Grumblings

Spitzer: What is the BFD? Aside from his hypocrisy, I do not believe he has violated any trust I put in him. Of course, I haven't put any trust in him...

I cannot believe that with all our problems, we still criminalize prostitution. Seriously. For every stupid law we attempt to enforce, we make it harder to enforce laws that are actually supposed to be protecting people.

Prostitution? Really? I cannot figure out why an ostensibly free society allows you to sell damn near anything but you can't rent your privates for a few hours. You can pay people to rub you for an hour to help you relax and loosen your muscles ... but if that person touches you in a certain area, BOOM - it is ILLEGAL!

In no way am I defending predatory pimping or abduction and forced prostitution. Obviously, just as I can pay someone to clean my house, I cannot abduct them and force them to do it.

Some may claim prostitution is exploitation. Well, so is paying poor wages to illiterate people to roof your house rather than going with a unionized shop that has crucial things like FRIGGING HEALTH CARE. What is more dangerous?

I suspect the only real reason people can come up with to keep prostitution illegal is because too many religions tell us that doing stuff that feels good is somehow immoral. Well, it isn't. It is immoral if you violate a relationship you are in. It is immoral if you spread an STD. But pleasing yourself (and ideally, the other person/people you are with) is not immoral.

Prostitution is a victimless crime. The problems surrounding it (mostly issues of health) are better dealt with policies that do not involve prison and pushing it underground - where women (and some men - but mostly women) are more likely to be victims of violence.