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From: turpin@cs.utexas.EDU (Russell Turpin)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Legalization of Prostitution (bodies & rights)
Summary: Forced prostitution is worse than other kinds of slavery?
Message-ID: <14337@cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 6 Nov 90 15:44:32 GMT
References: <1990Nov1.173135.727@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
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In article <1990Nov1.173135.727@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>, w25y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
> ... Imagine someone forced at gunpoint to delete data files,
> carry boxes, or whatever.  Now imagine someone being forced at
> gunpoint to participate in sex.  The latter is considered to
> be a more severe crime than the former.

We don't have to imagine people being forced to tote and carry.  A
century and a half ago, this was a major economic source of labor.
In arguing over the different degrees of slavery, one is splitting
hairs rather than making a qualitative distinction.

Mr Ciszek should note that a Texas rancher and his son were convicted
a few years ago of slavery, for forcing hitchhikers to work on their
ranch.  They were given very stiff sentences for this.  It would seem
that our legal system treats slavery and rape as roughly comparable
crimes.

> This may not apply directly to the case of someone selling sex
> vountarily, but it indicates that the role of consent in sex is
> considered more important than in other activities.

If Mr Ciszek is talking about a single instance, he is probably
correct.  A rapist is usually treated more severely than a
burglar who merely orders his victims into the closet.  But this
difference is easily overstated.  Victims of other violence often
report symptoms similar to rape victims.  The psychological
trauma of having one's will denied can be carried in a variety of
acts, of which sexual abuse is one point in a continuum.  When
one considers a prolonged period of coercion, these differences
can become less important than the overriding fact of the
coercion.  In part, this is the point of the saying that rape is
violence and violation.

> ... Vote selling, like prostitution, is likely to go on anyway,
> but this is notgrounds for legalizing it.

I see no useful analogy between these two activities.

Trying to justify our laws against prostitution by appealling to
what is best for prostitutes is an exercise in hypocrisy.  I urge
Mr Ciszek to go talk to people who have both (1) sold sex for
money, and (2) served prison time for this, and to ask them which
degraded and violated them more.

Russell