Category Archives: Health

Malum prohibitum: Why is the basic transactional part of prostitution illegal, anyway? – UPDATED

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It’s pretty much par for the course nowadays that more than a few authority figures love the outside-the-mainstream kinky stuff. I have about as much sympathy for Eliot Spitzer as I did for Larry Craig (i.e. none). Still, there is a looming and largely unasked question here: Why is the act of two consenting adults, in private, agreeing to exchange money for sex a crime? Above all, why is it a federal crime in this case? Glenn Greenwald explores this question in some depth, as does Digby. I also recommend Digby’s post for its historical review of the Mann Act, the archaic 1910 federal law invoked to federally prosecute prostitution-related offenses.

In all seriousness, while I think Eliot Spitzer deserves to be hoisted upon his own petard (I never get tired of that phrase), doesn’t the federal government have better things to do? Isn’t there a war still going on or something?

Some discussion of the question (thanks to a quick and highly unscientific Google search) can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here. A common thread among arguments for keeping prostitution illegal involves legalization’s supposed windfall for pimps and its further demeaning effect on women, not to mention an increase in human trafficking. I don’t want to pick on this site too much, because I know they do a lot of good work, but their “10 Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution” do not hold much water. A more in-depth look at this page may come in a future post. There is absolutely no denying that human trafficking and the continued subjugation of women is a problem all over the world. These are terrible problems that deserve smart, effective soultions. Wiretapping a guy who spends $1K-5K per hour for the services of an “escort” is not one of those solutions. Going after the traffickers, educating the women most likely to be victimized by said traffickers, and working to alleviate the conditions that might cause women to fall prey to a trafficker are more likely to help. But they won’t make for prurient headlines.

In a final note for the moment, I present further evidence regarding the death of irony (or at least one of its more pathetic gasps): Newsweek has commentary on the whole sordid affair from Heidi Fleiss.

UPDATE (3/13/08): Ditto everything Glenn Greenwald says here. Viva sarcasm!

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Today in good taste

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Here are two bits of news that brightened my day, at least somewhat:

1. A former executive for the company that makes Enzyte has testified as to its total inefficacy, further noting as follows:

In some cases, company founder Steve Warshak required customers seeking a refund to get a notarized doctor’s note stating the pill had no effect. “He said it was extremely unlikely someone would get anything notarized saying they had a small penis,” testified James Teegarden Jr.

2. The Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill to outlaw “bumper nuts,” those scrotum replicas you see hanging from the bumpers of trucks owned by people who don’t have any friends. Urban Dictionary defines them as “prosthetic testicles used to adorn the oversized vehicles of those who think very highly of themselves.” Lest you worry about the First Amendment implications, read on:

Objects that resemble human genitalia would be banned from display on vehicles, under a bill proposed Tuesday by Del. Lionell Spruill Sr.

 

The accessories, sometimes called “bumper nuts,” often are found on the back of pickups.

 

“They’re offensive to some folks,” said Spruill, a Chesapeake Democrat. “It’s OK to express yourself, but citizens have the right not to be subjected to something vulgar.”

Remember, the legal standard for “obscenity” is if “when taken as a whole, [it] lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” I don’t particularly support the bill, mostly on knee-jerk libertarian grounds, but I also don’t really worry that banning truck testicles is merely a gateway to substantially greater government control of speech.

I also don’t think it’s speech. It’s fake nuts hanging from a truck.

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Then Amy got the bruise that wouldn’t go away

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I suppose the Dickwad-in-Chief would tell the family in this AARP-produced video that they don’t need health insurance because they could just take their daughter to the ER for leukemia treatment. Bush should be forced to watch this video non-stop for as long as possible–it’s an incredibly important message, and it’s irritatingly cheesy.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with us?

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Vegetarianism wasn’t like this for me

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I am not one to naysay the efforts of environmentalists. It probably is the case that the meat industry is doing more environmental damage than we realize. But I was a vegetarian for nearly eight years, from December 1996 until October 2004 (although I reintroduced fish into the diet starting in 2000). Eight years, which is exactly one-fourth of my total life (I’m 32), and it never looked anything like this (h/t to Salon):


Alicia Silverstone’s Sexy Veggie PSA
Order a FREE vegetarian starter kit at GoVeg.com

As I recall it (and I mean no disrespect), most vegetarians don’t look much like Ms. Silverstone (who has come a long way since Miss Match, it would seem). A somewhat more accurate (and decidedly NSFW) depiction of naked vegetarians can be found here (vegetarian porn–ah, the things you find with a simple Google search. Seriously, though, NSFW. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting fired).

Anyway, important environmental message vs. wet, naked Cher Horowitz–where would you expect my attention to be?

Here’s something from the glory days:

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The revolution will have a sinus infection

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I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but it seems pretty much undeniable that the extremely rich are getting extremelyer rich, while the not-extremely-rich are getting, uh, poorer. Also, the number of uninsured people is getting higher and higher, and all Dear Leader can think to say is that people can always go to an emergency room.

We are moving towards a system (if we’re not already there) where the wealthy and powerful elite get all the health care they need while the poor and wretched are forced to fend for themselves in the emergency rooms of the world.

Perhaps when Bush and his cohorts begin to relaize that the cooks and busboys are sneezing in their foie gras because they can’t get any treatment for their colds and flus, then there will be change.

Or not. Perhaps this is all predicated on the idea that the sick will not be able to revolt against the system because they need bed rest.

Full disclosure: I have a PPO plan and still entertain dreams of actually having enough money someday to benefit from the Bush tax cuts. This still pisses me off.

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Hmmm…does this mean someone can take out a mortgage on their implants?

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I haven’t actually read this article about “plastic surgery loans,” so I don’t know all the details of the financing options. My question is this: if you default on the loan, can the bank repo your new breasts?

Seriously, think about it.

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Pharmacists sue to avoid having to do their jobs

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From the Department of Why’d You Become a Pharmacist Anyway? comes this story (actually the NYT via TFN):

SEATTLE (AP) — Pharmacists have sued Washington state over a new regulation that requires them to sell emergency contraception, also known as the “morning-after pill.”
In a lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday, a pharmacy owner and two pharmacists say the rule that took effect Thursday violates their civil rights by forcing them into choosing between “their livelihoods and their deeply held religious and moral beliefs.”

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Under the new state rule, pharmacists with personal objections to a drug can opt out by getting a co-worker to fill an order. But that applies only if the patient is able to get the prescription in the same pharmacy visit.

Sold as Plan B, emergency contraception is a high dose of the drug found in many regular birth-control pills. It can lower the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

I’ll just ask a few questions that flow from logical extensions of what I presume to be the pharmacists’ reasoning. First question: can a pharmacist who is also a Christian Scientist refuse to dispense any medication, preferring prayer instead? Or how about this: If a pharmacist refuses to dispense Plan B to a woman who had been raped, and she ends up having to carry the child to term, can the pharmacist be held responsible for child support payments? I ask this because (1) presumably the child’s biological father would be in prison and therefore unable to make money for child support, and (2) most state laws put a child’s best interests over the interests of the parents or other responsible parties and someone has to support the child.

Or is it just that life begins at conception and ends at birth for these pharmacists?

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the mostly opaque brown liquid that washes up onto the Galveston shore…

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…necrotizing fasciitis comes along. At least as of yesterday, the man was still alive & fighting. Good luck, man. That’s nasty, scary stuff.

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