# Re: Prostitution **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 15, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189 "2008-12-15T01:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![starchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@starchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starchild)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/1 "2008-12-15T01:32:55Z")
Your response to the woman hyping the usual fear-based agenda of the criminalizers with misleading statements about teen prostitutes, trafficking, and so on, couldn’t have been better: “No doubt many street prostitutes are abused by pimps and johns; similarly, many wives are abused by their husbands. It doesn’t follow that marriage ought to be a crime.” Bless you Cecil for getting it right and standing up for the rights of sex workers and our clients! Some day we will have equal rights, and the bigotry against us will be as socially frowned on as racism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry are now generally understood to be by educated and well-meaning people. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/2 "2008-12-15T01:55:21Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope **starchild**. It is customary to provide a link to the column you are commenting on. Here is the column in [question](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2774/prostitution). I hope you will hang around and enjoy your time here. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/3 "2008-12-15T13:06:25Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Welcome to the Straight Dope **starchild**. > It is customary to provide a link to the column you are commenting on. Here is the column in [question](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2774/prostitution). You know, this has to be the least-followed custom in history. 😉 -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/4 "2008-12-15T18:32:49Z")
> [@starchild](#): > > .. [.B]igotry against us will be as socially frowned on as racism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry are now generally understood to be by educated and well-meaning people. This may not be the place to get into it, but it seems that there is an intrinsic difference between prejudice based on genetic make-up and the ramifications in social hierarchy based on what one does to pay the bills. I’m not saying that sex workers deserve to be treated like lawyers, but there is a difference between skin color (for example) and choice of occupation. ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/5 "2008-12-15T18:41:30Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > This may not be the place to get into it, but it seems that there is an intrinsic difference between prejudice based on genetic make-up and the ramifications in social hierarchy based on what one does to pay the bills. > > I’m not saying that sex workers deserve to be treated like lawyers, but there is a difference between skin color (for example) and choice of occupation. And it’s also against some standards to bash someone for a sexual choice they make (such as gay, bi, or straight) while others feel that the sexual persuasion is not a “choice” but a predisposition. Perhaps someone who ended up as a sex worker gets something out of it that they don’t get out of other lines of work. Who’s to say it’s a “choice” they made, as opposed to some place they ended up? Just a thought. Also, why all these thoughts on women being prostitutes. What about male prostitutes? If we’ll allow women to charge money for access to their bodies, then I want to earn some money too. If we make it legal, it should be legal for both genders, not just women. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/6 "2008-12-15T22:16:52Z")
> [@SeanArenas](#): > > .. Who’s to say it’s a “choice” they made, as opposed to some place they ended up? Just a thought. Who’s to say that any aspect of our lives is a “choice.” Maybe I just ended up being a bigot. It doesn’t seem right to hold it against me. > [@](#): > > .. If we’ll allow women to charge money for access to their bodies, then I want to earn some money too. Do you have any specials? ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/7 "2008-12-16T01:51:24Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > Who’s to say that any aspect of our lives is a “choice.” Maybe I just ended up being a bigot. It doesn’t seem right to hold it against me. It’s a very good point that I’ve often wondered. Is Archie Bunker that way because he was born that way? Or because he chose to be that way at some point in life, and just stuck with it? Sometimes you make up your mind and you’re very firm in some belief … other times you’re just genetically predisposed. Is that the dividing line? I dunno. > [@SiXSwordS](#): > > Do you have any specials? Not that I can talk about, unless laws change soon \ ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/8 "2008-12-16T05:25:55Z")
Anybody want to take a crack at the accuracy of the stats quoted by Rachael in the follow-up letter? ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/9 "2008-12-16T14:53:55Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > You know, this has to be the least-followed custom in history. 😉 > > -FrL- yeah, pretty sure it is customary to mention the column then wait for a mod to add the customary “custom” remark and provide the link. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-prostitution/477189/10 "2008-12-16T18:18:59Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Anybody want to take a crack at the accuracy of the stats quoted by Rachael in the follow-up letter? I do not. Cecil’s reply covers the issue tidily. > [@](#): > > Cecil Adams replies: > > Your letter is based on your misconstruing of a single sentence in my column. I never concluded that prostitution is “generally a business transaction conducted between two consenting adults” The question was, “Who’s committing the crime…” I think that was addressed. I don’t think anyone doubts that there are some nasty aspects to the sx trade, regardless of what the exact numbers are. > [@](#): > > [We interviewed 854 people currently or recently in prostitution](http://www.haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?sid=K2D7QK5AHH7W9K1U8T6XTE2Q76T6B264&ID=40437)… 71% were physically assaulted in prostitution; 63% were raped; 89% of these respondents wanted to escape prostitution, but did not have other options for survival. A total of 75% had been homeless at some point in their lives; 68% met criteria for PTSD. > .. > Our findings contradict common myths about prostitution: the assumption that street prostitution is the worst type of prostitution, that prostitution of men and boys is different from prostitution of women and girls, that most of those in prostitution freely consent to it, that most people are in prostitution because of drug addiction, that prostitution is qualitatively different from trafficking, and that legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution would decrease its harm. It might be interesting to look at what is considered prostitution. I worked with a woman who was a professional Domme. She never had sex with her clients, but she considered herself a sex worker. I’ve also heard borderline apocryphal stories from men claiming that they thought they were dating women up until they had sex and then were asked for money. Obviously, my claims are purely anecdotal. I do agree with Rachael though: > [@](#): > > [T]he issues accompanying prostitution in the United States reveal a… complex reality.