Thursday, May 01, 2008
Sexist Laws Must Be Changed
CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News: "AP: Police say a woman they believe to be convicted Washington escort service operator Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide."
David Vitter, one of Palfrey's long-time clients, didn't have to testify. She, however, was facing over fifty years in prison after being found guilty in her trial. I was upset by the verdicts, but we should all be upset by the fact that the laws are so sexist that it led to this woman's suicide. Frankly, I should have been this upset by the verdicts. I am a bit ashamed that I wasn't. Nothing at all happened to her service's johns, but she was facing over 50 years in prison. In fact, there was a lot of hand-wringing about the names and phones logs being made public as that would lead to the poor johns being outed. It's outrageous! Two to tango, two to break a prostitution law, right? Wrong. I am not in love with the idea of prostitution, but we need to make it fair one way or another. Either it is illegal for both parties or it is legal for both parties. Parsing this on gender flies in the face of equality. It should all make us sick to our stomach that this woman, in order to escape injustice, felt she had to kill herself. And this was, make no mistake, a true injustice!
David Vitter, one of Palfrey's long-time clients, didn't have to testify. She, however, was facing over fifty years in prison after being found guilty in her trial. I was upset by the verdicts, but we should all be upset by the fact that the laws are so sexist that it led to this woman's suicide. Frankly, I should have been this upset by the verdicts. I am a bit ashamed that I wasn't. Nothing at all happened to her service's johns, but she was facing over 50 years in prison. In fact, there was a lot of hand-wringing about the names and phones logs being made public as that would lead to the poor johns being outed. It's outrageous! Two to tango, two to break a prostitution law, right? Wrong. I am not in love with the idea of prostitution, but we need to make it fair one way or another. Either it is illegal for both parties or it is legal for both parties. Parsing this on gender flies in the face of equality. It should all make us sick to our stomach that this woman, in order to escape injustice, felt she had to kill herself. And this was, make no mistake, a true injustice!
