Hey IACB,
"The above statement comes damn close to a 'blame the sex industry' argument for men's bad behavior..."
If you mean close as in just inside vs. just outside the gate to Fort Knox then yes, my statement would be close to blaming the sex industry for men's behavior. At best I "blame" men's bad behavior for prostitution. Which you'd have to agree is a pretty different proposition.
A couple of points: I support prostitution, I feel *passionately* that it should be legal, and I think almost all anti-prostitution arguments are fatuous. I just happen to think a lot of pro-prostitution arguments are fatuous as well.
And -- the point of my post, which I obviously didn't communicate well -- was that by hammering obsessively and exclusively at each other's *fatuous* arguments the pro and anti sides are overlooking quite a bit of common ground.
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Now just for the record, I think those a lot of pro-prostitution arguments, and accompanying attitudes, *damage* prostitution and increase resistance to acceptance, as well as embarrass customers.
For instance I think it's laughable that men think there are some activities they can only buy from women. I'm really not too crazy about the notion that men have to "buy up." And most of all I just *hate* this whole myth of sexual scarcity that leaves men thinking we have to *buy* our way out.
Should prostitution be left illegal while we sorted all that other crap out? No, it should be every bit as legal as dentistry or computer consulting or any other skills-based service profession. Should we sort out all the other crap anyway? Yes, because otherwise it's going to look kind of stupid skulking off to obtain a legal service we'd prefer to believe our spouses and other partners are too angelic to enjoy.
figleaf
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