Although I agree in principal with this article, that it's much ado about mostly nothing in its context of consensual sex between adults, I disagree that prostitution in a victimless crime.

At best, its victims are women in general, whose strongest and oldest currency remains sex, and prostitutes in particular, who seldom lead the glamor-evoking, high-on-the-hog lifestyles that the term, "callgirl," conjures up.

At worst its victims are children, the boys and girls worldwide whose psyches and sometimes whose lives are the price of their sexual exploitation at the hands almost always of men.

The New York Times' Bob Herbert has written many heartwrenching columns on this topic and is a good source if you're reconsidering your view on this "victimless" crime, Glenn.

The great majority of us have to "sell our bodies" in order to make a living.

Why is it so different when the selling part is for sexual gratification rather than gratification of some other urge?

I'm not trying to play gotcha here, I'm genuinely interested in your viewpoint because I simply don't understand why sex is so different than everything else.

Why do you continue to resist? You only expose yourselves as drug using frequenters of harlots! Repent! Surrender and experience the ecstasy of being in thrall to Tina’s absolute knowledge of good and evil! Look into your hearts, you know it to be true!

We have the utilitarian arguments about free agency and how making prostitution legal would benefit so many.

Yet there is also the argument that many/most of those involved in selling their bodies are, if not already being exploited, at least vulnerable to that possibility.

There's almost no way for these two sides to sides to find common ground. (We're more likely to get a Clinton/Obama ticket.)

It's impossible for those arguing for regulating prostitution not to seem heartless and unfeeling to the other side as they (implicitly) make the case for a (potentially) exploited group's being expendable. Arguing principle over people will often yield that result.

And there's no way that those who argue against legalizing prostitution can appear mature enough for Reality to the other side when they want to protect a (potentially) exploited group from being that vulnerable.

* * *

Back to Pete Seeger... I'll bet he could figure out the common ground. That was another point that someone else in that documentary made... how amazing he was at finding common cause among such disparate parties.

you aren't going to get a direct answer to this because the advocates would have you believe that all prostitutes are having joyous sex with handsome men to put themselves through law school. If you dispute this, they will call you an idiot.

What's the percentage, I wonder, of this idealized type of prostitute as opposed to the ones who are caught up in some or all of the issues you describe?

1%? 3%?

One can only guess, but it is safe to guess that prostitutes who meet all the requirements to be good examples of the Happy Hooker--psychologically strong, self-employed, work in clean, safe surroundings, turn down clients who abuse them, no habits or pimps to feed, etc. etc. are very, very few. Statistically insignificant, I would even venture to say (no, I cannot prove that). Like I said, I think even for highly paid girls it's more wishful thinking than reality. Never mind the obvious, that it's inherently degrading to sell access to your body cavities.

But be prepared to hear about all the happy Harvard graduate hookers because the ones you acknowledge--almost all prostitutes, that is--don't exist in the la-la land of these posters. They just don't, and even if they did--hey! Legalization would fix everything!

At Salon, we create our own reality, just like certain Republicans we know....

There are some people, Rev Hagee among them, who believe that God punished New Orleans for the "sinful" lifestyle of some of its inhabitants. One of the characteristics of the Bush administration is a determination to use government power to do God's work. That the DOJ should be used to investigate and prosecute prostitution, which involves one of the few honorable exchange of money for services in Washington, D.C., makes about as much sense as forbidding the use condoms in the fight against AIDS in Africa. The sooner Bush and his band of zealots is gone the better. Until then the Department of Justice won't deserve its name.

So as DCLaw1 points out that since making pornography is legal and prostitution is not I think the solution for all these parties is just to video tape the act. Then they were just hiring an "actor" for a "performance" and all is legal.

Mine collapse due to negligence and cheap corporate corner cutting on safety measures?

Victimless Crime? Really?

Although I agree in principal with this article, that it's much ado about mostly nothing in its context of consensual sex between adults, I disagree that prostitution in a victimless crime.

So it is much ado about nothing until one consenting adult hands the other a nickel? Quarter? Dollar? What?

At best, its victims are women in general, whose strongest and oldest currency remains sex, and prostitutes in particular, who seldom lead the glamor-evoking, high-on-the-hog lifestyles that the term, "callgirl," conjures up.

You haven't been to the Champagne Room, Jack. Just the local cruise?

At worst its victims are children, the boys and girls worldwide whose psyches and sometimes whose lives are the price of their sexual exploitation at the hands almost always of men.

Yeah, but we want to legalize that too. We're with NAMBLA.

Do IQs suddenly drop when people mention the word "prostitution"?

The victims of prostitution, like the victims of the drug war, largely have government to thank for their plight.

I do not know if you are simply a human rights or womens rights advocate, but either way, there is no right more fundamental for any human or woman than the right to trade services for cash.

What is the difference whether I make you a sandwich and get paid for my labor, tune your database and get paid for my labor, or suck your cock and get paid for my labor?

If prostitution were legal, then legal prostitutes would be afforded the same protections and privileges that their counterparts in other industries are afforded. That they lack those protections is where the problems begin.

So, are you just a stuck up prude, or do you really believe in human, women's, gay, transgender or bisexual's rights, and their rights to work safely, and be protected by the same protections other workers are granted?