Improving Society One Vice at a Time

From a young age now, males are being taught that females are not to be treated as sex objects.  We are not to ogle low cut blouses or tight t-shirts.  We are not to check out short shorts or stare in amazement at skimpy swimsuits at the beach.  A woman's sexual history is not to be held against her and verbal consent must be asked for and received during every step of a sexual encounter--or the man has committed a rape.  The over-riding message is: Women are more than just their bodies and the pleasure they can provide to men.  That is unless you are willing to pay for that.

Amnesty International--a human rights group--is now pushing for global legalization of prostitution.  Their argument is that if the "world's oldest profession" was legal everywhere, it would undercut the human trafficking rings that operate around the world--holding women (along with men, girls and boys) as sexual slaves.  They also argue that if prostitution was a "legitimate" career, those involved would be more willing to seek regular medical care and cut down on the transmission of STD's and HIV.

That may all sound like positives, but it fails to take into consideration what effect having open prostitution has on a community and a society.  Do you think the brothels will open next to affluent parts of town like Trader Joe's or Costcos do?  Or will they take over the low-rent buildings on the poor side of town?  And will it be college-educated, career-minded people staffing those facilities because they see "the great money you can make for very little work?"

And if they think legalizing prostitution will suddenly end human trafficking, Amnesty folks might want to consider that making clothing is legal--yet factories around the world are filled with people who are paid pennies a day for their labor--if they get paid at all.  And working in the kitchen of a restaurant is legal as well--but as we have seen here in the Fox Valley--some of those people are not really doing so by choice.

This is actually Progressivism at its worst.  We have a major criminal problem?  Just make it legal and you have solved the crime problem!  Just like the push to decriminalize some drug possession and sales.  Yes, you have fewer people sitting in prison cells--but you also have more people pushing drugs on kids and those that can't afford to be blowing every penny they have to get high.  So really, what problem did you solve.

It will be interesting to see how American feminists deal with the Amnesty International decision.  Will they continue to talk about how the sexualization of women is demeaning, allows men to exert control over women and is an example of social injustice as they have been saying for the past 40-years or so?  Or will their tune suddenly change--with phrases like "empowerment" "control" and "personal choice" suddenly becoming their main arguments in favor of more women selling their bodies? 

Meanwhile, lonely men everywhere are adding a new line item to their personal budgets.......