People keep telling me prostitution is a “victimless” crime. But when so many prostitutes, like this girl, are financially desperate and ripe for exploitation, I find it hard to agree there was full consent. Via The New York Times:
She was 17 and a high school junior in Florida. She was working at McDonald’s. And she was living in and out of a homeless shelter.
Hoping to save up to buy braces to fix her teeth, she falsely advertised herself in 2017 as 18 years old on a website that matches men looking for “companionship” with young women looking to make money.
What followed would set off a chain of events that would have a dramatic impact on her life and help upend the political career of one of the men she would encounter, Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican.
Mr. Gaetz was investigated by the Justice Department for child sex trafficking but never charged. Following the election last year, he was President Trump’s first choice to serve as attorney general. He subsequently resigned from Congress, and then withdrew from consideration as attorney general under a storm of scrutiny.
I do have arguments with people about prostitution. Imagine, we live in a society so barren of financial support for families or homeless kids that they rent their bodies to strangers. I find it hard to see that as fully voluntary.
