In Defense Of Prostitution

Legal Affairs.org ^ | September/October 2003 | Heidi Fleiss

[Great Caesars Ghost]

a woman living with a man she can't stand, but will stay there and sleep with him for the house, the cars, the money and social standing

How about staying because divorce is wrong?

[Great Caesars Ghost]

Does keeping it illegal and underground cause deviancy in and of itself? The rise of the pornographic empires, the internet obsessions...

[ZULU]

If you want a REAL defense of prostitution, ask any politician for one. They are in the same line of business.

[CitizenUSA]

Great Caesars Ghost asked: "Does keeping it illegal and underground cause deviancy in and of itself?"

Some people, young ones in particular, are drawn to illicit activities for the thrill of doing wrong, but I don't think it's a major factor. Porn, for example, is popular because it's pleasurable. It feeds both our lusts and our curiousity. On the other hand, it's rarely satisfying in the long term, and it can definitely lead to an unhealthy addiction. Just like drugs, it ultimately takes a stronger dose of porn to achieve the same thrill.

Satan likes us to believe these activities are harmless, but he's a liar.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

Do sexual needs go away if they're not acted upon?

[Walkingfeather]

Just a few questions.....

Can you name a culture that has gotten more moral,safer,less dependent of govt since legalizing prostitution?

What son has uttered the words, ' I am proud of my mom and sisters since they became a hooker'?

Is a society more stable or less stable with marriage as an institution? If more stable, what is the motivator for men to marry if their needs are met by transaction? Why would a man marry?

[Nowhere Man]

Moral Absolutes Ping.

Remember in the old days (or reading about them if you weren't personally there) when a woman who had sex outside of marriage, especially the slut variety, was considered "ruined"? That's why prostitution is wrong. It ruins women. What woman can respect herself when she's been used as an orifice by numerous men who don't know her, love her, or want to know or love her?

And what man would want to marry a woman with that experience? What woman, after being an object for unknown men, could give her heart to a husband? What man could give his heart to a woman who had squandered herself with strangers?

Remember in the old days, when marriage was the goal of every woman? Oh sure, there were the rare ones who didn't want to marry. But a husband and children are the natural goals of every real woman's life, if they haven't been twisted by feminism. That doesn't mean a woman cannot have a career, a job, or have other compelling interests. But a woman who can never have a husband and marriage because she has squandered herself as a prostitute is a ruined woman.

And men who use women for sex are like dogs.

Agree with most of what you said. Prostitution is the way to ruin both for the women and men. In some cases, women use it for survival, although this is less than it was say 100 years ago, but it still goes on. In other cases, it is a quick way to make some bucks and "chase the bling" to get rich and/or a stepping stone to another career. Sometimes it is both. You can find examples like from 100 years ago in boos like David Graham Phillip's "Susan Lenox, Her Rise & Fall" to Theodore Drieser's "Sister Carrie" to modern examples like Heidi Fleiss in this article.

Like in the case of "Susan Lenox," it was about a girl who was an outcast because her mom (who died during her birth) had her out of wedlock and she falls into the life of prostitution as a tool for survival and later becomes a bit callous and sees it as a way to "chase the bling" and eventually becomes an actress. She did have a couple of chances at redemption but she was so far pushed from it, she rejected it. She did become a successful actress (at that time, they were seem much the same as prostitutes) but even to herself, she knows there is something missing in her life, she remains distant and cannot really form a bond with a good friend. Sad story, almost got me to tears at times. Heck, getting back to "what if stories," I was thinking of writing a "fan fiction" style "what if" where a determined Christian enters her life and brings her on the road to redemption.

Setting up the scene, I think there is a need to reach out and save them (and many others on a terrible path) the best as we can although we will lose some of them (can't win 'em all) but I think we need to show that there is a path to redemption through God, His teachings and good living even if it means holding back the scorn and reaching out with positive intent much like Jesus said, "he without sin, cast the first stone" but the other part is just as important too, "go and sin no more," people forget the second part at times. I remember Glenn Beck talking about redemption to where he was a "former scumbag" until he converted to Mormonism.

It's a shame people degrade themselves that way, sometimes out of necessity when all doors are closed, but thank God, that isn't as much the case as it was at one time but there are still people who see it as a way to make a pretty penny at the expense of physical and spiritual health. It is a shame that people act below animals this way.

Still though, I cannot believe at some of the cognitive dissidence out there, even here on FR about legalizing prostitution and other vices "because we cannot stop it" or "it will always exist." Well you will never stop 100% of it, but you don't give in either. It is like giving up World War II in 1942 because "the Germans and Japs are too hard," with that attitude, we'd be speaking German today. We need to reach out and not drive these people away who need help but we cannot allow or condone such things wither, otherwise society will fall apart.

[Nowhere Man]

By making E-Z sex and prostitution respectable, girls who wouldn't have considered such a path before would think it perfectly acceptable. So more ruined lives. It's just another business, a way to make a living. Except much more lucrative. For a while.

True, when a prostitute starts to look old, her "value" goes down really fast so unless she is a mover and shaker like a madam or something, she will get tossed aside to do the dirty jobs to just out in the street. That's why I'm against legalization and condoning it, I'm not for draconian prison snetences either, but by doing that, we are one step closer to glamourizing it.

[RinaseaofDs]

I'm not sure legalizing it would ever make it respectible, by any means. Abortion certainly is an abomination, though legal, and this takes its toll on whoever chooses that path. Long term effects on the woman are devastating and generally irrecoverable.

[little jeremiah]

Excellent comments, have to run. Will be back later.

Hint: Feminism is evil and has to a great degree ruined women as much as outright prostitution would.

[little jeremiah]

Sex desire, and in fact, all desires of the body and mind, can indeed be tamed. It is not an easy task, but a person can become the master of his desires rather than the slave. By thinking about the object of desires - for instance, looking at pornography, ogling women, focusing the mind on the images - the desires increase. By withdrawing the mind from those objects and focusing on other objects, the desires can diminish.

Also the will comes into play. The intelligence (I don't mean IQ, but something more akin to wisdom and discrimination) can judge which desires are good to follow and which should be rejected. If a desire is rejected as not beneficial or good repeatedly, it will diminish over time.

"A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires - that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still - can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires."

[CitizenUSA]

"A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires - that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still - can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires."

Great quote. Everyone is tempted. It's how we overcome or satisfy temptation that's important. How can someone overcome temptation? By force of will or by divine assistance, but you don't win battles by feeding the temptation you are fighting. Why not give into temptation? In fact, God has ordained many ways to satisfy our desires in a healthy and productive way. Marriage, for example, is blessed by God.

Man is different from the animals, because we have the knowledge of right and wrong. Instead of acting like animals, we should strive for what is right even if we sometimes fall short.

[cajun-jack]

I wasn't addressing the prosecution of it..only the principle.

same basic premise to me.

[Nowhere Man]

Excellent comments, have to run. Will be back later.

Hint: Feminism is evil and has to a great degree ruined women as much as outright prostitution would.

Thanks. Yeah, I do agree with you that the tenants of radical feminism that got underway in the 1960's has a huge hand in the ruination of our society but there are many other things too.

[little jeremiah]

Hmm, one comment I was going to reply to got removed. It didn't seem weird to me, from what I remember.

One thing to keep in mind is that the majority of prostitutes, from what I have read, are drug addicts/alcoholics. Either they become prostitutes for drugs or money to get drugs, or become addicts. The whole crime world is interconnected. The gangs and thugs who control the crime scene (apart from individual entrepeneurs) often are pimps or in some way control prostution. It benefits them to create more drug addicts.

Prostitutes sometimes wind up with kids. Imagine being a kid of a prostitute. A few years ago when we lived in a city, there were a girl and a boy who lived two blocks away in some sleazy apartments. They were playing by themselves on the sidewalk early in the morning and late in the evening, they were about 5 or 6 and maybe 8. Always dirty, often wearing the same clothes for days. We asked about their mother a few times; they'd say "She's with a boyfriend". They were so dirty and skinny. We'd feed them and try to show them some kindness.

Prostitution ruins more than just the one woman's life. And a society in which selling sex is normal and acceptable is a society in which human beings have become slabs of meat, not souls.

[little jeremiah]

P.S. Most prostitutes don't wind up being expensive call girls sent out to service heads of state for thousands of dollars a night. That could sound "glamorous" to a stupid young girl with no sense of morals. But the reality is bound to be a lot less glamorous.

In fact, I used to know a woman who told me that when she was around 20, she was a call girl for a short while. She earned a tremendous amount of money (compared to what she could do legitimately) but the disgust of what she was doing overcame her lust for money and the desire to be treated as a sex object. It is not a happy life.