[PEN-L:11763] Prostitution

["James Michael Craven" <CRAVJM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At the time of liberation in China in 1949 there were over 100,000
child (under 14 years old) "prostitutes" in Shanghai alone. And those
nasty "petit-bourgeois" and "patriarchical" fighters, who had seen
and suffered so much, just couldn't get it. They just couldn't see
how these children were merely engaging in "alternative forms of
work", "free voluntary exchanges".

They had some crazy "petit-bourgois" and "patriarchical" notions that
these "prostitutes"--often kept through opium addiction-- were not
providing some kind of real service. They had these "petit-bourgeois"
notions that along with prostitution came other ills (drugs, criminal
organizations like the Triads) that not only degraded women but also
caused desperately-need resources to be diverted away from the
business of building a new China. The same with the Cubans; they just
didn't appreciate all of the positive multiplier effects that came
with Cuba being turned into one big whorehouse prior to the
Revolution.

Again, for all of you guys who think that prostitution is simply some
kind of alternative life and work arrangement, I suggest you try it--
just so you won't be accused of "a priori" reasoning of course.

                               Jim Craven

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