Thursday, September 30, 2010
B.C. rights groups celebrate court ruling striking down prostitution laws
B.C. rights groups celebrate court ruling striking down prostitution laws
So a judge in Ontario basically made a decision that decriminalizes prostitutes to an extent, allowing them to go to the authorities with work-related crimes, without fear of being reprimanded for what it is they do. It also appears, at first glance, to allow them to actually claim their income from prostitution as their income, allowing them to what? Pay taxes? I suppose.
Of course the arguments coming out of most people are that this is disgusting as it propagates prostitution, and by extension, the abuse of women. Granted, prostitution has a long-standing history of abusing women, most women in the industry today are not there by their own choice. They have been and are being exploited in any number of ways. But why is it that prostitution is so abhorred? It seems to me that our own puritan roots have left us so embarrassed about sex that anyone who dares to publicly admit they do it should be shunned. Everyone, well most adults anyways, have sex, at least once in their life. It's not something to be ashamed about, or to hide. Most people will brag to their friends, and it is the driving force behind the majority of our interactions in society. You maintain your appearance, chase wealth, make friends and enemies, all in the pursuit of sexual interaction. Why is it that selling those services is looked down upon? The modern prostitute is a criminal object, but there were days when she was simply looked down upon, and, before that, simply a part of society.
Maybe if we get over our own insecurities about sex, we can stop marginalizing and exploiting these women. I think this decision is one step closer to that.
So a judge in Ontario basically made a decision that decriminalizes prostitutes to an extent, allowing them to go to the authorities with work-related crimes, without fear of being reprimanded for what it is they do. It also appears, at first glance, to allow them to actually claim their income from prostitution as their income, allowing them to what? Pay taxes? I suppose.
Of course the arguments coming out of most people are that this is disgusting as it propagates prostitution, and by extension, the abuse of women. Granted, prostitution has a long-standing history of abusing women, most women in the industry today are not there by their own choice. They have been and are being exploited in any number of ways. But why is it that prostitution is so abhorred? It seems to me that our own puritan roots have left us so embarrassed about sex that anyone who dares to publicly admit they do it should be shunned. Everyone, well most adults anyways, have sex, at least once in their life. It's not something to be ashamed about, or to hide. Most people will brag to their friends, and it is the driving force behind the majority of our interactions in society. You maintain your appearance, chase wealth, make friends and enemies, all in the pursuit of sexual interaction. Why is it that selling those services is looked down upon? The modern prostitute is a criminal object, but there were days when she was simply looked down upon, and, before that, simply a part of society.
Maybe if we get over our own insecurities about sex, we can stop marginalizing and exploiting these women. I think this decision is one step closer to that.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Arcade Fire
Wow, what an incredible experience. It's been something that I've been waiting for a long time, having just missed the boat on the Neon Bible tour. Granted we had the worst seats in the house; our view of the stage was obscured by a giant speaker box, but I could see the screen well enough, which gave me plenty of closeups of the band. There is just something indescribable about them. Everything that was going on in my head instantly disappeared the second they cut into Ready to Start. I was enthralled, the entire show was just one long euphoric eargasm. The energy that they show makes me have faith in humanity again, if only for an hour. Even though so many of their songs are sad, they have this undercurrent of hope or rebirth. It's as if nothing can keep them down. They played all the songs I wanted them too, and a few I wasn't expecting. Overall, 10/10, fantastic show. Hearing the crowd sing along was incredible, that place was a cathedral.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Society?
So a girl was beaten to death at random with a baseball bat. Some teenager stabbed another teenager in a McDonald's. So many conflicting thoughts on who to blame? The kids? Of course, they did it. Why? Because they have shitty parents? Because we have shitty influences in the media? Because people are too busy getting rich to care about what message they're sending. Because our schools are designed with apathy in mind, to let kids like this slip through the cracks. Because any two morons with functioning genitals are allowed to warp and twist the minds of children, or more accurately, not bother to mold the minds of children, and let television do it for them.
There is something innately wrong with our society. People have no accountability for anything they do. People are allowed to ignore the big picture in favour of short-term personal satisfaction. How do we fix this without a nanny state? It's not that I think that all people are incapable of thinking for themselves. It's that I think we need to reevaluate how we allow people to be educated, and steer them towards greater awareness of their communities, their societies, and the world we live in.
Do I think that if the world was filled with knowledgeable, community-minded critical thinkers that everyone would come to the same conclusions I do? No, of course not. Not everyone prioritizes values in the same way. But I don't think anyone would disagree that teaching children that they are part of a whole, and that what hurts the community hurts themselves.
Where am I going with this? I don't know. I just think things could be better, and I'm not content to sit back and get jaded and say "that's just the way things are." Bullshit.
There is something innately wrong with our society. People have no accountability for anything they do. People are allowed to ignore the big picture in favour of short-term personal satisfaction. How do we fix this without a nanny state? It's not that I think that all people are incapable of thinking for themselves. It's that I think we need to reevaluate how we allow people to be educated, and steer them towards greater awareness of their communities, their societies, and the world we live in.
Do I think that if the world was filled with knowledgeable, community-minded critical thinkers that everyone would come to the same conclusions I do? No, of course not. Not everyone prioritizes values in the same way. But I don't think anyone would disagree that teaching children that they are part of a whole, and that what hurts the community hurts themselves.
Where am I going with this? I don't know. I just think things could be better, and I'm not content to sit back and get jaded and say "that's just the way things are." Bullshit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)