Thursday, June 28, 2007

Removing stigma from sex

The Justice Ministry of Britain has decided that a term used in a few pieces of legislation should be stricken from the records, and replaced with a more general term. The reason? The name draws a certain stigma when used.

The term? Prostitute.

That's right, folks. Over in Merry Olde England (you have to add the "e" to old, otherwise it doesn't mean the same thing), they've decided that people who happen to sell sex to make ends meet, and then get labelled prostitutes, suffer from social stigma, simply due to the usage of the word. And, well, bully to them, they want to see it stopped. After all, the term goes back to the 1820's, and obviously words created then no longer carry the same meaning in today's modern world.

Admittedly, a large portion of what the Justice Ministry is trying to do is to try and ease sex workers out of the industry, allowing them to use their talents in more legal pursuits, ranging from massage to preparing ice cream drinks at the local Dairy Queen. The new laws would begin to punish people considered "persistent offenders", y'know, those who are selling sex more than twice every three months.

Obviously, the best way to get people to stop being prostitutes is to eliminate the word, or to change the meaning. It seems like we've seen that somewhere else... like, perhaps throughout much of the GDub Administration's reign over the Americas. After all, we seem to remember times when "Mission Accomplished" meant something positive, when the Vice President was subordinate to the President, and when fooling someone more than once meant more than they wouldn't get fooled again. Looks like maybe the elder nation is learning more from junior every passing year.

In the meantime, we're thinking about visiting England, but no more than a couple of times every three months. Any more than that, and we're just being persistent.

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