Comments on: Our Morning Roundup: Leave the John Alone!

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:24:40 +0000

Cops enforce laws. If a cop wants to violate the law, he should hand in his badge and gun first and then look for other employment afterwards. When a cop violates a law - even a trivial and unfair one - it throws everything into question. We can't have cops out there picking and choosing which laws they want to obey any more than we can have cops picking and choosing which laws they want to enforce - both things Mr. Riggs crazily seems to think are fine.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:18:20 +0000

I agree with whatever Hess says.

By: Angry Al Gonzales

Angry Al Gonzales — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:27:39 +0000

The DC cop wanted to perform cunnilingus on the "hooker", which gives him extra points for chivalry. As for hypocrisy, that's as American as racism & genocide. Look at all the members of Congress & state legislatures who have done drugs & know that cannabis is harmless but still continue the draconian punishments on the helpful herb.

By: Mike Riggs

Mike Riggs — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:15:23 +0000

"Consensual" and "free" aren't synonyms--check a thesaurus. And I can't speak for the entire prostitution industry any more than you can, but I suspect that some sex workers have it different than others. We move no closer to making it better for all of them by suggesting that Johns are unfit to do their jobs. And you're right--hypocrisy is fair to call out, but we don't know that the officer is a hypocrite. How many sex workers has he locked up? How many johns? What if he doesn't arrest those people, but lets them go and warns them to be careful? And if he doesn't--so what? There's a wider dialogue in which we had a chance to participate and we missed it due to a myopic obsession with misery porn and finger-pointing. And for the record, it's pathetic that you had to bring up my former employer to bolster your argument.

By: Amanda Hess

Amanda Hess — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:15:05 +0000

If prostitution were legalized, we might get to a place where it were "consensual" sex. Right now, however, it is most definitely not consensual. Try telling a pimp that his prostitute wants to have sex with you gratis, because she just wants to, and see where your face ends up. This guy doesn't work for Reason Magazine, Riggs, he's a police officer. His job is to enforce the law, and hypocrisy from public servants is fair game to call out. Plus, a "little of licking"? It's just too good!