Wizard: There are prostitution tours men sign up for which take them round the planet to find prostituted children. They want babies and there are places in this world where offering six and seven year olds is not uncommon. I've seen people put eight year olds on the street in this city. The "market" wants the children, so regulating prostitution won't change that.
Peter: I've heard about this too. But from what I've read, which admittedly isn't exhaustive, child prostitution thrives in capitalist countries where poverty is rampant. It's not so much that the market wants children, but the suppliers (i.e., parents of these children) are desperate for revenue. This is especially true for countries like ours where prostitution is illegal but little money is spent on social services. BTW, a classic movie came out of Italy 11 years ago that addresses the tragedy of prostituted children: <Il Ladro di Bambini>, directed by the incomparable Gianni Amelio (who also made <Open Doors>, <L'America>, and <The Way We Laughed>). Unfortunately, this heart-wrenching masterpiece never got a video release in the United States, though its possible to purchase a Canadian distributed video through E-Bay. Wizard: There are women working in this city and St. Paul to pull women out of prostitution by offering them ways to find safe shelter, learn skills, find jobs. Peter: Unfortunately, there are not enough facilities like this, especially in our current social, economic and political climate which is downright hostile to social services. Wizard: One woman I know personally got out of prostitution, worked hard, became head of her agency. Yet when men on her board were trying to remove her from her position some 15 or more years later, they got out the pictures of her working the streets. Peter: Legalizing, regulating and destigmatizing prostitution would end this kind of reprehensible blackmail. But given the status quo that Wizard supports (for the most part, that is), rogue cops and other unsavory men have the power to blackmail sex workers, whether or not prostitution is their profession of choice. BTW, not all prostitutes, whether they're men or women, enter prostitution because they were sexually abused. Many times they choose the profession out of dire economic circumstances. Wizard: The sanctions against sexual abuse of women invariably fall on the prostituted women, seldom on their customers or pimps. Police will tell you it's easier to catch the women. Judges will give mealy-mouthed reasons for not leveling heavy sanctions against the men (I've heard judges say things so remarkably stupid about sentencing johns--actually not sentencing them--that it made my head spin. Peter: No argument here, Wizard. This holds true for our war on drugs as well. Scores of innocent women, many of them single parents, are currently spending time in prison on account of our bogus war on drugs, all because they're caught between a rock and a hard place. If they remain silent they go to jail, but if they testify against their husbands or boyfriends they're good as dead. Please Wizard, give me the names of these mealy-mouthed judges you've seen in action and I'll make sure not to vote for them next time they're up for reelection. Still, I continue to be baffled by your position, Wizard. You obviously have a strong commitment to society's most vulnerable people and I admire you for that. But if you continue to stick to your guns on this issue, you'll only be adding to the legal, medical and psychological abuse of prostitutes. In a better world there would never be a market for this. But as Barb Lickness wisely pointed out the supply and demand has been with us for centuries. Trying to legislate it away will do more harm than good for the people we want to help. And to make all this more relevant to Minneapolis issues, I've been recently noticing streetwalkers on Nicollet Avenue, near Village Video (the best video store in town, BTW). Another sign of our economic downturn, I suppose. Thanks for the dialogue, Wizard.-----------------------------------------Peter Schmitz CARAG > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - > change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn > E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls > TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
