Today in Porn, Not Really About Porn, More About Prostitution and the Priesthood Edition

New York Magazine‘s Sex Diaries column is a fun place for learning about the sexual habits of those different from married dudes with six kids in 21st-Century America, mostly because the diarists provide a lot of context for their sexual exploits and not a whole lot of detail about the exploits themselves. A recent entry proved a little sadder than some, as it involved a dude too old to be going on spring break going on spring break, a lot of self-soothing, and a little, um, professional action. The comments section came alive on the question of paying for it, and I found this entry sort of fascinating:

“Let me put moral judgment aside, go for judgment where it hurts, instead. (Unless you’re a priest, moral judgment never does….) Pros are for losers. If one can’t get it because a woman WANTS it, one is per my def. a loser [when it] come[s] to sex. And I can very well understand why women wouldn’t want Accountant, here.

As for the moral judgment, the way I see it, any woman can choose any career for herself. Some pros do it because they want it. See it as easy money or whatever. Ok, their choice. May regret it later, but that’s their business and they have to handle that for themselves.

Others do it because don’t see other alternatives. They’re forced to it for financial reasons or because of trafficking or blackmail of sorts. That’s a fact, and that is worse. ‘Using’ such a pro is a variety of rape. A woman forced to sex by someone else than the man having sex with her is still forced to it. For the customer just picking up a pro, it’s pretty close to impossible to see the difference between the two kinds of motivation. And if you ask me, that’s what makes buying it morally unsound. If one does not know or care if the sex one is having is ‘almost rape’ or ‘voluntary’ one does not respect the woman in question – and probably not women/people in general – much.”

So it’s not that the commentator doesn’t think a moral judgment is warranted – it’s that she doesn’t think it will hurt. Unless you’re a priest. Fascinating.