Getting back to me being a Madam. I was nothing more than a go-between for two consenting adults and set up a meeting for them. The problem in America is that there is no distinction made between trafficking and people willing to do this kind of work. In countries where prostitution is legal, there are virtually no problems. There will always be the few “bad” people out there.

Since the advent of the internet, there are literally thousands of “dates” being set up all day long with no problems. Some people choose to work on their own, others work for agencies and make a little less money. They also don’t answer the phones, pay for advertising, etc. Madam’s earn their money.

I wish the ACLU would come out for us. I know they are on our side. The president of the ACLU, Nadine Strossen, said that the government has no right telling you what to do with your body, what to eat, touch, inhale, etc. This is our body and our choice.

We don’t want prostitution legalized, we want it decriminalized. Legalization has too many rules. We don’t want government pimp houses like they have in Nevada. While it might be the “safest” way, it would eliminate most people from running business, and only the most beautiful will work. That is not empowering women. We should be able to run our own businesses, just like an accountant does. There are incall and outcall services, and brothels don’t allow for that.

I hope she gets off just based on the fact that it is a privacy issue. I can’t believe a man like Guiliani is running for president. His wife didn’t find out about his affair until she, and all of us, saw it on television. In my book, that makes him a rat. I don’t care that he’s on his third wife. I care that he destroyed his family. When all these politicians have something exposed, they cry, “please give us our privacy”. Well, that’s all we want. If there’s not complaint, don’t come knocking on our bedroon door.

Also, to the postings that say we are spreading diseases. If that were true, based on how many prostitutes there are in the USA, there’d be a whole lot more people sick. Prostitutes are probably more careful with their bodies than two drunk people in a bar jumping into bed at the end of the night.

Give us a break, mind your business. This is a necessary business. There are many single men out there without a significant other. As for the married men using the services, again that’s none of your business. It’s not going to go away any time soon. It’s a moral issue, not a legal one. Should we really be facing jailtime for sleeping with someone? This land is my land, this land is your land from the Redwood Forest to the NY Island, this land was made for you and me. Let’s keep religion and politics out of our lives. Remember the old saying from the Vietnam War, “make love, not war”. Honestly, the business is not a big deal, it’s just a service, lighten up.

The first of these groups is law enforcement. Although there is a steadily growing movement called LEAP (law enforcement against prohibition), that recognizes the problems resulting from trying to use police resources to make a society conform to standards based on a moral code without sound “serve and protect” reasoning, there is still a culture in most of law enforcement to “protect its turf” and enforce anything they are empowered to enforce. They will oppose anything that restricts their power and authority.

Secondly, are the right-wing religious zealots and morality police. Many of them honestly believe that if the US becomes a heathen nation our fate will be the same as Sodom and Gomorrah.

Finally, on the left are the feminist action groups. These groups have been very successful in getting the attention of the United Nations, as well as the US State Department to make them aware of the issues of world-wide human trafficking, sex slavery, etc. I commend them for that work and their success. Unfortunately, many in these groups see everything through a lens of female victimization and objectification. Just like the religious zealot wants all mankind to conform to their moral standards, these feminists want all women to conform to their “non-victimization” standards and any woman who allows herself to become an object for any reason, including for pay, does not conform to their standards.

Another Larry: Exactly. Most prost is invisible, and in the RARE cases of white slavery of foreign women, they shd be prosecuted. Kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment statutes apply, as well.

Doma: Dave’s whole argument- and his ‘facts’ are just gussied up tirades by a bunch of moral prudes. Saying it’s garbage is not a tirade. I asked rhetorically if you want to end streetwalking. It’s called reading nuances. Get a real progressive in the White House and kids will have condoms. Stop deminizing sex- casual or not. We all love it- save for a few asexuals amongst us.

Kaja- good point. As stated, most of the invisible prostitution exists because businessmen want ‘clean’ sex. You don’t find CEOs trawling red light districts for hos.

Pacatrue- of course not all prost can be regulated, but most johns- save those with death complexes, will go for regulated beaver than dirty corner fur. Is it not better to make it 98% safe than not?

One of the reasons to make prostitution legal that people mention is so that you can regulate it. However, it isn’t all that clear that you could regulate prostitution even with the legality change. Sex is something that can be traded in 5 minutes of the vendor’s time and usually is hidden away in hotel rooms and cars and people’s homes. Lawn care is legal and regulated, but the government has virtually no control over someone knocking on your door and asking to mow your lawn for $30. You can only “regulate” such transactions only if the customers or merchants want to participate in the regulations. I think the best government could really do is offer some sort of licenses or assurances which are so attractive that people seek them out and want them. Health and safety would probably be the two main things a government license could attempt to offer. But even here I wonder how many prostitutes and how many johns would want their name on paper anywhere. Surely some wouldn’t mind, but many would not. Perhaps such people want to continue to pay people on the side just to stay anonymous.

Of course, prostitution is legal in some countries, so anyone with knowledge of their regulations and successes, please join in.

One last thought on the original case I had was, “Hiring prostitutes has become something one abandons office for now, but for most of history, it was probably assumed that having the money and power to have access to prostitutes was one of the key reasons to go in office in the first place.” I’m thinking globally and over many historical periods when I say this.

By the way, has anyone mentioned to our resigned official that there are licensed people called massage therapists who might know a bit more about actual massages than an escort service — since that’s all you were getting, of course.

While I agree that there are several special interests that are vested in maintaining the status quo, I’ve come to realize that public opinion does not necessarily share those views. I think we need to continue using whatever resources with have to make and keep this a topic of discussion and debate.

Cosmo
[to me:"you want to end streetwalking ....."]

If you read my comment, I call for no such thing. I only make 2 points:
1) Even though I AGREE that prostitution should be legalized, I don’t think it’s likely to happen soon
2) In the meantime, the spread of STD is a serious problem. Since the word ‘condom’ is taboo at the government level in many areas, I thought it would be fruitful to concentrate advocacy on this area, while we wait for society to be enlightened.
I was asking a serious question.
I AGREE with you on the goals, but given today’s atmosphere, what is the best way to get to those goals?
In may area, the whole effort seems to be in the hands of very small groups and some dedicated individuals. It’s not enough.

I did not say you were. Straw man.

Doma- show me the intolerance. Dave points to the same old tired sorts of stats that the Far Right use. Except, if it’s the Far Left it’s ok, or if its anyone else w a preconceived notion. This is again the sort of rationale those who use deluded folk like Lovelace and Roe against their former stances.

It’s akin to asking people to go on the record re: infidelity. My God, you mean it’s not a problem- only 1/3% of married folk admit to affairs. Well, on to the next vice.

Straw man.

And, you want to end streetwalking and pimpery- legalize it, regulate it. Have documented sex workers sevring clientele. Have a required weekly checkup, and tax them. 99.9% of johns wd sooner go to a USDA approved piece of ass than some VD hole, if only to avoid detection from their spouses. The solutions to most social problems are not as complex as the fucked up mores that prevent their implementation.

And, as with teen sex ed classes- free condoms and BC pills for all- free lubricants. Also open free methadone and other clinic that will keep drug users from spreading AIDS and other diseases. Pray all you want people will fuck and shoot up.

Then, when a Jimmy Swaggart type is screwing a hooker with a habit, he need not fear crabs, warts, or worse, and can still maintain his hypocrisy with a vengeance.

Larry: ‘I hardly believe that the vast majority of prostitutes are blissfully content everyday women’

How many have you known? Do you also believe that all women are haunted by abortions? These are similar canards that are tossed about w no basis in fact.

The patheticness of prostitution or drug use can be turned about and aimed at those who hide behind their mores- religious or not, and their inability to think in an objective and critical fashion.

Hippocrates- do no harm. This shd apply yo law. Abortions, prostitutions, drug use, do no harm, in and among their own. But illegalize and force them underground and you get health problems aplenty.

And it’s not the lesse rof two evils, for there is no evil involved, unless one counts ignorance.

Daniel: Spot on.

IMO, prostitution should have been legalized, but regulated, long ago. It hasn’t happened for the same reasons it won’t happen any time soon. In taday’s climate of fake morality, no congressman could vote for legalization without being pillaried.

While we wait for America’s society to change, though, the unhappy hookers on the street corner are a concern, no matter what percentage of the total they represent.

My question to Cosmo and other experts is: what do you think is the best way to introduce STD controlling programs to those ranks not privy to or uninterested in good health care? That’s something that should be tackled before the social climate changes enough to consider legalization.

But actually, whether it’s voluntary or not is secondary to the argument of whether it should be legal or not. I think it should be legal for the reasons I stated above. If it’s as you say and women do it voluntarily, fine, let them do it also legally. If they are in fact often slaves, then OK, slavery is still illegal, you can liberate them with more ease if you first acknowledge they exist.