I´m obviously missing the joke here but if i reading into it correctly there would appears some tone to imply that i was involved with a member of this brigade i refer to.

I maybe wrong and would hope i am as i would hate to think this was my welcome to the site.

But for your information anyway no i wasnt.    

Sorry for the confusion Winnie

I loved your post and commented that I should have added you to a list (a joke on another thread).

Sorry about that and welcome

a low and desparate remark.

Btw, LIR, you are HILARIOUS!!!

Well no, it´s not such great news at all. It is a step towards making prostitution legal and accepting it as something normal in the society. Which means that we are going to say nothing about women being routinely sold to men, I can´t think of a more humiliating ´job´. That also means that demand for more brutal, illegal prostitution will only increase, which has proven to be the case in countries that legalized prostitution.

The best solution I have seen is the Swedish one -- criminalizing the johns and providing support to prostitutes. And eliminating factors that drive women to prostitution, like poverty and misogyny.

 Agree 100%.

 Actually I do too, especially put in the way you said it, CW (I should read something abotu Swedish system). And what you said about countries with legalized prostitution is true. Actually here it has given way for the loverboy-system that has put more, very young women behind the windows. Not to mention the traffic in women that is coming up from East europe to be sold here in Amsterdam (to name 1 city).

However I am not against the legalisation of prostitution as a profession. I am not talking about men selling women obviously, but about women and men deciding for themselves to offer their bodies for money. I see nothing wrong with that, and it is not an illussion that there are people who actually enjoy that kind of work.

Don´t mix up prostitution as a chosen job and the ´trade´ in women or forced prostitution like the loverboys use. The Dutch union for sex workers is very much against all those forced types but just wants opportunities for safe work, insurances, social security etc. Like DK I don´t think there is anything wrong with a woman or man who themselves want to do that type of work. It´s quite moralistic to tell that others cannot choose their jobs just because you don´t like it.

I actually agree with legalising prostitution, if it is controlled properly.  One thing you have to remember many women chose to do this, (would not be for me I must admit) but I do not condem women who chose this route.  And I don´t think prostitution is all about men, but in many case about women, and often they control the situation.

Perhaps you should all read the book "Call me Elizabeth" and then you get the picture. 

Of course it´s not the women who should be condemned here, they are just like sweatshot workers who find themselves in the system that oppresses and sells women. It is the system that has to be changed, and that is guilty for this. It´s not the women who are often forced and fooled into this kind of ´job´ who are to be blamed here. Selling human sexuality is quite unexcusable in the 21st century in a developed country. Of course it´s unacceptable anywhere, anytime.

The fact taht some women choose or even enjoy it is not an argument at all. It doesn´t change what prostitution is and what it means in our patriarchal society, male dominated power structure and misogynistic ideology. It does not change the fact that prostitution in the world is a result of women´s lower status, poverty, sexual abuse, women not being empowered in the society, at homes and not having full control over hteir own bodies, and women being taught that sexual exploitation of women´s bodies is something women should internalize as their natural role. Prostitution is not an individual liberty issue.

 You are way too feministic here. The women who choose that work voluntarily do not think about ´internalizing sexual exploitation´. They think about their job as a job, they want to make money. When it is a job choosen in liberty, I DO think it is an individial issue.

You should read this: http://www.rodedraad.nl/index.php?id=221  the site of De Rode Draad, Dutch union of sex workers. Especially on the left hand side the part ´Why domestic work is not always...´ (Site is in English)

 I do agee with some of what you are saying but how do you view male prostitution?  Male on male and then the male escort for the affluent female?  There are many facets to prostitution and not always degrading.