The DC Madam: She Took the Fall for Everyone

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-kaiser-greenland/the-dc-madam-she-took-the_b_99707.html

Susan Kaiser Greenland

The DC Madam: She Took the Fall for Everyone

Posted May 1, 2008 | 04:25 PM (EST)


You may be surprised that a middle-aged mom is writing a post advocating the legalization of prostitution. Here's why. A short while ago, news got out that the DC Madam killed herself while visiting her mother in Florida: a death that was really unnecessary.

For those who haven't followed the salacious story of the DC Madam, her name was Deborah Jeane Palfrey and she ran what she referred to as a "legal and high-end erotic fantasy service" that catered to elite clients in Washington, DC. In mid-April, a jury found her guilty of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. Ms. Palfrey's known clients included Senator David Vitter and Randall Tobias, a former State Department official. Her client list apparently contained thousands of names including high-ranking officials at the White House and Pentagon, movie stars, lobbyists, and prominent DC attorneys.

I don't know about you, but I haven't heard of Senator David Vitter or any of the other clients on the DC Madam's list killing themselves or, for that matter, facing jail time.

The Sacramento Bee reported a couple of weeks ago that:

A review of prostitution arrests in Sacramento County reveals an alarming gender bias. According to arrest data compiled by Sacramento Bee reporters Phillip Reese and Ryan Lillis over the past three months, Sacramento city police and county sheriff's deputies arrested 210 prostitutes but only two of their customers.

210 women arrested and only two men - what's that about? You think it might be blatant gender discrimination?

snip//

If we can't treat men and woman equally here, what about this for a solution: let's regulate it, let's tax it, and let's mind our own business. Failing that, why don't we arrest a couple of the high level clients whose names keep popping up on these lists and send them to jail? Who knows, that might bring about a shift in public policy.

[fascisthunter]

1. They are Probably Protecting the Clients

If they got arrested, we'd find out who they were. SO the authority (the good lap dogs they have become) go after those who can't harm them for doing their jobs.

[midnight]

2. If those women are in jail why aren't those men

who use this service in Jail? Why aren't those men who were on this list fired from their jobs?

[ismnotwasm]

3. I agree with decriminalization

At least. With women the majority of prostitutes I'd like to see them with far more protection then they have. Health clinics, legal representation, aggressive prosecution of violent clients and anybody who coerces women in the sex trade against their will, for example.

I'd still like to toss those who think women's bodies are a take-for-granted commodity in jail for a change though. But that particular number of people would stuff the already crowed jails to far, far beyond capacity.

[aquart]

5. Absolutely.

Prostitution exists. It always will exist. Time to stop clutching our pearls in horror and start protecting these women (and men) like every other hard-working citizen.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

4. Was she "suicided"?

If she had a client list that vast, which may have included White House staff ( . . . Cheney? . . .), she might have been planning to sing in order to reduce her sentence, and was therefore, whacked. This would not be the first time, and the opportunity to remove from the equation a person who is already painted as a "criminal" is almost too good to pass up (that is, if you're a stinking thieving remorseless sociopathic Repug Thug).

As far as gender bias: too true. Ultimately, it is sad that our nation feels the need to criminalize prostitution. Other nations have shown that legalized prostitution results in a plummeting of sex crimes, and instead of exploiting sex workers, they can be empowered, or at least emerge from the shadows and make a living.

Like drugs, prostitution should be legalized and regulated. The revenue streams of both would surely make up for the money "lost" in fighting wars against these fundamental human behaviors.

[aquart]

6. My bet would be YES.

But I'm the nasty, suspicious type.

[ismnotwasm]

7. "plummeting of sex crimes"

There is something so sad and wrong about that.