Glaswegian

Leicester, where I lived for many years, is again suggesting it needs a prostitution tolerance zone:
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.u...entPK=10772105

The yellow pages in Calgary has 12 pages dedicated to 'escorts' - so obviously there's money in it here and people willing to pay.

Eh?

liftman

:scared:
I don't need to know how or why you know that!

Glaswegian

The Yellow Pages adverts are kind of hard to miss - we're talking quarter page full colour

Toontje

Obviously a lot of people (mostly women I guess) must be in desperate need of the extra money this "job" generates.

Bryan Kellar

I suppose to be socially acceptable, you have to preface a comment like this with the following tye of statement (which incidentally, I believe to be true):

Too many of the women who are prostitutes are in a position where they have to consider prostitution as an option need a lot of help -- whether it be mental health care, addiction care, or poverty problems. Those people should not have to be in that position. I would like to see them helped.

Also, I am not defending those who use the services of a prostitute. I would never do it, and I don't want prostitutes on my street.

That being said, I am frustrated with the attitudes that society, law enforcement, and some of the public take toward the issue.

> I don't believe for a minute that the police in my town are ever going to shut down the "world's oldest profession". They can move it around, but no one else has ever solved the problem -- and I doubt the keepers of peace in my town are going to be the first to come up with a solution.

> That being said, and also understanding that I want to see the marginalized women cared for rather than hassled, wouldn't regulating the act make more sense than prohibiting it? If they are going to do it anyway, make it possible for them to get the public health care they need to avoid spreading disease. Protect the vulnerable, so predators do not commit even worse crimes against them. And give them a safe place to do it, so they are not soliciting services on my street.

> Do I want to see prostitution happen? No. Will it happen? Yes. Prohibiting it has only made it more exciting for the customer to try to get. Prohibiting it adds to the problem. Regulating it would go a long way toward solving the problems rather than just pushing the problems around. It would allow our local governments to make solutions rather than make arrests.

OK, so I have ultra-liberal opinions. I also think that if they sold marijuana at the grocery store for the same price as cigarettes, then some users would not feel compelled to steal my car stereo to buy it at inflated prices. We would need to treat the user anyway (if they required addiction treatment), and we would not have needlessly used our resources on an endless and fruitless battle? Does arresting prostitutes and drug users make our community safer? Or would treating those problems make out community safer? I am happy that the people of Leicester might actually be asking some of those questions. Perhaps my community will be similarly enlightened some day.

Bryan

Toontje

You ought to live in the Netherlands

prodigyking

It's all about supply and demand. If you are willing to pay for it they will sell it to you.

For some people courting a girl, wineing and dining a chick, not knowing if they ever are going to get some loving is not an option. Why not make sure you get a return on your investment right away.

Corky

Well my other half is from Leicester and he went back there this past june and found out it has a nick name of Beirut....so I guess anything would go!

squarepants

Must be a dry day in Calgary Glaswegian? You are even specific as to how many pages are dedicated to the escort business :scared: Am sure there is a fine line between prostitution and being an escort.

How did this get into the canadian lifestyle anyway

liftman

Well, if there are 12 pages of ads, then that is a reasonable amount of "lifestyle" going on!

willmore

Your comments make alot of sense - and I agree - are you sure that you're not a "lurking Canadian" with such ultra-liberal views??????

Glaswegian

Historically brothels have always been a feature of the Alberta lifestyle ... Calgary was known as the "the booze, brothel and gambling capital of the far western plains."

I couldn't decide if Leicester's efforts to regulate the oldest profession's activities were in contrast to Canada or not. There are some areas of Calgary where - most notably Forest Lawn - where the activity of tarts disrupts life in an otherwise nice neighbourhood.

squarepants

Hmmmmm.......Is it rainning there by any chance

CalgaryAMC

You don't need to go to Forest Lawn. Take a drive down 4th Ave downtown one evening and see them all in their white go-go boots hanging about the Eau Claire Sheraton. Heck, stop in at the French Maid (strip club) while you're there...

Like anywhere, Calgary has it's seedy underbelly.

Bryan Kellar

Actually, we have our Canadian PR application in the process. Maybe I hsould change that to "Future Vancouver resident" or something similarly optimistic.