True.

Also not going to be able to afford a minivaca to NYC, more's the pity.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm just all UPdown UPdown, NOW this, now THAT...

Dude, the circumstances you've been in have been doing that, of course you are!

Making that house yours (plural you) seems like the right thing to do, and clearing out the crap that doesn't belong there is an excellent step towards that.

I know, Truds. But ain't nothing can be done.

sighhhhhhhh

{{{Erin}}} That is a lot of emotional up and down. I hope getting rid of his ex's things helps a bit.

What if you make enough money from selling her stuff? Could you still have your vacation?

I like the way quester thinks.

"He's a pastor."

Cue hysterical laughing.

Me: "Yeah, considering I'm your favorite Atheist, it might not go over...?"

Sue: "...but he's a really big Giants fan!"

Minus the Giants fandom, I could swear I already read about this couple in an A.S. Byatt novel. It being A.S. Byatt, I'm pretty sure there was pain and death and huge emotions, but the pastor/atheist couple were pretty awesome. So, you know, there's some (fictional) precedent.

In short what I don't think has every been tried is true decriminalization, where prostitutes have the same rights as any other worker, plus protection from exploitation unique to their field just as railroad workers have special worker protections from hazards unique to their field.

I don't think Victoria reaches that standard - not in theory, and certainly not in practice - but I thought I'd note that prostitution is legal and regulated here, and we have a brothel listed on the stock exchange.

(There are many brothels operating unlicenced too, and legal protection there is obviously going to be meagre.)

It has struck me many times that even though our group of friends back in Michigan were fairly "porny" people, with pretty open minds, the Buffistas have still opened us all up to new ideas, new possibilities, and new levels of porn.

So true. I was always a very strait-laced, nerdy kid, and as an adult pretty much too. I nonetheless astounded my younger brother (this is the one with multiple tats, who went through a period of dating multiple women in multiple cities, and who was constantily finding ways to get himself into a state of intoxication/trouble/the casualty ward) when he discovered that I knew of bukkake years before he'd ever heard of it.

Right, but as you say not with much protection for their rights as workers. Tons of authority to the brothels. (Where prostitution is legal, in most cases it ends up that way - giving authority to brothel owners to keep prostitutes under control. Alternatively you have cases like the UK where the law goes to such extremes to protect prostitutes from pimps that almost any reasonable action they can take to protect themselves is outlawed. Hmm and I just remembered my facts on UK law are from 80's. Possibly the law in the UK has advanced in 30 years.)

Ultimately I'm pretty wobbley. That is I think in the abstract maybe prostitution can be OK. But in practice there is no place on earth where it is not horrible for a majority of prostitutes. And making it illegal does not seem to make it any better. But implication from empirical results seem to be the best approach to prostitution would be "safe, legal and rare". With resources put into all three aspects.

But again tied to larger issues. Any nation that engages is immigrant bashing is going to have a vulnerable class that can be pushed into prostitution. Any nation that takes a highly punitive approach to drug use is going have a second vulnerable population.

And any nation that does not guarantee a certain level of economic security again ends up with desperately poor people who sell themselves for survival.

And yet, I don't know. Make prostitution truly decriminalized. Guarantee everyone who wants one a job at a living wage. Have a reasonably open immigration policy. Decriminalize all or most drugs. I don't know if you would either drastically reduce prostitution, or turn it magically into a awesome experience for most prostitutes. I suspect that what I've just outlined would be "least bad" rather than good.