prostitution in the Trek Universe?
- Thread starter Yevetha
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I don't get the point.
No like prostitute and slave. We can keep doing this for another day if you like.
Legal prostitution has regulation and protection for the folks involved, illegal prostitution doesn't. You want different words, knock yourself out.
Illegal prostition often is - but doesn't have to be - slavery. Slavery means the individuals don't have any rights. They can't quit. They can't do what they want. There's also illegal prostition where women voluntarily sell themselves illegally (moonlighting, tax evasion, in forbidden zones, etc...), but they are not slaves.
My work is done here.
My work is done here.
If this 'rest' is the difference between prostitution and slavery, it most definitely is not 'in the details'.
Yep, that combined with the moneyless society, where nobody has to do any work they don't want to do, would pretty much kill actual prostitution in the Federation (as opposed to sexual freedom, a very different thing).
I get the point, but it's a poor analogy that really doesn't work in this case. Holosuite prostitutes - or sex scenarios - would become the "branded merchandise" and be far more effective as brands than real-life prostitutes, whose characteristics cannot be nearly as easily controlled, or their availability guaranteed.
Trying to hire an actual Vulcan sex slave might result in any damn thing. Unscrupulous Ferengi have been known to try to pass off Vortas as Vulcans (hey, the ears are the same, why are you hew-mons always so fussy!) But the holosuite Vulcan Sex Slave part I through infinity is a sure bet! Real Genuine Vulcans(TM)!
It's confusing the job with the status of the worker, whether they do the job by choice or force, the job is the same.
My point was that people often pay more for the same basic thing due to a largely imagined quality difference. No matter how well sex could be simulated, there will always be a premium attached to the real thing.
I'm pretty sure the Orions ran a pretty brisk sex slave industry in the 23rd century. Starfleet officers like Kirk didn't seem too very concerned about the "Animal Women" abused by it, either.
I would argue that the Federation does have money. I've seen several examples, such as James Kirk telling Picard in the Nexus "This used to be my house, before I sold it." (paraphrasing) and Scotty's "I just bought a boat." In Undiscovered Country. It's always seemed silly to me that Roddenberry and co have insisted on the whole "There's no money in the future/UFP" thing. Clearly, there must be. I seriously doubt Joseph Sisko slaves over a hot stove all day, most every day prepping amazing Creole food just because he enjoys seeing the smiles on his customer's faces.
In a universe with holosuites that can simulate the real thing and with planets like Risa or Argelius...where beautiful people give it away at the drop of a hat, why would anyone need a prostitute?
Quite. You go to Risa, put a horga'hn out for all to see, and you can get sex from willing Risans. So who needs prostitutes?
Personally I'm in favor of legal prostitution. I can't imagine it being illegal in the Federation. I mean Risa is a huge brothel.
this is a silly point-sexual slavery is not a "job" at all, it's slavery. Blacks who worked on plantations in the South in the U.S. in the early nineteenth century weren't the same as free farmers just because they may have both worked with crops.
legal prostitution is nothing like sexual slavery no matter how much you want to play semantic games. There's no difference between a legal, free prostitute and a legal, free cashier at a retail store.(except for the work, obviously)
Didn't say slavery was a job, I said prostitution was, as is farming, shoe making, diamond mining. Some folks get forced into them. That doesn't make the job any less accurately described by its title. Slave or free doesn't describe the job, it describes the person in the job. Slavery being a condition, a state of being or social status.
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For those situations, we usually use terms like “mistress,” “kept woman” (or man), “trophy wife,” “boy toy” and “gigolo.” But, six of one, half a dozen of the other, as they say.
And in the TOS ep “The Man Trap,” there was a brief mention of Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet. I assume its inhabitants are similarly uninhibited and hedonistic — unless they all go around chewing gum all day.
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