I agree with much of what he said, but I have to take issue with his assessment of legalized prostitution. Is he really advocating for illegal prostitution, a situation which mostly takes control and safety away from women.

I think he could do with a good dose of feminist sex education...

I was waiting for you to put up this column (he referenced Maria Lauterbach).

God....WAKE UP AMERICA, WAKE THE FUCK UP.

What am I saying? What will it take for the powers that be to even give this a mention? (Referring here specifically to Maria but the whole column and its general discussion of dehumanization of women and children, esp. in popular culture are important too.)

Yay Bob Herbert! Thank you for being a voice in the desert.

Demolitionwoman, there are differences among illegal prostitution, decriminalized prostitution, and legal prostitution. The latter gives rise to situations like those in Nevada - or Amsterdam or Germany - in which the state monitors and controls the lives of prostitutes, including ghettoizing them in brothels.

Decriminalized prostitution - the state of affairs in Rhode Island, for instance - neither monitors prostitutes' daily lives, imposing dehumanizing restrictions on their very existence, nor subjects prostitutes to police roundups and prosecution for making a living.

Oh my God, I'm in love.

demolitionwoman, feminists believe a myriad of things about prostitution and sex work. It's absolutely a legitimate feminist position that prostitution, as it currently exists anywhere in the world, and in any currently-conceivable form (thanks to the prevelance of insidious sexism and misogyny), dehumanizes women, and at the same time have compassion for the women who do that work, and a desire to see their rights ardently enforced. It's unfair (and just plain wrong) of you to suggest that Mr. Herbert needs more education simply because he (presumably) doesn't share your specific views on prostitution. As an active radical feminist who very much enjoys sex and can't stand America's prudish aversion to talking and educating about it openly and honestly, I think he's right on. Prositution does dehumanize, and there's nothing wrong with pointing out that this hurts women.

He is an amazing man. I feel like we should all send him notes of gratitude. He. just. gets. it.

I think perhaps he was condemning prostitution as it exists presently, rather than in theory. Many prostitutes are not able to choose their clients; they can't refuse a customer for whatever reason.
I also think that maybe when he refers to prostitution he's thinking about the johns - many of whom get off on sexual violence or humiliation.

Perhaps he was condemning it as it exists presently and a sex worker who has no choice in who he or she sees is in a bad situation but i do not believe prostitution, either male or female, is inherently bad. There is a lot to be read on all sides of the issue but I fall into the camp of decriminalized prostitution with mandatory health screenings.

The article he wrote is quite good and for me brings up the larger issue of all the things candidates should talk about but dont because these issues dont serve their short term political goals. Unfortunately, short term goals are the only ones that seem to exist nowadays.

Even if a candidate wanted to speak about the issues in this column she or he could not as the voting public seems to be incapable of following any argument lasting more than 2 minutes.

In the few episodes of HBO's Cathouse I saw I always had a problem with how all the women had to come rushing out at the sound of a bell, he put my problems into words nicely.

I saw the article earlier and loved it.

Misogyny is the elephant in America's living room.

Just popped into my head and I wanted to share with you, my lovelies.

I think that Mr. Herbert's comment was focused more on criticizing the economic use of legalized prostitution in Nevada as a mechanism to promote sex-tourism than its efficacy as a public health/ policy issue. Furthermore, his comments referring to the dehumanizing effects of legal prostitution--such as ghettoizing prostitutes into brothels--are right on. But I still couldn't help noticing that he did fail to mention some the positive consequences of legalizing prostitution such as reductions in AIDS/HIV transmission, trick on sex-worker violence, and child prostitution. Still, I hardly think this makes him he an advocate for illegal prostitution

I find it worrisome that Herbert so easily mixes the sexualisation of women with the sexual abuse and murder of women. There are undoubtedly ways in which women are mistreated, particularly in the military, but I don't think the implication that sexualisation implies dehumanisation is going to help things.

what? there's a difference between decriminalized prostitution and legal prostitution? no way!
Okay, that was snarky, but the comment seemed a bit patronizing to me in assuming that I wouldn't know anything about the subject just because I raised some issues with Herbert's stance.

I didn't say it wasn't a legitimate feminist position to oppose prostitution - I'm fully aware that there are many different ways to be a feminist and many different schools of thought. Doesn't mean I can't disagree with him. Doesn't mean I don't think he couldn't benefit from some other viewpoints and readings.

Mostly my intent in posting my comment was to see what other people thought about that part of his article. Like I said, I agree with most of what he has to say and I'm glad it's being said, especially in such a mainstream venue.

what? there's a difference between decriminalized prostitution and legal prostitution? no way!
Okay, that was snarky, but the comment seemed a bit patronizing to me in assuming that I wouldn't know anything about the subject just because I raised some issues with Herbert's stance.

I didn't say it wasn't a legitimate feminist position to oppose prostitution - I'm fully aware that there are many different ways to be a feminist and many different schools of thought. Doesn't mean I can't disagree with him. Doesn't mean I don't think he couldn't benefit from some other viewpoints and readings.

Mostly my intent in posting my comment was to see what other people thought about that part of his article. Like I said, I agree with most of what he has to say and I'm glad it's being said, especially in such a mainstream venue.

Also, because it was such a short mention in a short article, I would definitely be interested to learn more about his opinions on this.

Me Too!