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The dark side of an MIT brain

tech.mit.edu

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Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#11

Post by DennisP »

pyre wrote: post #7
DennisP wrote: post #3

"When a young woman is in desperate need of money and a wealthy man comes along and uses that vulnerability to get sex, that's the definition of exploitation." Seems like you could also say: "When a man is in desperate need of sex and a young woman comes along and uses that vulnerability to get money, that's the definition of exploitation."

Lack of money is a much more severe situation than lack of sex. Lack of money comes with the possibility of poverty, while lack of sex just means that you will have to wait longer for sex.

The article also says "To test this proposition, make college free. If college girls were no longer desperately in need of money, I would be more than willing to bet that SeekingArrangement.com would cease to be highly profitable."

Seems to me he's saying that the women aren't doing it to survive, they're doing it to get a college education. I would submit that the drive for sex is a much more primal urge, going back a half billion years or so, than the drive for a college education.

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#12

Post by DasIch »

The fact that woman feel compelled to go to such lengths is a problem, the fact that this site (in part) exploits that may be a problem morally speaking but what are those women supposed to do instead? To which length would they feel compelled to go if they didn't have this option? It appears to be that this site provides at least some sort of security. I don't think anyone wants to see them "work the street" either.

I think the real problem is at an entirely different level and begs an entirely different set of questions:

- Why do these women feel compelled to do this?

- Do they have alternatives and if so why don't they use them?

- If they have usable alternatives how do we educate them about those?

- If they don't have alternatives should they be given financial help and by whom?

EDIT: How do I make this a proper list?

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#13

Post by orangecat »

pyre wrote: post #7
DennisP wrote: post #3

"When a young woman is in desperate need of money and a wealthy man comes along and uses that vulnerability to get sex, that's the definition of exploitation." Seems like you could also say: "When a man is in desperate need of sex and a young woman comes along and uses that vulnerability to get money, that's the definition of exploitation."

Lack of money is a much more severe situation than lack of sex. Lack of money comes with the possibility of poverty, while lack of sex just means that you will have to wait longer for sex.

Hmm. If you asked guys whether they would rather be permanently poor but be able to have sex with attractive women whenever they wanted, or to be wealthy but have no possibility of sex, I'd expect it to be close. (Assuming of course a first world environment where poverty doesn't mean starvation).

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#14

Post by pyre »

zacharyvoase wrote: post #6

Gosh, that was judgemental. I suppose it was intended to be an opinion piece, but it took prostitution to be wrong a priori , with no discussion or justification of this premise. Bandying about words like ‘exploitation’ is, frankly, cheap. The phrase “exploiting young women and enticing men to have extramarital affairs” reveals several of the author’s strong inner biases (to wit, that women are weak and men are evil)…

I'd also like to see the correlation between prior sexual abuse and selling sex at college. I would assume that those who were abused may be more likely to do so, but by how much? Is the group of students that do this 99% abused (1% not) or is it closer to something like 60/40?

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#15

Post by zacharyvoase »

pyre wrote: post #14
zacharyvoase wrote: post #6

Gosh, that was judgemental. I suppose it was intended to be an opinion piece, but it took prostitution to be wrong a priori , with no discussion or justification of this premise. Bandying about words like ‘exploitation’ is, frankly, cheap. The phrase “exploiting young women and enticing men to have extramarital affairs” reveals several of the author’s strong inner biases (to wit, that women are weak and men are evil)…

I'd also like to see the correlation between prior sexual abuse and selling sex at college. I would assume that those who were abused may be more likely to do so, but by how much? Is the group of students that do this 99% abused (1% not) or is it closer to something like 60/40?

Just out of interest, why would you make that assumption?

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#17

Post by guard-of-terra »

"To test this proposition, make college free. If college girls were no longer desperately in need of money... When a young woman is in desperate need of money and a wealthy man comes along and uses that vulnerability to get sex, that’s the definition of exploitation."

I would say that the poor blamed site is less responsible for the exploitation happening, and the mre responsible is higher education being paid and pretty expensive in USA.

The site in question is a mere adaptation against a problem. And the problem have a lot more grave consequences than some victimless prostitution. Like having no future.

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#18

Post by loup-vaillant »

zacharyvoase wrote: post #15
pyre wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd also like to see the correlation between prior sexual abuse and selling sex at college. I would assume that those who were abused may be more likely to do so, but by how much? Is the group of students that do this 99% abused (1% not) or is it closer to something like 60/40?

Just out of interest, why would you make that assumption?

Because others did:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution#Consent

Studies also show that most women in prostitution, including those working for escort services, have been sexually abused as children.[link]

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#19

Post by [deleted] »

DasIch wrote: post #12

The fact that woman feel compelled to go to such lengths is a problem, the fact that this site (in part) exploits that may be a problem morally speaking but what are those women supposed to do instead? To which length would they feel compelled to go if they didn't have this option? It appears to be that this site provides at least some sort of security. I don't think anyone wants to see them "work the street" either.…

[deleted]

Re: The dark side of an MIT brain

#20

Post by pavel_lishin »

DennisP wrote: post #11
pyre wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of money is a much more severe situation than lack of sex. Lack of money comes with the possibility of poverty, while lack of sex just means that you will have to wait longer for sex.

The article also says "To test this proposition, make college free. If college girls were no longer desperately in need of money, I would be more than willing to bet that SeekingArrangement.com would cease to be highly profitable." Seems to me he's saying that the women aren't doing it to survive, they're doing it to get a college education. I would submit that the drive for sex is a much more primal urge, going back…

I doubt that the women who sign up to be sugar babies are doing it to get laid.
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