Rhode Island and Self Definition
Ed Achorn makes an interesting juxtaposition of the ACORN-hidden-camera affair and Rhode Island’s inability, thus far, to pass legislation making prostitution illegal. Whatever one thinks of his arguments on the matter, disputants should consider that leaving prostitution legal won’t just be another quirky Rhode Island thing. It’ll set us apart among our fellow states; the word “prostitution” is always among the top search items bringing people to Anchor Rising, usually as in “prostitution legal in Rhode Island.” Once the legality of prostitution is no longer a “loophole,” but an acknowledged and deliberate component of the law, the sex trade will explode in prominence.
I simply don’t believe that enough people want us to be The Prostitution State to justify this issue’s dragging on as it has.
I disagree. I think you’ll find that the majority of people in the country support limited decriminalization of sex work, like we have in Rhode Island.
http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/000529.html
Rhode Island’s ProJo polls showed 65% support for decriminalization of both selling -and buying- sex.
Everyone I know who lives outside the state thinks we have the right idea, criminalize assault, abuse, and trafficking, but leave consenting adults alone.
Instead of letting ourselves be called an ‘disgraceful outsider’, we should point out how we’re not alone; we’re with Australia, the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, Nevada, and a slew of other places that allow limited sale of sex.
Legalized prostitution only ‘drags us down’ when you use Bill O’Reilly as your moral compass. Talk to a sociologists, criminologists, health care workers, and most regular people and they think that our law is better than other places, and only needs our legislature to ‘man up’ and regulate enough to ensure safety and free-will.
The General Assembly has delayed making prostittion illegal because of the feared adverse effect on their own social lives.
You really want to get the General Assembly to make prostitution illegal? Send out a PR release to the local and national press annoucing that you are opening a brothel to be named “The Rhode Island General Assembly”. To avoid any criminality on your part, make it clear in the PR release that the brothel will be staffed by independent contractors and that you’ll just be renting these lovely contractors operating space and providing them security and promotion. In the PR release announce that the various sex acts, and groups of sex acts, will be named after our beloved legislators to honor them for keeping prostitution legal. Thus, as an example if a customer wants oral sex administered by two independent contractors wearing skimpy police outfits, the customer could ask for, say, an “Honorable William T. Murphy”. You get the idea.
I assure you, within two weeks of any such PR release prostitution would be magically made illegal.
Advertising a brothel is expressly forbidden by RI Law, J.C., we -do- have a pandering law.
If it weren’t we would have outright ‘brothels’, right now it’s just private exchanges between you and the worker, the ‘house’ doesn’t make a dollar off of what happens after you pay the door fee.
Whether the government may ban all commercial advertising of a service or product that is legal to sell is a matter of current debate. Therefore, my idea may still have legs—shapely, sexy legs at that.
Providence really is the demolition city (II)
Mayor Cicilline last night unveiled a proposal to slow the boomlet of demolition in Providence. From