PJ Media

I’m surprised that Roger finds “Ruth’s” article America-centric. The story Ruth tells is also one which is happening in London, where I live, and Paris– and a whole load of other international cities. I don’t see anything unique to the US in anything “Ruth” writes.

It’s very telling that so many commenters can’t believe that someone who’s interesting and intelligent, and an outstanding writer, can become caught up in the prostitution business as one of its agents.

What I think the article does just skim deftly over is not just the depressing and usually sad fates of the young girls who get involved in prostitution at any level. It’s the fact that something like 85% or more of those who become involved in prostitution (at whatever level it operates) do so out of a background of child sexual abuse and/or drug abuse. And of those a huge proportion are groomed into it at a vulnerable pre-adult stage by the predatory agents that the prostitution business depends on.

Not surprisingly, it’s since emerged that “Kristen”, the young woman named in the Spitzer case says she has a very troubled family and drug use background.

And that’s what the men she describes as paying for their exploitation buy–they clearly feel fine with the anonymity that allows them to make fatuous statements about ‘having fun” for a few hours without having to confront their central role in the continuing degradation and addictive dependency of the young women.

“Ruth’s” article is silent on who actually owned the very high end business she worked in and where the profits were going to. My understanding is that the enormous profits go into organized crime outfits. Maybe I’m wrong about the particular “escort agency” she worked for.

And, unless, “Ruth” actually has direct knowledge of Mrs Spitzer, neither she nor we have any real knowledge about whether she knew or not, or why she appeared alongside her husband. We, all of us, have the most tremendous capacity for self-deception. Mrs Spitzer would not be the first wife not to have understood what her husband was up to, or to have been too conflicted by what she might think of as the interests of her daughters to refuse to appear to be standing by her man.

The wife of one of Britain’s former attorney generals appeared to stand by her husband when he was caught kerb-crawling street prostitutes in London some years ago. She subsequently committed suicide not long afterwards.

Both she, Mrs Spitzer and the women who get caught up in the prostitution business deserve our compassion. I’m sorry that there’s almost a hint of “she had it coming” in the way “Ruth’s” story treats her. And I think shrugging our shoulders about the hypocrisy of the powerful men in our society isn’t enough.

“Ruth’s” article does reveal the corrosive effects of prostitution