By: David Cadogan

David Cadogan — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:54:35 +0000

I’m not confused about where I stand on prostitution. I don’t think any little girl dreams of being a prostitute. Prostitutes, like members of all other groups, are not the same. Different forces may have been in play to put them in the vocation but it is hard to imagine any of them being happy stories.
That said, clearly society ought to do everything it can to protect all people. Most liberals seem to know the war on drugs is an obvious loser. Drugs should be dealt with as a health issue, not a legal issue. From the prostitute’s side of that vocation, society ought to deal with it as a health and safety issue for the prostitutes.
From my perspective, only a criminal lunatic could and would force women into sex and prostitution. While I can feel sorry for a person whose nature and nurture brings him to that kind of behaviour, society must deal so firmly with them that they will either never contemplate recidivism or never again be among us.
The point is that, while we do not like the forces that bring women into prostitution, that in no way excuses us from dealing with their safety in ways that are useful to them.
Society has not been as effective as we would like in dealing with domestic violence.
We need to continue to seek victim-centric approaches toward both of those issues.
Making the victims criminals is not the answer.

Comments on: The oldest profession revisited

By: David Cadogan