Honorverse ramblings and musings

Your numbers are woefully bad for the percentage of the population that is a pro. They fly in the face of basic deomographics. Wherever you got your numbers is beating their own drum for their own purposes. Argue if you will about the "trade", but honestly, use common sense when posting numbers as anyone who wishes to disagree with you can easily start laughing and tune-out your message/argument when you start posting those absurd numbers for "how many there are".

Relax wrote:Your numbers are woefully bad for the percentage of the population that is a pro. They fly in the face of basic deomographics. Wherever you got your numbers is beating their own drum for their own purposes. Argue if you will about the "trade", but honestly, use common sense when posting numbers as anyone who wishes to disagree with you can easily start laughing and tune-out your message/argument when you start posting those absurd numbers for "how many there are".

And the correct Jeopardy response is...

What is, whatever...

or...

What is, do your own honest research, supply your own honest numbers. The results will be the same.

Imaginos1892 wrote:

cthia wrote:Let's leave Nevada out of this. Shall we? The lion's share of prostitution in Nevada is illegal. Prostitution is not legal within the city limits. And Nevada is the lone state where legal prostitution can be found in the US. In MOST of the world it is illegal.

The US has one city where legal prostitution can be found and suddenly prostitution is glamorized. Amsterdam has legal prostitution. Been there "scene" that. So now prostitution is glamorized?

Fine. What do you propose to do about it? What new solution have you come up with that has not already been proven a dismal failure? Always bearing in mind:

It is impossible to eliminate prostitution.

Not "difficult". Not "expensive". Not "we have to really, really want it to go away". IMPOSSIBLE. As long as sex and money exist they will be exchanged.

If you do not want to believe that, if your "solution" does not take that into account, you are just making noise.
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Simple answers to complex questions are always wrong.

This strays completely out of the realm of the discussion.

I won't follow your lead into that particular abyss.

Daryl wrote:Gross errors in programming are easily picked up. It's the subtle ones that trip you up.

Very briefly back to hookers (as I know I won't convince you & you won't convince me), I still disagree with the premise that 99% of prostitutes world wide are forced. Your perspective is from a religious state (in god we trust etc), yet the secular countries have less restrictive laws which enables free women (& men) to do it as a career.
When I worked years ago for our Government Employment Department I liaised with the Sex Workers Collective to put in place OH&S, redundancy training and all regular workplace conditions. The women I knew from that (not in the biblical sense) all enjoyed their work, were well educated, drug free and not ashamed at all. We supported them exactly the same as we would other industries, with the exception of not doing recruiting for them due to pressure from the Christian lobby.

Sex slaving is an abhorrent practice and to link free prostitution with that is not logical.

A friend of mine is going to see this and chuckle. Not at you, but at sort of an inside joke between us. It is something he was trying to explain to a consortium. There are two kinds of gross errors in programming. Gross syntactical errors and gross logical errors. Both can be subtle. But subtle, gross logical errors can kill your project.

****** *

Prostitution has become like assembly lines. Producing prostitutes as prolifically as chicken houses produce chickens from baby chicks. But with oftentimes worst conditions - certainly no less.

Trafficking rings could head up BuPers. They are producing warm bodies by job lots to perform in parking lots.

Too much drama?... Maybe.

One thing is scrolling brightly on the marquee...

Dorothy is certainly not in Kansas anymore. And like baby chicks, prostititution is also on streroids. And poor Dorothy is on the wrong side of the tracks and in the wrong part of town. And she's underaged. Under a teenager, and under some disrespectful smelly fatherless wholearse of a John, who doesn't give a damn what yellow-brick road led her there.

And she ain't on a BunnyRanch. She's hungry. Beaten. Raped. Used. Starved. Sick. Scared. Lost... Lonely. And after living through hell itself, her cheap stockings have the only nerve to run. This ain't the same prostitution that your grandfather witnessed, or his son. It ain't even the same profession that you once knew. Though I can't convince you of that.

This is being pulled off under the guise of human traficking, under the guise of sex trade.

Even if they run. Where do they run to? They'll be dressed like a prostitute. Smell like a prostitute. You'll certainly think prostitute - lacking immunity from their charms and the smell of cheap perfume. But you will matter not in their salvation. "Because they chose that." Underage mistresses in distress have no hope - because general society is failing to see prostitution because of a sex slave trade. Are you really that brainwashed?

Blame Webster if the definition of prostitute hasn't changed over the years to reflect the truth. The name has changed, but not to protect the innocent.


Again. This attitude embarrasses me. I apologize to all women out there of all ages especially if you are trapped.

You have to believe me... The majority of us do not think that the majority of you really chose to be a prostitute EVEN if over the short, long years you've become "numb" to it. (Do forgive me if this is not an acceptable word.)

Prostitution isn't what it used to be. Females are hunted as successfully as elephant tusks. They are more valuable than ivory. It certainly isn't the same prostitution that your daddy knew.

Come on. Call a spade a spade, even if someone spilled red paint on it that looks like a heart. Forget everything that you once knew of prostitution. Like the nastiest contagion - it has mutated into something much nastier.

And FCOL, stop judging the industry by the small percentage of "BunnyRanchers." Are you receiving a discount for this shameless "plugging" - pardon the pun.

Again, I am not linking "free prostitution" to sex slaves. I'm linking "prostitution" to sex slaves. The free segment is but an aberration.

The problem with political correctness is in diluting meaning. Changing the true intent of it. Mislabeling. The commercial industry constantly uses our susceptibility to this against us. They hide the truth in a play of words. An art sharpened by politicians, governments, lawyers and cheating spouses...

I wasn't cheating dear. I was in the missionary position - doing missionary work.

I do concede that the truth is such a hard pill to swallow.

cthia wrote:I do concede that the truth is such a hard pill to swallow.

I think that part of the disconnect we have is that you see free legal prostitution as a shameful and bad thing, while I don't at all. Because of that belief you don't believe that any woman would take it up as a career without being coerced.
Not so, as one of the ladies (and they were ladies) that I conversed with said "I used to be a receptionist, working 50 hours a week for a bad tempered boss, for $500 a week. Now I earn more than that a night, and I'm the boss."
We agree that sex slaves are victims of one of the worst criminal industries around, but not concerning the reasons for many women working happily in prostitution.

Daryl wrote:

cthia wrote:I do concede that the truth is such a hard pill to swallow.

I think that part of the disconnect we have is that you see free legal prostitution as a shameful and bad thing, while I don't at all. Because of that belief you don't believe that any woman would take it up as a career without being coerced.
Not so, as one of the ladies (and they were ladies) that I conversed with said "I used to be a receptionist, working 50 hours a week for a bad tempered boss, for $500 a week. Now I earn more than that a night, and I'm the boss."
We agree that sex slaves are victims of one of the worst criminal industries around, but not concerning the reasons for many women working happily in prostitution.

The disconnect is that everyone reads too much into my stating that to me "sex slave is a euphemism for prostitute." You cannot read into that anything regarding my feelings towards prostitution. The statement stands on its own. No more. No less. It is the cold hard truth. Sex slaves are forced to become prostitutes - sold into prostitution - recruited for prostitution.

Sex slaves are prostituted! I agree that they are forced. But they are indeed prostitutes. I never said that prostitute was a euphemism for sex slave. I never said that I thought a prostitute was a sex slave. (Although, I'm quite sure that some pros would jump at the chance to be your sex slave if the price is right.)

For the last time, that is NOT true about my feelings. I posted that I think legal prostitution is an acceptable profession. I'd probably go so far as vote for legalizing it. Then, perhaps much of the bad things associated with it will disappear, or at least greatly decrease. Such as communicable diseases, kidnapping, murder, rape, assault and death. California may follow that lead, incidentally, and I have no problem with that at all.

I'm well aware of the type of women to be found in these Ranches. I've used several of them before. But not in a sexual manner. When I was living in Silicon Valley and too busy for a steady girlfriend, I first hired a beautiful "escort" simply to attend an important function. And to keep me from being constantly hit on (par for the course at these functions). I paid her 5K for several hours of the "girlfriend experience" without benefits. At night's end, she was insulted because I didn't want, wouldn't accept, sex. That's not what I hired her for. I needed an "escort" in the truest sense of the word. After sending her flowers, because she was really insulted and I'm a gentleman, she finally accepted that I meant no insult - accepted that I only hired her for her company and intellect. And only after a few of her friends told her she was crazy. I hired her several more times and eventually even met some of her family. Things were great after she realized that I was just a gentleman in need of a quick date.

I did accept a lap dance from several girls in Amsterdam when I was in college over the summer break. I was very young and it was during my first visit there. Then later again for a graduation celebration for myself and several friends (one female who just wanted to see Amsterdam and who enjoyed the Red Light District as much as we).

The selection of stunning women there is overwhelming. Many of them are very intelligent college students paying their tuition. I actually became friends with one girl from the UK and we communicate from time to time. She's now a pediatrician. The extent of those encounters was simply a very hot and intense lap dance. I tease her that she went into the wrong profession becoming a pediatrician. She could have become a stripping meteorologist, (they can be found on the boob tube across the pond) accurately predicting a wet one.

This entire discussion stems from a single post in the Euphemisms thread when I opined that I think sex slave is a euphemism for prostitute - I still feel that way, because, well, sex slaves are prostituted. As does Hilary Clinton. And all of my friends who simply cannot believe I'm having this conversation... yet again.

When I hear sex slave, my brain thinks prostitute (no disrespect is meant to the plight of these victims either) because that is today's reality. I never mentioned that I've seen the horrors of sex slaves up close and in person. I wanted to leave that out of it.

It's an ugly industry and women are exploited. Many agree to "work" for these undercover pimps simply to gain entrance to the US with the promise of a real job only to find themselves trapped and forced into prostitution. I give lots of money yearly to this cause. I help however I can.

Bottom line is that sex slaves are prostitutes. Forced prostitutes, but prostitutes nonetheless. And very often, the difference between them and pimp-forced, street-level prostitutes is nonexistent.

If anyone would like to opine what they think sex slaves are slaves for, my friends and I would still like to know.

We won't hold our breath, waiting for anything that actually makes sense.

Question.

Honor Stephanie Alexander Harrington.

IINM, textev indicated why Honor's name didn't change to...

Honor Stephanie Harrington Alexander.

Can anyone remember?

cthia wrote:Question.

Honor Stephanie Alexander Harrington.

IINM, textev indicated why Honor's name didn't change to...

Honor Stephanie Harrington Alexander.

Can anyone remember?

In a a word Grayson. IIRC HH was worried that the Grayson conservatives would go bananas if the house of Harrington went to the House of Alexander in one generation.

Shadow of Saganami - Ch. 3

"As you know," Commander Ginger Lewis said, sitting very upright in the chair at the head of the table in the captain's briefing room immediately off of Hexapuma's bridge, "it's traditional for midshipmen and midshipwomen on their graduation cruises to be formally welcomed aboard their ships. Usually, that duty falls to either the executive officer or to the assistant tac officer, since she's normally the one who will serve as their officer candidate training officer for the deployment. Unfortunately, at the moment Commander FitzGerald, our XO, finds himself detained dealing with the yard dogs, and our ATO hasn't reported aboard yet. And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, you find yourselves stuck with me."

I know that Honor was tac officer. I liked her so much as a tac officer that I was a bit sad when she vacated that spot. But was she ever ATO? - where she served as 'officer candidate training officer?'

Yet, Honor did get a chance to pass her skills as tac officer on to Abigail.

I understand at least one of our midshipmen showed outstanding promise in the Island's EW program."

FitzGerald managed not to blink, but he couldn't help wondering where Terekhov had gotten that particular tidbit of information. If it was in one of the midshipmen's personnel files, the exec hadn't found it himself yet.

"A midshipman, Sir?" Kaplan repeated in a very careful tone, and this time Terekhov did smile. Not that there was a great deal of humor in the expression.

"I'm not proposing we slot someone quite that junior into the JEWO's position, Commander. But I am hopeful Lieutenant Bagwell might at least be able to use this particular snotty as an assistant. A snotty cruise is supposed to be a sort of an apprenticeship, after all."

"Well, that's true enough, I suppose, Sir," the tactical officer said, trying her best not to sound overtly doubtful.

"In the meantime," Terekhov said, right hand flicking again, "I've screened BuPers about the Grigsby replacement matter again. I pointed out that, since we're already sailing without a junior electronic-warfare officer, it would behoove them to at least find us a junior tactical officer. I'm afraid I waxed rather emphatic on the point, and they've promised to find us a replacement—another replacement, I should say—before our departure. However," this time his smile was downright wintry, "under the circumstances, and given how long it took them to scare Grigsby up in the first place, I wouldn't care to place any money on the probability that they will. So it looks as if we may be sailing shorthanded at Tactical in more ways than one."

"I see, Sir." Kaplan's dark eyes were hooded, and she frowned. "I can't say I'm delighted to hear it," she continued after a moment. "As you say, Captain, this is going to leave us shorthanded. With all due respect to Guthrie—I mean, Lieutenant Bagwell—I believe we're in a somewhat better position to get by without a JEWO than without an ATO. Lieutenant Hearns is very good, but she's also extremely junior for the ATO's slot aboard a heavy cruiser. She's more than won her spurs, and her Academy grades and efficiency reports since graduation are both top-notch. But her actual combat experience was limited to that dirt-side business on Refuge.")

I don't understand, I always thought the JEWO's position was analogous to ATO?