What Pollak said!

[mediumdave]

He's reacting specifically to the news about the polygamist compound in Texas, but this bit of wisdom covers a lot of bases:

There's always this caveat when people make libertarian platitudes towards sexual culture, as if saying "as long as everyone wants to, it's great" means that it will actually happen. My point is, it doesn't... there's a huge

Comments

[drownedinink]

And to my mind this is one of the best arguments against legalization of prostitution

If you've read my blog recently, then you can guess that I take umbrage at that. I will at least say that I don't think it's a fair comparison, since unlike the polygamist sects there would be heavy regulations, which don't exist for prostitutes now.

[mediumdave]

Hi Chad... I think you're the first person to take umbrage (in so many words, at least) to something in my journal, so kudos there.

Why "would" there be heavy regulation of legal prostitution? Is there something inherent to the profession that requires unusual protections compared to, say, the profession of frozen chicken factory worker? (This may sound like a dumb question, but I hope you'll bear with me.)

[drownedinink]

I'm not sure if the regulations would be "unusual" compared to frozen chicken factory workers. In both cases the laws, which would be strict in either case from a certain perspective, would be there to protect the laborer from abuses, both from their work environment and from management, protections that prostitutes (outside of Nevada, at least) currently do not enjoy. It would be the same general principle, if we divorce sex work from the view that sex work is somehow exceptional from an overview

[mediumdave]

But you yourself said that legal prostituion would have to be "heavily" regulated, rather than simply regulated. The assumption that sex work is somehow exceptional is right there in the words you chose.