Proposed New Sex Laws and the 80 Year old protester

Lovely piece on Margaretta D'Arcy, the Shannon Airport protestor and her views on the proposed new Sex Laws!!

Threatening to really protest ? To go online an find a Thai Boyfriend?

Never saw her as an ally till now!!

Well said Margaretta?

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irela...ster-1.2046486

She is sooo sexy.

We need all the help we can muster?

Just look at us in Northern Ireland and what will happen after 1st June 2015!

We will then talk about the good olde days pre 1st June 2015 or maybe it won't make a blind bit of difference??

Ditto in Dublin too we hope?

TORL ran an advert on Facebook before Christmas about trafficking and the under age rape of a 15 year old.
This advert was used to defend their view on the introduction of the new laws.
Some guys tried to explain an opposing view, and they were abused by the public.
Truthfully I was going to try and write something and I chickened out.
Rightly or wrongly it's a difficult one to argue even with the backing of sex workers.
Let's be honest no one is listening to them or us.

I have tried to argue the few points I am aware of with friends, and these are not taken seriously.

The problem is that Ireland is still in the grip of the church, in terms of psyche. Anything that can be deemed "pleasure of the flesh/self gratification" is still frowned upon, and organisations with links to the church use stories about trafficking to further their moral point of view. Obviously, trafficking is a vile and hateful crime but does it happen as much as these organisations make out?

Post famine Catholicism consolidated a hugely conservative structure and so when independence came in the formation of the Free State, the Catholic church already had woven itself deeply into the social, medical and educational infrastructure in Ireland that it suited the nascent Irish state to leave the church to deal with these areas as the church's morality and indeed the church's ownership of many of the buildings in which health and education were administered meant one less thing for the Irish state to be concerned with. For further proof, look at the vast numbers of pro lifers who marched in Dublin when that nurse died (even though an abortion would have saved her.

Crucially, in many parts of the country where there is no multi-/non-denominational school and where the national school (paid for by the state but run by the church) is intransigent, it can be impossible to get a school place if your kid isn't baptised.

It's an absolutely scandalous situation and the fact that it hasn't sparked widespread social discontent says a lot about Irish apathy. I don't think there's another country in Europe where the church has such a stranglehold on education and thus on people's mindset. Even famously Catholic Poland has a more secular school system.

In a way, it's worse in the North. Not only do we have the RC church on one side, but we also have the DUP, the political wing of the Free Presbys and their ilk on the other; and on this issue, they speak with one voice.

Whereas, in both Scotland and England/Wales the proposals were defeated.

If you ever go to Winchester in England, have a look around the cathedral—though it will cost a few quid. And remember that it was partially funded by the "Winchester Geese" who inhabited the brothels of Southwark in London. The Bishop of Winchester owned the brothels. Oh, for a return to such days!

Yes, the north is equally in the grasp of religious secularism and just as poisonous. But with added sectarian politics which alienated half of the population.

Imagine how different Irish politics would have been and the extremely different political dynamic had partition never happened. I think that the northern Protestant ethic would have balanced a lot of the Catholic interference since partition and by effectively opting out, northern Protestants contributed to Home Rule actually being Rome Rule. One of the many tragic facets of Irish history!

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Originally Posted by rea82

We need all the help we can muster?

Just look at us in Northern Ireland and what will happen after 1st June 2015!

We will then talk about the good olde days pre 1st June 2015 or maybe it won't make a blind bit of difference??

Ditto in Dublin too we hope?

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Won't make any difference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaz

Won't make any difference.

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It most certainly will make a difference. It's going to make life much more difficult for sex workers, much more dodgy for clients and much more comfortable financially for NGOs.

It's certainly going to make a life-changing difference to the first few poor saps who get caught and prosecuted under it, and the first few providers who are assaulted because they couldn't take protective measures, and the first few providers who are outed and dragged into court as witnesses. All because the Minister and her buddies want to "send a message".

The market will adapt and find ways around it eventually, it's not the world's oldest profession for nothing. But it's certainly not the case that "it will make no difference".