A female colleague of mine admitted to me that she has female friends who treat their marriages like a "business".

Being male I wonder what that means?

Well that's me, I think I have had about my full of female hate fests and victim blaming so I will see you all on another non-gender related thread.

It's 1972. And I've just had a "Sex Is Rape" pamphlet shoved in my face by an angry moustached woman in overalls.

Prostitutes are killed more often by serial killers, because other women are not so easily accessible.
Other women are too much effort.

Prostitutes are in fact *seeking* male company.

This doesn't make prostitution itself "violence".
If it's exploitative, it's exploitative in both directions.

And only prosecuting johns is hardly "equality".

As usual, feminists talk about prostitution as a women's issue.
Where do rent boys fit into your worldview?

Regarding feminism and what some people call 'masculinism' - I think there is always a problem where movements are based only on *interests* rather than broader principles of *human* liberation. Oppression is a very complex phenomena - which different people experience in many different ways. Because of this it can be dangerous to generalise about a class, gender or race perspective. There's always something that's left out of the picture - eg: disability, body image etc...

While most of the world over women still experience oppression *as women*, there are growing instances in the West of men experiencing oppression *as men*. For example - men face oppressive and unrealistic body image expectations just as women do - though it is not an issue that receives much attention or is taken seriously.

A perspective based only only *interest* might suggest 'well, that's not our problem' - and in any case wouldn't it be nice to 'turn the tables'? However a perspective of human liberation would be concerned with *any* instance of oppression. And in any case not all men or all women experience oppression including body image expectations in the same way; so interests and experience here cut across gender lines anyway...

True, for my own part I promote *class interests*, and recognise the importance of this for the Labor Party in mobilising an electoral base - but behind this I have ideas of national and international social, economic and political citizenship...

*A female colleague of mine admitted to me that she has female friends who treat their marriages like a "business".*

Well of course there are. Not everyone thinks that Pelican's
Holywood scenario is the way it always goes and if we don't agree,
we must hate women. Reality does not go away when Pelican closes
her eyes and wishes it would.

I've had plenty of women confide in me that the fact that their
husband was a good resource provider, was a major reason why
they married him, for they'd much rather spend time at home with
the kids, if at all possible.

But David Buss in "Evolutionary Psychology", outlines heaps of
research papers on the long term mating strategies of females
around the globe, the role of money, status, looks and everything
else. There are good evolutionary reasons for all this stuff.

If a drug addict turns to prostitution, she should blame her drug
problem, not prostitution. Clearly its not a job for her, she'll
have to do something else for her drug money.

There are plenty of level headed, pragmatic working girls out there
who can pick and choose their clients and earn 250-1000$ an hour
for their time. Good luck to them. If business people are happy
to pay that, so be it.

Lets get real here. If some guy put a million $ on the table for
some sex, there would be a stampede of women. So all we are
arguing about is the price.

Hello! I always thought prostitution was a transaction where the merchant (seller) sold the client (customer) a negotiated product of a sexual nature?

So you have individuals, predominantly female but plenty of males to choose from as well, selling their many and varied services to willing customers. Big deal! It may be illegally conducted, considered immoral but in the general run of things it is just commercial sex.

I am far more concerned about the reasons prostitutes embark on such a career. Most do so voluntarily, in many cases to support addictions but sometimes to fund a lifestyle or goal that would otherwise be difficult to attain on 'ordinary' wages. Biggest worry is sexual slavery - which is happening in Australia. People engaged in this most disgusting of trades should be locked up for very long times and then deported if applicable.

In an ideal world prostitution would not exist, but this is not an ideal world so forget that one. The 'worlds oldest profession' will still be around for a long time to come.

As for 'violence' - the main reason prostitutes are a common target for deranged serial killer types is that they are usually an easy mark. Sad but true! But consider the extent of that risk. Sex-workers are at significently higher risk of assault and robbery than average however they are far and away more likely to die of drug fueled 'misadventure', suicide, MVA or natural causes then at the hands of murderous crazies ..