Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

The World’s Smallest Violin

36 Comments

That’s what I’m playing for people who can’t successfully prosecute idiotic and immoral anti-prostitution laws. Glenn has the right idea:

…why not just legalize prostitution. Legal prostitution is safer and healthier, and it’ll provide employment opportunities for some of those unemployed college grads.

It’s not like it goes away if you make it illegal.

Yeah, I know. I’m just being a crazy “right winger,” as usual.

36 thoughts on “The World’s Smallest Violin”

  4. I’ve never understood why prostitutes haven’t filed a class action lawsuit against sorority girls for unfair trade practices.

    1. And such a marriage would be a much, much more honest transaction than post-1970’s American style marriage.

  6. It’s NOT all of Nevada that has legal prostitution TM. It’s just a few counties that have it, all the sparsely populated counties. In fact, many people think prostitution is legal in Las Vegas, but it is NOT legal anywhere in Clark County. And it’s NOT the ladies who join the Chamber, it is the people who RUN the houses.

    There are a couple of counties that have no houses, even though they could, as they are big time rur-ral!.

    Just like my mechanic isn’t a member, but his BOSS, who owns the garage, is a member. Employees don’t become members of the Chamber of Commerce. business owners do.

    Thomas you’ve fallen prey to that dreaded old thing of relaying intel that, “…everybody knows…”. And just like much that everybody knows, it ain’t necessarily so. You could go open one in one of those open counties.

    I’ve got a buddy who wanted me to do that out there with him. Technically he made the offer to a lot of people. The deal was he’d put up the money, and then you’d go out and run the place by hand until you could find some girls.

    I like the Southwest, but not that well!

    1. “run the place by hand until you could find some girls.”

      Was that a literal statement?

    2. It’s just too easy to take advantage of woman. I’m not sure if making it legal would help or not? Most likely, it would help some and hurt others. It really should not be a crime. If you screw for free it’s legal. Do it for gifts and it’s sort of legal. Do it for money? You’re a whore. This is just bizarre.

      Laws should be limited and enforced equally. This suggests that stone tablets are a really good idea. Who is going to read 3000 pages of law regarding just a single subject? Give lawmakers their ceremonial chisel and let them have at it.

    3. Der Schtumpy,

      Yes, its the rural counties, which do cover most of the state in area. And of course its the owners who belong to the Chamber of Commerce and BBB. But the key is its out in the open and regulated.

      Just as the end of prohibition put an end to bootleg gin, so will ending the other “vice” laws reduce the crime associated with them.

      Look at the drug wars, if drugs were legalized the big corporations would take over and the small time drug runner, who are are most likely to use force, will be undercut in price and out of business. Organized crime thrives on the vice laws and are the biggest political supporters of them. Why do you think many of the drugs most in demand were outlawed after Prohibition ended? Because of political “campaigns” from the Mob who needed a new line of business.

    1. From what I’ve experienced of recent college grads here in our office, they’d fail miserably at that, as well. It goes without saying that customer satisfaction is high on the priority list for a whore, and I’ve seen very few young grads who give a damn about anyone but themselves, let alone a customer.

    1. Queensland has more restrictions, but basically that’s the case here too. Prior to the laws catching up with the reality no-one actually got arrested for it either.

      When it comes to liberty, the US is all talk.

    2. And it’s kinda-mostly legal in Canada.

      As I understand it, selling sex is legal, but operating a brothel isn’t.

      So there’s a lot of independent work, as it were.

  9. Glenn has something resembling the right idea, but he also stumbles across one of the potential flaws – prostitution offers employment opportunities which may be taken for granted. If, e.g., young single mothers start having their AFDC benefits cut because they turned down a job offer from the local brothel, expect to start seeing some unintended consequences from this plan. Middle-class high school graduates denied college financial aid (which they shouldn’t need, but that’s a separate battle) because they could easily earn their tuition in four hours a week, and the whole idea is politically dead. And rightfully so.

    I would think this is reason to be extremely careful how we go about legalizing prostitution, rather than rejecting the idea out of hand. I suspect almost everyone with a daughter between thirteen and thirty will reject it out of hand, especially if you try to sell the proposal by touting the “employment opportunities”.

    2. So all you have to do is (taking Titus’ point well in hand) say that those job offers “don’t count” for purposes of whatever pet entitlement.

      (Though, financial aid that isn’t loans for middle class HS grads? Smallest violin part 2, indeed.)

      1. “Pet entitlement” is entirely too dismissive, as is “nanny state”. However much you may despise such things, they are a major part of the present economy and will continue to be so whether or not we legalize prostitution. There’s the simplistic libertarian fantasy world where we get rid of entitlements and legalize prostitution, and the real world where we might be able to do one of the two. And in both of those worlds, the unintended consequences of prostitution + (lack of) entitlement spending will not be a trivially dismissable or soluble problem.

        Nor, for that matter, is the problem limited to entitlements. Consider sexual harassment (however much you might want to dismiss that entire issue as well). What happens when bosses can designate job openings as, e.g., “secretary/prostitute”, either because they actually want to sleep with their secretary or just don’t want to be sued for the proposition? Long run, probably not a winning strategy for bosses or secretaries, but potentially a great deal of harm in working that out.

        Clearly these problems are soluble, in that there are nations free, prosperous, and healthy with legalized prostitution. But always with heavily regulated prostitution, not the libertarian ideal of “anything goes”.

    3. Unfortunately John, their American daughters are already practicing something worse than the honest practice of prostitution. The dishonest practice of the modern dating scene, where beta males are fleeced on dinner dates without getting any in return while the alphas get it all for free. Legalizing prostitution gets rid of the fraudulent practice of dating.

      1. Along with “look at all the employment opportunities we are creating for your daughters”, another argument guaranteed to scuttle legalized prostitution is, “I have money and girls still won’t go to bed with me – we need to change the laws so that more girls will go to bed with guys like me!”

        And here in America, fathers tend to have shotguns. Tell one of them that his daughter is worse than a whore because she wouldn’t put out even though you paid for dinner, and you’d better hope he settles for voting against your legal-prostitution plan.

  10. Promiscuity is a disease vector. This does not depend on whether the skanky hoe is paid or does the deed for free. But getting paid may entice her to do deeds or do them with people she may otherwise decline.

      2. Focus sincerely on love. Nookie will follow as a pleasant side effect. If you don’t want to be told this, don’t sound like you need you need to be told this.

        1. Not sure what that word salad was supposed to mean. In any case, shouldn’t you be preaching to the omega males (one trolls this very site!) instead of the grandfathers and all-star players that constitute the commentariat here? Look, Jesus went to the poor, not the rich…

  11. In Washington State, we license “Massage Therapists”.

    There are certification requirements, face-time with officials requirements, and place-of-business requirements.

    Add blood tests and the other aspects only need a few tweaks.

    1. Early 60’s or so my parents used to live next to a brothel in Eastern Washington. I’m not sure if it was illegal then or just unenforced. They said it was kind of a pain–lots of auto traffic in the wee hours of the morning. Probably better than a bar, though.

      1. In Phoenix they have a swapping club. It too seems to generate of lot of late night traffic. …and here I am thinking I want a soul mate? Obviously I should just pick up some skank and go clubbing? I would also like to become an alcoholic but it just seems it’s not to be. Darn it. I’ll just have to live with myself.

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