So I read both the Time article and Jim Norton's opinion piece. It struck me that the Time article chose to ignore some of Jim's points and then tried to use language in a way to try to make the issue a black and white one - or good vs. evil. Unfortunately life is not that simple and while it certainly is easier to understand things when you can only see issues as have a right and wrong side I don't believe that is the case here.
Jim seems pretty clear that he was making a good faith attempt to only engage with women that to the best of his knowledge were not being forced into doing what they were doing against their will. He also was clear that he was discussing the subset of men who are not married (the implied point being that another women wasn't being hurt because she was being lied to/cheated on - or would possibly be getting an STD). He also made the point that he felt he treated the women with respect and kindness.
I'm not sure why there is such a large segment of the population that just can't believe that this type of activity can be a win-win for both parties, where there can be pleasure exchanged between two people as well as a significant financial gain for the woman.
Of course there are many cases where women who are down on their luck or to support a drug habit will turn to this profession. It is also true that their are women who truly are being being bought and sold and are truly victims. For the later group of people they really should be helped. For the first group (down on their luck/drug addicts) I think the situation is a bit less clear - as these women are making a conscious choice as to what they are doing with their bodies - though it might be one which they wouldn't do if they had easier access to either money or drugs.
However there is another group of people who choose to engage in this profession because they actually like it, are good at it and find it to be extremely profitable. I'm a bit perplexed why it is so hard to believe that this is possible.
For many years I worked in jobs that paid well and in which I felt that I was a mental prostitute - if that makes any sense. I gave up certain freedoms in exchange for pay and was paid well because I could solve technical problems quickly. Often their were times when I was forced/asked to do something that I didn't consider to be an appropriate action, but because I was being paid I went ahead and did it anyway. I might not have liked it, but I didn't feel like a victim. I did know that if I wanted freedom from that type of environment I would need to figure out a way to either become financially independent or find a different way to make money.
To the best of my understanding close to 80% of Americans do not enjoy the work that they are doing. I'm baffled at why an activity which can be consensual among adults and that has been going on for centuries is written about as such a horrible thing. It just seems to me that we live in a pretty hypocritical society. But perhaps that will change some day.
