Corner Cases Example

[andrewducker]

Here's a perfect one:
1)German employment law states that if you've been unemployed for over a year then you must take any job offered to you.
2)In a bid to cut down on the trade in women and other mistreatment of prostitutes, Germany has legalised brothels.

Can you guess what the end result of this is?

Read about it here.

I'm looking forward to reading your responses to this one :->

Comments

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Rapists don't rape to experience sexual pleasure; they rape to exercise power.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are a variety of reasons - however none of this changes the basic point which is that it is wrong for them to forcibly impose a sexual act on someone else.

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

it is wrong for them to forcibly impose a sexual act on someone else.

I don't see where I disagreed with this.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it makes me cruel and cold-hearted, but I don't see why my tax dollars should go toward supporting those who have special feelings that supposedly prevent them from doing useful work, rather than toward, say, building houses for homeless people or teaching kids.
Here (given the context of this discussion about said article) you seem to be saying that you think the women should have to choose between the prostitution and no money (and hence starvation). As that act is imposed on them (well unless they choose to die) it is a forcible imposition of sexual acts.

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

This only makes sense if you think that people are entitled to a living, and I would say not; I would say that the government grants people unemployment assistance if there are no jobs available to them, and if someone is unwilling to work at a job available to them, they aren't entitled to the privilege of public assistance. I think that anyone who has actually experienced rape would find the analogy you are making to be offensive.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

What analogy that I am making? Could you be more specific about how what I have said is offensive?

This only makes sense if you think that people are entitled to a living, and I would say not;
Err.. I didn't say that at all. What I would say though is that if you are going to have a social support system like this then you shouldn't make them choose between something that will be horrendously damaging to them and starvation.

I would say that the government grants people unemployment assistance if there are no jobs available to them, and if someone is unwilling to work at a job available to them, they aren't entitled to the privilege of public assistance.
So you would argue that these women should (if I were to offer such jobs to them) take jobs being beaten, or told to repeat all day how they are worthless, or a job where I delight in women being shown video/audio/pictures which they find offensive and horrifying all day? Are there no limitations on what they should have to do?

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Are there no limitations on what they should have to do?

Of course there are; these are called "labor laws". I don't really see where I said that people should be forced to take illegal jobs before receiving compensation, either. What's problematic is creating a class of legal jobs that are considered to be "too good" for most people. Either support anyone who doesn't want to work, or support only those who don't have legally permissible jobs available to them, but I'd find it rather unfair if someone who found sex offensive were paid to do nothing while I, who found it offensive to work at a job that kept me from working on my art, wasn't.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

There is a recognition that the consequence of sex industry work would have a very bad psychoogical consequence for most people, but for some people it is ok. As the overwhelming majority would be severely damaged by it you do not make it mandatory. If someone is not going to be affected by it then they can choose to go into that industry, but because there is an obvious universal recognition that this kind of work would be very damaging to the majority of people we have this big uproar which will ultimately end in a sane law being introduced.

I think I'm going to leave this conversation as it is as the old saying "Don't feed the trolls" comes to mind.

[andrewducker]

There's a wide variety of reasons for rape. Sure, it's used as a form of oppression, but you seem to be saying that when some frat-boy idiot rapes a woman that they're doing it to spread terror.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

You know that for a fact do you?

If so, how?

I believe that there are statistics to prove that most rapes are comitted on women of breeding age (I haven't actually checked, so pull me up if you like, I'll welcome the data) - if it was just about power, surely there would not be this noticable age range?

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Sorry, should have quoted. I was responding to:

Rapists don't rape to experience sexual pleasure; they rape to exercise power