Former Olympian Leads Double Life as Escort

[Morrison_Lad]

Illegal, but it's a victimless crime, she wasn't lying to her partner...I'm not sure why it's a big deal. Drunk driving is far worse than this, and far more common among celebs and former celebs.

I think it's interesting (though not a "big deal") precisely because stuff like DUIs and shoplifting are SO MUCH more common. It's the fact that this is so rare that makes it fascinating, to me anyways.

[Spiffy]

Well, not to mention that in Nevada at least, what she was doing is legal (presuming she was legally licensed there under her REAL name).

The story about the FBI interest though (if its even true), DID seem to indicate something about "conducting business across state lines" though. Their website mentions Chicago, and the article also mentions L.A.

Although I suppose I could be mistaken about the "legal in Vegas" part too, since even though prostitution is legal, I was always under the impression that (for medical/health inspection reasons) the um... sexual activities had to happen AT the brothel. I could be wrong though, hardly being an expert.

[Hugin]

But she did say that she saw it as a huge mistake.

Once it came out she called it a huge mistake, because that's how celebrities react to scandal. They might as well be reading from a script. It's impossible to know how truthful they're being. Maybe she loved it and was only upset she got caught, we don't know.

Spiffy, it mentions she was operating inside Vegas, which is illegal. You've got a common misconception, prostitution isn't legal within the city limits, but it is once you get outside.

[Spiffy]

Once it came out she called it a huge mistake, because that's how celebrities react to scandal. They might as well be reading from a script. It's impossible to know how truthful they're being. Maybe she loved it and was only upset she got caught, we don't know.

Spiffy, it mentions she was operating inside Vegas, which is illegal. You've got a common misconception, prostitution isn't legal within the city limits, but it is once you get outside.

I kinda had it right up front though, where I said "legal in Nevada". I actually only added the Vegas part to a later edit as kind of an aside. I know, at the very least, that the famous places, like the Bunny Ranch and the Sagebrush, are all some distance away.

But that also gets to my point in the edit. "Call girl" seems a lot more dubious and less likely to be legal overall, regardless of where in the state it was happening, because I've read any number of stories about how at those famous brothels they control everything (at least in a medical sense).

[Kingsmythe]

I've always thought prostitution, along with gambling and marijuana, should be legalized. But what do I know?

[Spiffy]

I've always thought prostitution, along with gambling and marijuana, should be legalized. But what do I know?

It is. In parts of Nevada.

With RULES.

Its not a free for all, and its why I kinda corrected myself when thinking about her being a Call Girl rather than a, er... house girl.

[Morrison_Lad]

Actually, I'm pretty sure that prostitution is illegal throughout Clark County, which contains Las Vegas. Obviously, that doesn't stop anyone -- at all. But technically ...

Let's face it: If someone chooses to go into that business, for whatever reasons, as long as that choice is made rationally; as long as that person is safe in practice; as long as for however long that person is practicing it is his or her choice to do so, then I don't see how it's anyone else's business. Granted, the government has chosen to make it illegal in most places. And the populace talks a good game by mostly supporting that decision; all the while making prostitution possible by engaging these women's and men's services (yeah, I can spell hypocrite, too).

I believe to the depths of my soul that the correct process would be for the government to make prostitution legal, and regulate it, doing everything they can to ensure the safety of both sex workers and their clients. But then again, that's yet another of my opinions that doesn't mesh with that of our government or our general populace. *shrug*

[Kingsmythe]

We seem to be at least largely in agreement on that, ML

[Astonishing X-Fan]

I can not think of a single good logical reason for prostitution to be illegal.

Conceptually it is no more immoral than hiring someone to clean your house or fix your sink. A transaction of money for a service between two adults. I see nothing about sex that should suddenly make selling your services not okay.

There are seedy things going on in that line of work sometimes and those are problems that could stand to be addressed, but conceptually prostitution isn't wrong and no one has ever given me a compelling argument as to why it should be considered wrong.

[Morrison_Lad]

We seem to be at least largely in agreement on that, ML

Yeah, sounds like it.

I can not think of a single good logical reason for prostitution to be illegal.

Conceptually it is no more immoral than hiring someone to clean your house or fix your sink. A transaction of money for a service between two adults. I see nothing about sex that should suddenly make selling your services not okay.

There are seedy things going on in that line of work sometimes and those are problems that could stand to be addressed, but conceptually prostitution isn't wrong and no one has ever given me a compelling argument as to why it should be considered wrong.

What's even weirder about it, of course, is that if someone hires say two other people to perform sexually, either with each other, or with the first person, or whatever, and that original person is going to film it and sell it, it's pornography. And of course pornography is legal (within obvious limits). Now, there are a number of legal hoops through which you must jump, and licenses, and all that.

But let's face it: In once case, prostitution, you are paying another person to have some sort of sexual involvement with you. In the second case, pornography, you are paying someone to have some sort of sexual involvement with, or with someone else; only there's a lot of paperwork involved. But they are both exchanges of money in order to get specific sexual acts.

That's always seemed really weird to me.