Re: [Marxism] SEXploitation in a free market economy II

[Ken Ranney <kranney@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) a major public health issue should be
added to discussions on prostitution. The capitalist media appear not to
have mentioned the role of prostitution in sexually transmitted diseases
since WWII, and it is even hard to find in the current medical literature.
However, a chapter with the heading: Prostitution and sexually transmitted
disease pp 109-115 in  SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES, by King K. Holmes et
al MCGraw-Hill 1984 pulls no punches regarding the connection between STD
and Prostitution. An article by Antonietta Caffaro Rouget MD FRCPC et al.
Prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in juvenile prostitutes and
street youth, CAN J INFECT DIS VOL 5 NO 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1994, contains
the following: A "...high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases [was]
found in the juvenile prostitutes (Neisseria gonorrhoeae, 49%; Chlamydia
trachomatis, 83%). To this I may add my own much more modest letter to the
editor: E. K. Ranney, MD FRCPC, Role of prostitution in sexually
transmitted diseases.   Can Med Assoc J 1983; 129:798.

As the news we read is filtered by capitalism, so is our understanding of
the world. I hope that the Marxist scholars will give us chapter and verse
of what Marx said about the influence of the rich and powerful on our
thinking. Did he say anything about prostitution and sexually transmitted
diseases? It may be that this relationship was so well understood in Marx'
day that he did not feel it worthwhile even to comment on.


At 09:14 PM 3/7/2004 -0800, you wrote:
> The obverse can be seen in the recent history of the erstwhile USSR.
> Prostitution has skyrocketed in the brave new independent states that
> once were mere socialist republics in the Soviet Union. Free market
> relations, bourgeois society, and accompanying working class misery have
> infiltrated  Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, etc., bringing in prostitution,
> drug addiction, AIDS, suicide, shorter general life expectancies, etc.
>
> Where there is a prostitution problem in Havana, it is directly
> associated with the intrusion of bourgeois relations.
>
> The causal link cannot be ignored.  Capitalism brings more suffering for
> more peole, in exchange for luxury and power for a few.  Socialism is
> better for the people.
>
> The irony is that captialism's champions hail "freedom" but it only
> trickles into the hands of that few.  Socialism, on the other hand,
> would liberate the masses.
>
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