Bawdy Houses and Abusive Vampire Relationships...

[Little Miss Risk]

I was reading cbc.ca for news the other evening, looking for interesting tidbits when an article caught my eye: "Bawdy House Busted!". Now I like a little sensationalism with my evening tea, so I started to have a look and what I thought would be a mud-slinging article about the evils of prostitution, turned out to be a much darker series of articles that would emerge.

Instead of talking about the lack of morals of the women in the house, it turned out to be an alleged human trafficking ring. Young women of Chinese backgrounds had been promised modelling job only to be given Western handles and worked in the "salon" by day and by night were forced into prostitution. I checked back this morning and the articles had paced into charges against the male mastermind which it seems have been dropped.

What had initially interested me in the articles was that I am for the legalization of prostitution in Canada, like our progressive cousins in Germany and the Netherlands. This news item only further serves to prove my argument that if there is legal channels, safely and good healthcare for the workers, then the human trafficking would drop. There was recently in Vancouver's Georgia Straight an excellent article with a local sex trade worker who wants to see the country legalize it, tax it, and protect the workers as it would with any citizen in a regular job. I would like to see benefits offered and a fair pay system. The supply and demand isn't going away any time soon, and I would like to see people able to conduct their business in a safe environment and to weed out events like the above. I's also like to walk down Seymour Street at night in my awesome boots and not have guys in cars slow down and ask if I "need a ride anywhere". So I'm not completely altruistic.

In other news, it would seem that there is a group of mothers who aren't as taken with the Twilight series, other than it's a way for getting young people into literature. She raises an interesting question: Are Edward and Bella in an abusive relationship?. Now, keep in mind, the books are a series of fiction. I can no more see young women being this passive as I can believe in vampires or werewolves. That being said, I think Edward is very much the stereotypical Conquering Hero. Besides, he's 107 years old and she's 16. It takes a lot to make a relationship with an age gap like that work. If he wasn't a vampire and in the body of a 17-year-old boy with great hair and was a wrinkled prune girls may react a little differently. No teenager wants a boyfriend that looks like a sharpei. Also vampires getting married - so what happens when in ten years time they want to get a divorce? Honestly, this is what comes from letting your Mormon mom write a supernatural novel. No thank you, give me Poppy Z. Brite and Anne Rice and their hedonistic deviants. At least I feel the motives behind Lestat more honest than the hidden 'let's wait til we're married' message that peppers the Twilight series.

Not going to lie to you, though. I am planning on seeing the movie and I'm a Fangbanger til the end.

Ciao.

Little Miss Risk