Some prostitutes are bad

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				THE
Column Archive				VIRGINIA GAZETTE
				WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
Some prostitutes are bad				June 23, 2010

I don’t want to sound like an alarmist, but I feel it my duty to report that there are prostitutes among us.

Incredible as that may seem, the fact is that our ever-vigilant Williamsburg police force has been tooling around High Street at various times of the day and night and noting that anticipatory men have been visiting someone in the Sterling Manor apartment complex.

As it turns out, the someone these men have been visiting has fessed up to conducting a prostitution operation to the tune of $450 for an hour and a half of non-wedded bliss. The police have also raided her apartment and confiscated her laptop in hopes of finding the names of the illegally joyful jolly johns who have been using her services. To date, the names of none of her clients have come forth, so we await all that with great anticipation.

To her credit, our madam du jour has not been hanging out on High Street corners, luring customers to her wares with outlandish costumes or skin-revealing garb. All her business, she says, was conducted through the secrecy of an escort service. And she carefully vetted all her clients before giving them the entrance code to her apartment complex.

In fact, while neighbors may have been aware of some unusual comings and goings at their complex, they seem to have been unfazed by it all. As one neighbor put it, “It’s not bothering anybody.”

And so it’s not, and isn’t that the point?

Laws against prostitution are as outdated as laws against the possession and smoking of marijuana. Riding herd on prostitutes is about as productive as locking someone up for smoking a joint now and then. It’s a ridiculous waste of time, money and police effort.

Prostitution has had a long and luxurious history in countries and among civilizations that are and were much less apprehensive about sexual activity than we are.

The ancient Greeks actually provided prostitutes venues of operation by law and carefully distinguished between prostitutes who were slaves (pornai) and those who were freeborn and distinguished members of society (hetairai). They filled their vases with paintings of prostitutes conducting business, and some of the most likeable and admired characters in their later comedies were ladies of the evening.

In many European countries prostitution is legal, and indeed in some instances madams can flaunt the availability of their lures in what amount to store windows, red lights and all.

While the idea of allowing young men and women to hang around on street corners for the sake of solicitation is anathema to most, what goes on in an operation conducted behind closed doors is nobody’s business.

As far as I’m concerned, there are far worse types of prostitution than the sort being practiced at High Street.

Prostitution of political offices is perhaps the worst, as our new attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, has proved time and time again. Using one’s office to attack or demean those with whom you disagree is the most egregious form of prostitution, though it does carry with it its own internal poetic justice. Acting outlandishly, if not illegally, frequently results in embarrassment to the point of making an utter fool of oneself.

Equally unacceptable is corporate prostitution. Even worse than the recent economic slump occasioned by the greed and total lawlessness of corporate banks and lending firms is the latest prostitution of nature itself as a result of the ineptitude and disastrous cost-cutting operations of BP. The oleaginous slime that now constitutes the Gulf of Mexico makes totally risible the fuss over whatever piddling shenanigans were occurring at High Street.

It’s time to get our priorities straight when it comes to prostitution. Rather than uselessly whittling away at those involved in a profession that has survived the ages, let us focus on the real prostitutes who are doing irreparable damage to our political system and indeed to the planet itself.