Sexclamations: why so hard on prostitution?

BY K.J. ADLER

When I was about eight or nine my grandmother made a rum cake one Christmas Eve and my grandfather had the honor of pouring the rum on the cake and flambéing it. Unfortunately he had forgotten the important part about preparing the rum for the cake; you have to warm it up ahead of time, otherwise it will simply not light. Refusing to be beaten by some alcohol, my grandpa came up with the next best option—just keep dousing the sucker with more rum until it lights.
By the time it lit (and I’m talking for no more than a few seconds), the family dessert turned into rum with a pinch of cake, a delicious delicacy that got the entire family, me included, a bit tipsy.

That’s when my grandfather decided to go on a rant about prostitution. While my then fuzzy brain did not completely comprehend what my grandfather was admitting to his young granddaughter, his main message still remains close to me: don’t bother paying for a prostitute, for they are sad, unaffectionate and just overall not worth it.

The next year my family went to Amsterdam and to my utter surprise and fascination there in the windows of various buildings stood half-naked women smiling and dancing as rowdy young men ogled them and picked out their favorites. I asked my father what they were and my dad calmly explained that they were legal prostitutes. Most didn’t have pimps, they worked their own hours and could refuse a man should they choose to.

This really got my ten-year-old brain thinking. Can sex be seen as a means for financial gain? One without serious emotional and physical scarring? I mean, the porn industry is allowed in this world. Why not sex without the cameras?

I am completely aware that this is a touchy subject. Especially with the illegal sex trades, forced prostitutions, drugs and physical violence often associated with prostitution, and possible emotional baggage that may come with this line of work.

But if we are strictly speaking of legalized prostitution as they have in Amsterdam or even in certain parts of Texas, with grown women or men who are aware of what their job includes and are willing to go for it safely and legally, then why not? It would keep drugs farther away from the system as well as abusive pimps at bay.

Plus it does take two to tango. One can’t hate on the prostitute without realizing that prostitution is a supply and demand industry. If horny people didn’t want them they wouldn’t be around.

There are of course a plethora of reasons why prostitution is bad, especially with the corruption and abuse that often comes with it.

No two prostitutes are alike but all are human and all should be given the opportunity to have nicer lives to live should their only option in life be prostitution. It’s a tough option, one that isn’t even conceivable for us college students but as I have heard so many bratty girls and testosterone-pumped dudes say around campus: It’s just sex.