5 ms·

Disclaimer: Freakonomics to me embodies modern business writing at its worst. Anecdotal, single case half-correlations that try to pretend they’re something mor

by aresant 16y ago

Disclaimer: Freakonomics to me embodies modern business writing at its worst. Anecdotal, single case half-correlations that try to pretend they’re something more than fluff entertainment. In this article, they truly don’t disappoint. A hilarious and misguided glorification of what, I imagine, is a soul crushing business for 99/100 prostitutes. Written like a recruiting pamphlet, to boot. And the answer to how a prostitute can earn far more by working far less? Price elasticity of demand! Stunning discovery Freakonomics. /End Rant

zaidf 16y ago
is a soul crushing business for 99/100 prostitutes How is that conclusion much better than the one you're attacking?
- cglee 16y ago
  I think his point in that example was that articles that seek to glorify something that supports human trafficking, sex slavery, and forced rape - all of which millions are currently victims - should be based on more than conjecture and assumptions.
  - aresant 16y ago
    Spot on.
  - lukesandberg 16y ago
    what particular pieces of conjecture and assumptions are you referring to? Unless i read it wrong (which is always a possibility) the article was one half empirical description of the market for prostitution and one half case study of how a particular prostitute discovered a lucrative market niche.
    - cglee 16y ago
      Didn't read the article, just saying what I thought the parent poster was trying to say.
- aresant 16y ago
  Fair enough. Me vs. Professor of Economics Steven Levitt: Levitt: 1 hand-picked prostitue that was a guest lecturer in his college class. Me: - PROSTITUTION IS THE MOST DANGEROUS JOB IN AMERICA. The murder rate is 1 in 490. Compare that to the fishing industry, where the death rate is 1 in 775. - Eighty-two percent of prostitutes reported having been physically assaulted since entering prostitution. - Women trafficked to the United States have been forced to have sex with 400-500 men to pay off $40,000 in debt for their passage. - Statistics show that at least 2/3 of prostitutes began working in prostitution before the age of 16 Like Levitt I decided to provide points that suit my argument. Sources are from top 3 results in Google for "prostitution statistics": http://www.bayswan.org/stats.html http://www.bayswan.org/stats.html http://kiss951.radio.com/2010/04/29/seven-statistics-about-prostitutes/ http://kiss951.radio.com/2010/04/29/seven-statistics-about-p... http://womensissues.about.com/od/rapesexualassault/a/Wuornos.htm http://womensissues.about.com/od/rapesexualassault/a/Wuornos...
  - dotcoma 16y ago
    I think high-level and low-level prostitution are two almost completely different businesses.
    - yardie 16y ago
      Yes, one is on-demand by phone, and the other is on-demand at the street corner. In both cases you don't know how they got there (whether by choice or force) and most johns don't care to ask.
      - trustfundbaby 16y ago
        Totally different clientele. Ask this lady http://www.realprincessdiaries.com/ http://www.realprincessdiaries.com/
        jacquesm 16y ago
        If you're at work you probably don't want to click that link.
kragen 16y ago
I recommend talking to prostitutes or reading about their lives instead of imagining them. Sudhir has talked to a bunch of them, I've talked to a few, you imply you haven't. There's a lot of diversity among prostitutes, which the article does a better job of representing than you do. I think you'll have to look long and hard before finding anything that's true of 99/100 prostitutes. There are certainly plenty of people whose souls have been crushed by prostitution, but it's by no means a universal experience. Reliable statistics are quite difficult to come by. I strongly suspect that people like "Allie" don't show up in the denominators of the stats you cite in your other comment. Farley and Barkan (where the about.com article got its stats) were interviewing street prostitutes, not all prostitutes; the KISS 95.1 page doesn't cite any sources, so they probably just made up their numbers, but still, being 99.8% certain of not dying on the job doesn't seem like a major risk. It seems like the possibly high risk of being raped or otherwise traumatized is more relevant.

by aresant 16y ago

zaidf 16y ago

is a soul crushing business for 99/100 prostitutes How is that conclusion much better than the one you're attacking?

cglee 16y ago
I think his point in that example was that articles that seek to glorify something that supports human trafficking, sex slavery, and forced rape - all of which millions are currently victims - should be based on more than conjecture and assumptions.
- aresant 16y ago
  Spot on.
- lukesandberg 16y ago
  what particular pieces of conjecture and assumptions are you referring to? Unless i read it wrong (which is always a possibility) the article was one half empirical description of the market for prostitution and one half case study of how a particular prostitute discovered a lucrative market niche.
  - cglee 16y ago
    Didn't read the article, just saying what I thought the parent poster was trying to say.
aresant 16y ago
Fair enough. Me vs. Professor of Economics Steven Levitt: Levitt: 1 hand-picked prostitue that was a guest lecturer in his college class. Me: - PROSTITUTION IS THE MOST DANGEROUS JOB IN AMERICA. The murder rate is 1 in 490. Compare that to the fishing industry, where the death rate is 1 in 775. - Eighty-two percent of prostitutes reported having been physically assaulted since entering prostitution. - Women trafficked to the United States have been forced to have sex with 400-500 men to pay off $40,000 in debt for their passage. - Statistics show that at least 2/3 of prostitutes began working in prostitution before the age of 16 Like Levitt I decided to provide points that suit my argument. Sources are from top 3 results in Google for "prostitution statistics": http://www.bayswan.org/stats.html http://www.bayswan.org/stats.html http://kiss951.radio.com/2010/04/29/seven-statistics-about-prostitutes/ http://kiss951.radio.com/2010/04/29/seven-statistics-about-p... http://womensissues.about.com/od/rapesexualassault/a/Wuornos.htm http://womensissues.about.com/od/rapesexualassault/a/Wuornos...
- dotcoma 16y ago
  I think high-level and low-level prostitution are two almost completely different businesses.
  - yardie 16y ago
    Yes, one is on-demand by phone, and the other is on-demand at the street corner. In both cases you don't know how they got there (whether by choice or force) and most johns don't care to ask.
    - trustfundbaby 16y ago
      Totally different clientele. Ask this lady http://www.realprincessdiaries.com/ http://www.realprincessdiaries.com/
      - jacquesm 16y ago
        If you're at work you probably don't want to click that link.

kragen 16y ago

I recommend talking to prostitutes or reading about their lives instead of imagining them. Sudhir has talked to a bunch of them, I've talked to a few, you imply you haven't. There's a lot of diversity among prostitutes, which the article does a better job of representing than you do. I think you'll have to look long and hard before finding anything that's true of 99/100 prostitutes. There are certainly plenty of people whose souls have been crushed by prostitution, but it's by no means a universal experience. Reliable statistics are quite difficult to come by. I strongly suspect that people like "Allie" don't show up in the denominators of the stats you cite in your other comment. Farley and Barkan (where the about.com article got its stats) were interviewing street prostitutes, not all prostitutes; the KISS 95.1 page doesn't cite any sources, so they probably just made up their numbers, but still, being 99.8% certain of not dying on the job doesn't seem like a major risk. It seems like the possibly high risk of being raped or otherwise traumatized is more relevant.