I think it’s better to be comfortable in your skin than to be miserable being who you are. Sure, the meth is horrible. It ruins people from the inside out. It’s a waiting game – it’s not a matter of if it destroys you, but rather a matter of when it will. I’ve made it this far. I’m not sending a message that it's ‘cool’ to be on drugs and tell everyone about it. I don’t sum myself up as a drug addict and a hooker. That’s not what I am. Those are just things I do, they don’t define me. Jobs and addictions do not make us who we are. Ashly Lorenzana
On the face of it the fall of Governor Spitzer was just another sex scandal. Was it a private matter or a public reckoning? And what of the timing? A few months after his resignation the reckless banker Spitzer … bought the economic system close to failure. Storyville: Client 9 – The Call Girl and the Governor, BBC 2010
Eliot Spitzer had taken the first step into his double life. He had just entered a world which formally he had seen only from the outside as a prosecutor. In April 2004 after wire-tapping a social club in Staten Island, Spitzer helped the FBI and NYPD bring down a sophisticated prostitution ring. ibid.
Prostitution. Selling one’s body to keep one’s soul: this is the meaning of the sins that are forgiven to the woman because she loved much: one might say of most marriages that they were selling one’s soul to keep one’s body. Compton Mackenzie, The Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, 1918
The sex business is booming. It’s a global multi-billion-pound industry. And in Britain prostitution is thriving, with an estimated 80,000 sex workers and growing ... but are young punters aware of the risks to women? Prostitution: What’s the Harm? BBC 2014
140 sex workers have been murdered in Britain since 1990. ibid.
The brothel – one of the oldest and most secretive businesses in the world. Clandestine activities protected at all costs. More than just dens of sin brothels were key to the expansion of America’s Wild West and the growth of modern cities. Brothels were weapons of war. Codes and Conspiracies: Brothels, 2014
Almost overnight Storyville [New Orleans] became an international sensation, home to over 250 brothels and 2,000 prostitutes. ibid.
Church-run brothels emerged all over Europe. ibid.
It’s the pinnacle of escorting – Nicholas Parsons. The Comic Strip Presents ... Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, Channel 4 1998
I think one of the only jobs left with any dignity and any soul and any pride is prostitution. Seriously, at least you don’t have to say, ‘Have a nice day.’ You just do your job. And if they legalised prostitution some corporate bastard would get hold of it and they’d market it all and there would be McShag Drive-In Fuck Parlour ... What size vagina: Small, Regular or Large? ... Yup, I’ll have lies with that. Mark Thomas Comedy Product
Making prostitution illegal is bullshit. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! Prostitution s4e2
Today there are nearly one million prostitutes in America. ibid.
The biggest fear of walking on the streets is violence. ibid.
It’s a question of freedom and slavery. ibid.
Why do they think that sex is bad? ibid.
I am proud to be a prostitute ... I am a woman who owns this body. Robyn Few, Sex Workers Outreach Project San Francisco, interview Penn & Teller ibid.
Decriminalisation means that we could regulate the industry according to standard business codes. Scarlet Harlot, interview Penn & Teller ibid.
Prostitution is very dangerous when it is criminalised. I can’t call the police if I’m raped. And I was raped. Scarlet Harlot
By many I mean many. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century at least 80,000 prostitutes worked in central London alone. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Perspectives, ITV 2011
In 1853 Holman Hunt began to paint pictures about contemporary issues, not least the surge in prostitution, which he saw as a direct consequence of the industrial revolution. ibid
Cross Bones Graveyard is a disused cemetery in south London ... An unconsecrated graveyard for single women. Gail Porter on Prostitution, Current TV 2010
From the UK’s hidden brothels to the windows of Amsterdam. Along the way she will meet the police, the politicians and the women themselves in a bid to understand whether our legal system is making a bad situation worse. And whether in the twenty-first century prostitution should really be viewed a crime. ibid.
Although buying and selling sex is legal in the UK many of the activities associated with prostitution are not. ibid.
In 1999 it became illegal to buy sexual services in Sweden, but selling sex is not a crime. ibid.
English Collective of Prostitutes: The Girls Union – We are women who work or have worked in different areas of the sex industry – both on the streets and indoors. Since 1975 we have been campaigning for decriminalisation and safety of sex workers. No bad women – just bad laws. ibid.
In 2003 New Zealand fully decriminalised prostitution, taking it out of the hands of the criminal justice system. ibid. Gail
In the Netherlands prostitution is legal and regulated. But this isn’t as straightforward as it might sound. ibid.
Despite the popularity of the Dutch system there are very few advocates for it in the UK. ibid.
I actually found it very distressing. ibid. Gail sat in Amsterdam red-light district window
Broken dreams are just really really sad. ibid.
We don’t really believe prostitution is a choice. It’s something thrust on women based on a lifetime of experiences of being exploited. Sidney-Anne Ford, Baltimore outreach program, ‘You Are Never Alone’
There are a series of abuses and deceptions in this lifestyle. Sidney-Anne Ford
Why is it illegal to sell something that is perfectly legal to give away? George Carlin
They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire. Genesis 21:7&9
And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. Genesis 38:24
Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. Leviticus 19:29
And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire. Leviticus 21:9
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Numbers 25:1
And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Judges 20:6
Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.
So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;