I was shocked and deeply disappointed when I read about Elliot Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution ring. I thought he was one of our best, and I had hopes of supporting him for president in the not-too-distant future.
However, I am almost as shocked and disappointed by how many people in the blogosphere seem to think that purchasing sex is simply a private, venial matter.
Here are two examples from bloggers I enjoy reading and deeply respect:
Kevin Drum:
This stuff shouldn't be illegal in the first place and I don't care what these guys do in their private time.
Matthew Yglesias:
Whenever a politician gets caught up in a prostitution scandal, I do need to return to the fact that at the end of the day I don't really think the exchange of sex for money is serious wrongdoing in the sense that justifies criminal sanctions.
I could quote more examples, but the sentiment would be the same: prostitution centers on a voluntary transaction between two consenting adults. It therefore shouldn't be criminalized and should be strictly a private matter.
This is a dangerous lie, which progressive should strongly reject.
Prostitution is based on the worse kind of victimization. On its most basic level, it depends on treating another person like an object. And when you are in this kind of relation with another person, this perverse dynamic boomerangs back at you. In the end, prostitution dehumanizes everyone involved in it.
But more critically, there is nothing truly voluntary about prostitution. I have never heard about a prostitution set up that was strictly based on a relationship between a sex worker and his/her client. There is always pimp somewhere, whose job it is to keep the prostitute submissive, usually with physical violence or the threat of physical violence.
Some background: I work at non-proft that organizes survivors of the sex trade, and I have never met anyone who willingly sold themselves for sex. Many of the women I know were literally sold into prostitution by a parent or guardian as children, traded sex for drugs, or were physically forced or emotionally coerced into it. I have never met a former prostitute who was not beaten by her pimp on a regular basis. Many of the women I know were threatened with death by their clients, and almost everyone knows someone who has been murdered. Regardless of their experiences, every former prostitute I know carries deep emotional and physical scars from their experiences.
I admit that I have never met the kind of prostitutes Spitzer purchased, who charged thousands of dollars an hour. Maybe these prostitutes have better lives than the women I have met. But even if that were true, they would be the exception to the rule. Worse, these "high-end" prostitutes would serve to justify what is otherwise a sick, dehumanizing, and deadly system of exploitation.
I once admired Spitzer. I hope he can repair the relationship with his family. But I condemn his purchasing of sex.
I don't mean to sound like a self-righteous demagogue here, but I think this is an issue upon which progressive should stand firm: just like we stand against the exploitation of workers, the environment, and the political process, so we should stand against the exploitation of victims of sex trade and the lies that support it.