Posts by BenWilson
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Not unanonymously, no, the stigma is quite massive.
Interesting that it seems even more stigmatized than the sex-work itself. A modern thing maybe?
The only guy I know who speaks openly of it is basically an outlaw, and more recently, inherited wealth. He has no intention of either ever working, or entering public life. It's always extremely interesting. He's lived for lengthy periods with 4 prostitutes that I know of, all of whom he met as a client.
His take on legalization in NZ was interesting. Basically he thought that there was a huge drop in service and quality, on account of the management generally having fallen into the hands of the prostitutes themselves. It was no longer so easy to find it cheap and/or dirty the way he wanted it. He couldn't see this as a bad thing for the women, just the customers. When it was run almost exclusively by a gangsta patriarchy, the focus was on 'what men wanted'. Now it's on 'what it would really be fair to expect from someone doing a job'.
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I'm always a little regretful about a nude photo shoot I did with my university waterpolo team in Ozzie. I don't know how we all got persuaded to do it, what it was in aid of, or what became of the pics. I must have been fucking drunk again. But somewhere out there is a pic of me standing starkers in front of a team of nudes, lecturing at a blackboard covered in arcane play diagrams, entitled 'The Alekhine Counter Gambit'. The picture I saw had an artfully placed waterpolo ball hiding the fact that it was actually a bloody cold day, but there must be others....DOH!
I highly doubt we'll hear anyone speak unanonymously of their experiences as a customer of prostitution. Doomed to be a one-sided story.
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I'm not surprised Australian politics steers away from sustainability. Most of their economy is founded on mining. It's like expecting the oil rich nations of the Middle East to advocate cutting back on oil consumption.
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Caleb, classic:
One of its findings was that "members of the public feel more confident expressing opinions on others' motivations and tactics than they do expressing opinions on scientific issues".
I feel that way all the time. Despite the fact I'm no denier, one of the things I find most compelling about the science is the lengths that some people have gone to cover up climate change. It's totally the wrong way to understand science, but I'm guilty. When you're no specialist in a science, it comes down to who you trust, and I don't really trust people with financial agendas.
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In the case of a lot of deniers, I don't think it's so much "they know they're right" as "they don't care if they're wrong".
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Did I just hear 3news refer to the Australian Swimming child sex abuse case as "the pedo-speedo scandal"?
I wouldn't put it past them. The number of headlines I remember in Oz that started off "Blacks say...".
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I have a lingering fondness for binge thinking
The only effective cure for the hangovers from it is hair of the blog
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Assuming that means you don't agree with this state of affairs, then that would require *every* case, not just the one you cited, to go to trial so the judiciary can decide on the facts. That would seem somewhat impractical.
So impractical that it has never been the case. Police and other functionaries have *always* made judgments for themselves about whether to prosecute.
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What part of "the law is working, and we're not going to repeal it" tests your comprehension skills as badly as Bob McCoskrie's?
I understand what he's saying, if that's what you're asking. I think I also understand why he's saying it, and that's what Steve and I were talking about. It's a very clever move, puts National in a good position. They get to keep a law they didn't ask for (but did vote for), which could be wildly unpopular if it were implemented differently. By keeping it, they can play the line that the opposition may seek to take it into the zone which made so many people feel uncomfortable recently. So Labour has to back down from this. Which leaves National reaping all of the kudos for bringing about a change they were never instrumental in making.
But cunning has a way of flipping. If the law change is sold as working really well, thanks, come next election, Labour is just one hard sell away from pointing out that the law did actually change on their watch. So we'll see. IMHO Nationals best plan is to do exactly what Julie was predicting, let the whole thing slide down the memory hole.
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Steve, I kind of agree, but cunning seems inevitable in high ranking politicians. It can (and will) backfire, though. In performing cunning stunts, the PM will eventually look like a stunning....
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