The “Victimless” Crime
Ann Woolrich makes a case against the legalization of prostitution. As someone with serious libertarian leanings I have to admit that her argument is a compelling one.
Long ago, I mean really long ago I knew a few people who worked as escorts and at adult clubs. In every case each had been the victim of sexual abuse as a child. Each member also had drug and alcohol problems that accelerated after taking the jobs. While each had various other mental problems before they started, depression and low self-worth being the most common, things dramatically worsened after their first few weeks.
The changes were startling. I can only describe it from an outsider’s perspective as a complete loss of humanity. Everything and everyone became viewed as commodities. I stopped being a “friend” and became a taxi for when they needed a ride or someone to arrange bail on the outside. Parents became moneylenders, as did friends and family. Drug dealers became best friends.
I witnessed these changes over a very short time – less than a year – but the decisions made during that time by those I knew were irrevocable. I saw enough and realized that I was being sucked into a vortex made worse by my own demons. So I made a phone call in the middle of the night to my mother. After she took my call she leapt into the car and drove 350 miles to pull me to safety. It wasn’t the first time she saved my butt, and it wouldn’t be the last, but it left me forever grateful – and deeply suspicious of arguments for legalizing the sex trade.
I saw firsthand the damage that the “victimless crime” does, and I can assure you that based on what I saw, the crime is far from victimless. Yes the “johns”, the pimps, the adult club owners are not victims – unless you believe that living without a soul makes one a victim because honestly those people do not have one. But the sex workers are victims even though they in most cases choose their path.
I don’t subscribe to the politics of victimization, and I’m a keen believer in personal responsibility. But that does not mean I can live my life without compassion, which is what these people need at the very least.
And former governor Spitzer, father of three daughters, I hope does the honorable thing – and I mean that in the Japanese sense of the term.
mgroves:
I think the strongest argument about legalizing prostitution/drugs has nothing to do with the benefits/validity of said activities, but rather that legalizing them means no longer being outside of the law when trying to enforce property rights. That is, when some guy steals my weed, I can’t call the cops on him, so I have to act as a cop myself, leading to murders, revenge killings, inflated prices, etc.
14 March 2008, 12:42 pmScott Kirwin:
Mgroves
You’re right of course, and your argument resonates well with me. However it just doesn’t “feel right” if you know what I mean. What I witnessed was pretty ugly and gross; I just don’t know if it’s the same as selling drunk a bottle of booze or legalizing drugs. It’s different.
Selling a drunk a bottle of MD20-20 doesn’t worsen his condition directly. He chooses whether to lift that bottle to his lips or not. Legalizing prostitution is more like legalizing bum fights, or better yet, paying a bum so that you can hit him upside the head with a baseball bat. AFAIK that’s illegal – as well as wrong on so many different levels.
14 March 2008, 3:31 pmligneus:
I’m saving this post to show to all those ‘liberal, sophisticated’ lefties I know who think Spitzer is a great guy and there really isn’t much ‘wrong’ with what he’s done. “That poor Elliot Sptzer” was one comment I got.Funnily enough the same person who a couple of years ago talked of ‘Those poor Palestinians’.
15 March 2008, 10:47 pmLloyd Johnson:
I was a drunk for 30 years my three daughters were young and my wife had to bail me out of jail. I still have flash backs about some of the things I did when I was drunk.
10 November 2008, 7:42 pmScott Kirwin:
Lloyd
10 November 2008, 8:28 pmWell now you’re not.
At least you stopped. Think about all the poor bastards that are still stuck in their own hell.