Criteria for sex work could be daunting
Re: “How America enables sex trafficking,” Letters, July 5.
I was cruising merrily through John Kane’s letter arguing for the legalisation of sex work when these lines leaped out and smote my brain pan: “People outnumber jobs. Sex work is one of the few alternatives for many people with limited job skills.”
As a man of limited job skills, I can imagine the following dialogue. The scene is an employment office.
Me: I want to be a sex worker.
Employment officer: I’m afraid you don’t qualify, sir.
Me (indignantly): Why not?
Officer: Sex work requires prolonged and intimate physical interaction with the customer. You are old, fat, bald, and ugly.
Nobody would want you.
Me (outraged): You’re rejecting me based on a negative and purely subjective analysis of my charms. This is deeply hurtful. It is also blatant discrimination. I shall sue.
You see? Not the ideal solution. I suggest that Mr Kane go back to the drawing board.
Ye Olde Pedant
