Faces of prostitution: "Book" rewrites attitudes

Denver Post ^ | 3/28/05 | Amy Herdy

[little jeremiah]

See the post by the cop above.

[Know your rights]

What about the right not to have depravity forced down one's throats? What about the right not to have one's kids walk past porno shops while walking to and from school?

I'm all for local communities zoning porn (and other vices) as they see fit, just as alcohol sales are now subject to regulation. But past the point of making it easily avoidable, further regulation is a violation of the rights of the producers and consumers of vices.

What about the right to say "No I won't hire you/rent to you because you are a homosexual"?

I'm sure libertarians agrees with me that this is a legitimate right (and the "rights" to be hired or rented to are not).

[Pajamajan]

"I would venture a guess that many of these girls do not WANT to be in prostitution"

Many of them are runaways. Some of them are boys. Most of them have been sexually abused as children. It shouldn't be a big shock that most of them are addicted to drugs either, as it numbs them to the effects of their lifestyle. Or, their drug addiction leads them to prostitution. Either way, there isn't anything good about it.

Some will talk about Heidi Fleiss and the places in Nevada, and claim it's not hurting anyone, but the fact is, most prostitutes are not the high dollar type. They lead tragic lives.

[firerosemom]

. If the transaction takes place in private, who's harmed?


How about the wife and kids...

[traviskicks]

thanks for sharing that, but is this correlation or causation?

And how do you know that? Did they tell you? Or do you see this in NYC police statistics?

[logician2u]

Denver's "alternative" paper has a little different take on the problem.

Bada Bing, Bada Boom!

Different strokes for different folks, I guess, but isn't it amazing that the vice squad doesn't descend on that loft where all the action takes place? Or have the right palms been greased to ensure that won't happen?

Chances are good that none of the women pictured in the Denver Post story have been approached by Veronika, nor have any of the cops who routinely run in streetwalkers so much as laid eyes on her or her girls.

There are definitely two classes of prostitutes: the ones you read about in the daily papers and the ones you don't.

[Ichneumon]

I'm sure you won't have to wait long. The libertarian loonies will be along to stink up the thread soon.

Too late, the libertarian-haters stunk it up first.

[wtc911]

You get to know who runs on your post. A lot of the working girls were already dabbling when they started hooking but many weren't. Those who were skin popping sank deeper fast. Those who were clean got dirty after a while in the life. I remember only one girl who staye clean, and she was crazy. We all have our ideas about things that we haven't seen ourselves. Ask anybody who knows the street, prostitution leads to drugs, leads to prostitution...

[traviskicks]

well, theres no debate on here whether drugs or prostitution is harmful to people who partake in them. The question is if the harm would be reduced if they were legalized. Better said, if Liberty were expanded, would goodness result?

Clearly, being illegal hasn't been much of a deterrent and inflicts an element of violence into both the drug and prositution 'markets' as people have to police themselves and can't count on the law for protection.

But still, your point about prostitution leading to drugs is an interesting perspective.