Sex, Power, and Politics Blog

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33003900/ns/us_news-weird_news/

This article talks about how five Washington women who work as baristas at an espresso stand were accused of prostitution. Apparently, they allowed men to touch them for a fee. Washington defines this type of touching as prostitution. This event is seemingly common in Washington. The police have received 40 complaints in the past year.

The politics of this story are whether baristas (or really any workers for that matter) who expose themselves are violating the city’s lewd conduct laws. Is this any different than a couple making out in public? Another issue is the idea that perhaps we condone this behavior because it goes against “traditional” relationships. Really it’s no relationship at all. As a society, are we ok with technically lewd conduct if the people involved are a heterosexual couple?

I don’t agree with the women’s actions because I think they are degrading themselves, but this article did make me think about the line between lewd conduct and what we would consider public expressions of love.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 3:36 pm and is filed under General Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.