - like Aboriginal Australians.

The issue I have is if we tend to go for "lowest common denominator" out of cultural respect, I believe it is an exercise in absurdity. I think you and I came to that agreement on the Overpopulation Thread.

Wyatt:
your judgment of what is sin is getting in your way of seeing the world as it is rather than as how you think it SHOULD be. you and i can agree that sex outside of marriage is a sin. we can certianly agree that selling sex for cash is a sin (though i would argue that sex in any form outside marriage is sin adding a cash componant doesnt make it worse its just a cherry on top) we can love a hooker and hate her job. but i must point out that its rather arrogent of us, not to actualy make a judgment that shes sinning, the arrogence comes in when we seek to ACT on our moral judgment, impose uppon her and expect her to change her life to bring it into accord with OUR beliefs.

Maybe as a citizen, this is true. The problem is when you are a ruler who has to impose laws, help people get a long, limit crime, etc. At that point it is your moral obligation to impose some law and order upon the populace.

I think you and I would agree with St. Thomas Aquinas's approach that the law is to tolerate some evils in order not to produce greater ones. It is wrong to steal, but we do not jail a child for stealing cookies for instance. Rigorous laws can do more damage than good in many cases. And that is why this is a welcome debate on the issue of Prostitution, and as many brought to light it's inherent hypocrisy with Pornography being "legal".

I also believe that abortion is intrinsically evil. But I recognize that we cannot wholesale illegalize abortion at the current state of our culture. That would be irresponsible and introduce grave injustices greater than if abortion remained legal. There is many cultural changes that must occur prior to illegalizing abortion.

Wyatt:
Gods answer to things like this isnt to make a moral judgment and toss people into jail, its to take time out of YOUR life, find one of these people , teach them about Jesus and let THEM make the changes in their OWN life. not to use mans laws to IMPOSE that change on them.

I wholly agree. Again my point above is what do you do as a rule, a law maker, or as a policeman?

For myself, I talk to a lot of people about the mistakes I made in my relationships. Encourage others to not settle for second best, but to really strive for something that will truly make them joyous and happy because they deserve better.

Some of the people I dearly loved have done practically everything under the sun you can think of (and maybe some you shudder to believe are possible.) And always, I see the common theme that they don't think they deserve more or better or think much of themselves.

Like I said in my previous post. They CHOOSE what makes them happy with what they are allotted. No one can deny them that. And no God I believe in would condemn them to hell for that either. (That is why I'm Catholic and not a fundamentalist Christian.) And it is my responsibility as my brother's keeper to love them and show them something better.

Wyatt:
if your truly worried about Sin i say to you FIRST remove the sin from your OWN life.

I wholly disagree. If we wait till we are perfect before we help another, we will never arrive. I say that we struggle TOGETHER. We journey TOGETHER. We make mistakes TOGETHER. It is my place to talk about that lofty mountain top, the view, the goal we are to attain, not as a judgment but inspiration of the people we can become - and we journey TOGETHER.

You can call me on my flaws, and as a friend I invite you to help remove the log in my eye. I'm not free of sin, but I will not cease calling a sin a sin.

What I fear is too many people hide and accept mediocrity under the premise of "Judge not" as if it was some endorsement from God to stop thinking, stop trying, and stop helping others why may not know better.

That's the best I can do as a regular person, as a human being.

But if I were a person in governance, in charge of the well being of the society, the peace of the public and the general welfare? Then I *must* judge, I *must* incarcerate what I think is dangerous to society. To fail to do so is negligence to my duties which is entrusted to me to protect the innocent.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1031
Joined: 17 Jul 2008

rossatdi:
I think two conditions ought to be part of the regulation:

1) Monthly (is that too extreme) STD checks, and healthy insurance (supplied by the brothel or government or what have you, I'm British so we don't need it but it's a concern)

2) Condoms for all penetrative sex. Now that's a little graphic and I apologise but it's necessary. A prostitute should have legal grounds to demand a customer use one.

completly agree

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