Well, my post might make a lot more sense if I also asserted up front that I don’t think sex between two consenting adults is wrong, and I don’t think paying one of those adults for it is necessarily wrong, either. Obviously that’s a lynchpin of my entire post, something I failed to say upfront. I realize we could argue all day about that, is it a victimless crime, yada yada yada, but I’m just posting this so you can understand where my reaction comes from.
What complicates, this, of course, is the fact that there are laws against it. There are also laws against sodomy. I don’t agree that those are laws that are right. This, I don’t think it’s a character issue when someone breaks laws regulating sex between consenting adults. On the other hand, if you want to break them, for god’s sake do it discreetly. Not only because sex is involved (an issue the public will slobber over if it goes public, and a complex thing to saddle parents with telling young kids about), but because it’s a hell of thing to tell kids that they have to follow the rules when people in authority don’t. I think it’s justified to break some laws when one can do so in utter private and without hurting others, but that’s not something I think grade-schoolers can grok into.
However, I think it’s dismissive to sum my attitude up solely as “Don’t Get Caught.” On the issue of his sex life, if the principal is into S & M or bestiality or surrounding himself with green peas and whipped cream while jacking off–or paying someone for sex–it’s none of my business, and in my opinion his doing these things isn’t a character issue. What I am saying is, I expect him to keep those things private. For his own sake, and for the sake of the kids at his school, and for the sake of people whose sensibilities would be offended. Soliciting for prostitution on the street (whether or not they end up in a hotel room–I think that’s immaterial) is getting close to taking one’s sex life public because it’s something you can be prosecuted for and can generate publicity. That’s why I think–personally, of course, based on some beliefs you might not agree with–it’s more a judgment thing than a character thing.