One cannot be a fan of Lonesome Dove without some level of discussion of Gus’s desire to get “a poke” from Miss Laurie. In 2022, “getting a poke” for payment is illegal around most of the world. It appears the enforcement of the prostitution laws varies from country to country, but back in 1899 there was a push to make selling sex a crime. I truly marvel at how we frown on selling sex, yet I see more people, organizations and agencies essentially doing the same thing by caving on their morals in the interest of garnering a payment than ever before.
Before I explain that portion of my statement, I have done a bit of a dive into the legislation of morality. While I don’t relate to the concept of paying for sex, let’s be honest: in many cases it is the choice of two consenting adults. While this clearly brings about the discussion of sex trafficking which needs to be addressed in a huge way but seems to continue to be swept under the rug, that is not the topic at hand.
Sometimes called "the oldest profession," prostitution is known by many names, from streetwalkers and brothels, to sophisticated call-girl or escort services. However, whatever name it goes by, prostitution is illegal in almost all fifty-states.
At its most basic definition, prostitution is the exchange of a sexual act for money. State laws have expanded the definition to make it a crime to offer, agree to, or engage in a sexual act for compensation of any kind.
A second influential development was a renewal of feminist interest and the perspective that prostitution is both a consequence and a symptom of gender-based exploitation.
Truly this was the birth of the feminist movement but let’s think about that for a moment, a group of women making a decision for all women. That is not only problematic but would cause great alarm in this day and age. On one hand we hear “My body, my choice” until it comes to issues like vaccines and suddenly it’s OK to make mandates for other people. We can’t have it both ways. I prefer to let people keep their options and make decisions based on their own moral compass.
We truly need to double down our efforts and take a serious look at sex trafficking and pedophilia where woman and children are held in bondage in every corner of this country. Why has this issue not been given the effort it deserves? That is a very, very serious and frightening problem that continues to expand. I am troubled with unrelated actions that may have similar overtones.
How many times in a school board meeting have you heard an administrator explain to the board that they need to follow a mandate because “they need the funding?” A state government official may make similar comments and appeasements to get federal dollars. How many times do farmers talk about how they tend to their land as directed by someone working from a cubicle so they don’t “violate the program” they get paid to sign up for?
The greatest example, and the one that has troubled me for the longest time, is public schools across this country that follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines for school nutrition programs in order to get government subsidies to feed our kids.
Recently, I found on PubMed ,a database of biomedical literature maintained by the National Institutes of Health, a study of the committee setting the standards for the entire nation has had 95% of its members with a conflict of interest in the food business. Let me just share with you the summary of the study, which was published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
“Trustworthy dietary guidelines result from a transparent, objective, and science-based, process. Our analysis has shown that the significant and widespread COI on the committee prevent the DGA from achieving the recommended standard for transparency without mechanisms in place to make this information publicly available.”
Despite this, your public school is still following their misguided guidelines just for the money.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].