List of Previous Titles

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Oldest Profession?



The Oldest Profession?

Do you hate your job?

When we think of the oldest profession in the world we normally direct our thoughts to prostitution, however, before that there must surely have come a profession that dealt with our more urgent fundamental needs of food, water, and lodging. However, we are talking about men’s needs, so that might not necessarily be so.

We could say with reasonable certainty that prostitution, in one form or another is universal.

v Greece, in the 6th Century, State-funded brothels were established.
v Spain, in AD590, the Visigoth King banned prostitution.
v England, under rule of King Henry II, in 1161 regulated prostitution.
v Italy, in 1358 embraced prostitution declaring that the profession was indispensable to the world.
v Italy, 1586, Pope Sixtus V declared that all prostitutes be put to death.
v France, 1802, abolished it laws that banned prostitution.
v Japan, in 1932 forced women into sexual service in so-called “comfort stations.” Women are still trying to receive compensation, or at least an apology.
v India, 1956 banns sex trafficking, but tolerates red light districts.
v The United States, 1971 in the State of Nevada licensed its first brothel.
v Spain, 1995, decriminalized prostitution per se, but imposed rules on the practise. Today, 39% of all males in Spain freely admit to using the services of a hooker.
v Sweden 1999 made it legal to sell sex, but illegal to buy sex.
v Holland, in the year 2000 legalized and regulated prostitution. Sex workers are unionised and pay taxes, and the industry is respected and controlled. There is active police vigilance against trafficking, and control by gangs and pimps. In Amsterdam, the famous practise of women who wait do so behind windows, and not on the street, giving an element of dignity. In 1989 13.5% of men in Holland admitted they sought service from the country’s 30,000 prostitutes, compared to 39% of men in Spain who have approximately 300,000 prostitutes to choose from.

Recently I found myself driving along a darkened street near one of the industrial estates around Valencia. There were so many girls lining the street revealing practical everything they had that I have re-named the street “Vagina Avenue.”

However, in The Netherlands they go one better than that. There is a brothel at Amsterdam airport, which gives new meaning to the phrase “having a layover.”

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, June 19, 2011

One Swallow does not a Summer Make!



One Swallow does not a Summer make, But…….

Two Swallows who, several years ago built a little house for themselves under my terrace roof, and return to it each year to augment their family, makes for a fascinating study. In my native Bermuda it’s the Longtail, the national beautiful bird that occupies so much of the time and attention of the population, but here in the mountains of Spain our annual visitor is the Swallow.

Firstly, we as humans say that we are the superior of God’s creatures, but just because we say so doesn’t actually make it so. When we sit and study some of the other creatures around us we should start to feel our own limitations.

We have two of everything essential, (two eyes, hands, legs, etc) plus we have managed to emulate birds by flying, sort of, but still these miniature, wonderful flying world inhabitants possess such incredible capabilities that they are true models for a number of things. Take communications, as an example: I sat and watched the parents of chicks in the nest take turns in feeding them. One parent would leave the nest just as the other arrived with split nano-second timing, and off they went dipping and diving, catching insects in flight that were far too small for the human eye to see. Somehow they communicate the fact, with a mouth full, that they are coming in and again, with split precise timing one leaves as the other lands.

Then there is the amazing spectacle of flocks of birds in flight in perfect sync, twisting and turning like some well-rehearsed ballet. How do they do that? What very advanced system of communication is involved whereby not even one makes a mistake by turning the wrong way? Fighter pilots spend hours studying birds fighting one another while the birds are in flight to learn something new.

I spend hours just watching them perform delicate balancing manoeuvres and simply going through their paces. They make it all seem so easy by using their tail feathers for support when necessary. And to top off their performance, if I’m lucky I may even get a song. I am tempted to say that it is amazing what joy we can get from the simple things in life, but these birds are more complex that I can imagine.

My only complaint is that their favourite perch is directly over my hammock, so with them above and me below, that could be a problem. I guess I will just have to consider any fall-out a blessing.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Street Prostitution
























Street Prostitution -The lowest of the Low

“It shall be unlawful to copulate in the streets, or to solicit the sale of sexual acts to passing members of the public.”

Valencia has passed a law to the effect that it is unlawful for people to screw one another in the streets, because people have been screwing one another in the streets. You might think that this is such common sense that it would not be necessary to actually have a law on the books that speaks directly to the practise, but there you are.

In spite of a vigorous attempt to crack down on street prostitution there are thousands of women who wear next to nothing and make it abundantly clear what they have to sell. This practise degrades all women and is a terrible embarrassment.


I came across three or four girls at a roundabout wearing what seemed to be only panties, and they showed large mounds of pubic hair. “Christ!” said I. Because I couldn’t believe my eyes I joined the line of cars going round and round. The girls were being very clever. They were wearing pantyhose and thongs and a patch of fake hair to represent their own pubic hair. It was very effective in getting our attention and gave me quite a laugh.

I have to imagine that a street hustler is engaged in one of the most dangerous occupations of all, because they have no way of knowing who they are going off with, or what the man might want to do to them. Just this week the body of a prostitute was found on the street, having been killed, presumably by a “John”. These are the lowest of the low; the poorest of the poor, and the most unprotected. They will almost all be controlled by pimps, and many will be hooked on drugs, and diseased.

There is no attempt to monitor their health, not even when the police sweep them up and throw them in prison. I must wonder how a woman comes to fall so low in the world. Earlier in this series I told of finding myself involved with a group of six Nigerian women who had been beaten and robbed. They were grateful to me for taking them home, and I was invited to attend a party celebrating one of the girl’s birthdays. I was somewhat reluctant, but I was intrigued by the question: Are whores people too?

In the atmosphere of the party I noticed a circle of friends who it seemed were not in the game, and there was a mature woman who was evidently their controller. A couple of the girls had boyfriends, but this was a group of people from Nigeria, so I think it’s fair to say that the men were probably living off the earnings of the girls. However, if I did not know better, on the face of things they all seemed to be a perfectly normal group of people having a good time.

They came to be on the street because they came to Spain with nothing, and it was desperation that drove them to try and raise some money. They would have also been in the game back home, and coming to Spain was in search of a better life. How very sad to have to continue in the same life here.

The police operate a vice squad in an attempt to clean up the streets. I was walking with my wife when we came across a hooker. I made it a point to pass very close to her so that I could say, in a whisper, that whoever tried to take her home would be in for quite a surprise. She was a he policeman, and not very convincing, but I suppose a man who was drunk wouldn’t know the difference.

I stumbled on the saddest sight of all late one night when my wife and I were driving home from an event in the city. The route we took was through an area close to the port. The traffic slowed down to a crawl because there were a lot of people in the street. The area was dark and grubby, and as we got into the thick of the people we realised it was a sex supermarket. In my headlights I saw an attractive girl take the hand of a handsome middle-aged man, and together they walked toward an abandoned building for a rendezvous. In that situation no-one had any dignity, but those two in particular stood out as a really sad case of a lonely man who was being given a little human warmth in the act of the holding of hands. I have never forgotten that sight.

If a man is looking for love or human warmth from a hooker he is looking in the wrong place. I even think that to expect to take off his clothes as though he were making love would be a mistake. Taking your problem to a whore is like going to the toilet. You are looking for relief, and as soon as you climax, in the mind of the girl it’s done, and who’s next is the question.

I make no judgement over prostitution as a profession. It has been around since time began, and will continue long after I have departed. Of course, for those people who are forced into the game, and who are abused and used by other people, they have my concern and sympathy. Many will require help and understanding, and I hope that they get assistance. I am a happy and content man in my marriage, and I hope that I never have to feel so desperate that I need the services of a hooker. For those who do I don’t think there should be a stigma attached, except that you may be furthering the exploitation of a helpless girl.

For those involved in this kind of life I cannot see anything at all for them to be happy about. As “Jennifer”, one of the prostitutes from Nigeria said to me, she hates the life and she hates the men who use her.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Middle Class Prostitution



Middle Class Prostitution



Continuing the series: So you think you hate your job!

Prostitution is a democratic institution, in that there are service levels to fit all types and status of clients. We have spoken of high-class hookers, and the fact that they form a very small part of the pyramid at the very top. The next step down is the middle-class crowd, and here is where things start to go kind of strange. There are problems in the higher echelon as well, because when we consider the basics, this is an industry that panders to people’s most fundamental needs, and what some people need is off the chart.

In Spain, we have a very healthy attitude towards sexual intercourse. Everybody should do it because it releases tension, reduces madness caused by a lack of getting some, and it usually feels good. Sometimes, it feels downright great! However, the government do not like to have people doing it in the street, or soliciting in public.

If prostitution is not outright illegal in Spain, it is a permitted activity, but families should not have to observe working girls in action. Therefore, it is urged to take place indoors. Consequently, there is a whole industry that covers glamorous, aggressively advertised leisure clubs that promise the client that his fantasies will be met in comfort, discretion and healthy surroundings. Just bring money; lots of money.

There are also less classy clubs in the country that even look forbidding from the outside. They usually call themselves “Night Clubs” and where I come from such places that are known as Night Clubs would be perfectly respectable. They might feature a show and dancing. Not so in these clubs. I frankly don’t know what goes on within, and I’m never going to be stupid enough to go and find out, research, notwithstanding.

However, a buddy of mine told me that he ventured into a bar with a name that said “topless” out front. He said that the two female bartenders were indeed topless, but he got the shock of his life when one of them came round and offered to let him massage her breasts, and she offered to do him a blowjob. That might be a bit much if all you wanted was a beer.

There are the bars with “Go-Go” or Pole dancers, but I haven’t heard of any bars in Spain where the girl will pick up your 100-euro note with her vagina. There are plenty of those in the good ole U.S.A.

From the working girl’s point of view it must surely be better to work inside out of the weather, and in relative security. Some men have very low opinions of whores, as though they are not people. They take it as their right to be abusive, and some men even think that whores should be killed. A woman needs protection from such perverted thinking. Consequently, here in Spain if you are lonesome and you have a sexual itch that needs someone to massage it, all you have to do is pick up a copy of the daily newspaper to see what is on offer.

It boggles the mind to look over the menu of the things that people are prepared to do for money. Simple sex seems to be the least of it, and services are available to men by women; to women by men; to either sex by same sex members; to couples by other couples, or either a man or a woman. One of the most startling adverts came from a grandmother who offered to lick the client from top to bottom. I wondered whether the client would shower before, after, or just not bother. Oh dear!

To indicate just how serious the leisure business is, take for example the largest brothel in Spain is a 3000 square metre complex that features a restaurant, two showrooms, 80 working bedrooms, a pool and garden area, and has 150 hookers on duty at all times.

Where all this goes so very wrong is when we consider that some of the girls are not there of their own free will. Any club that has to traffic in humans to keep a sufficient stock of staff to run their business immediately loses any credibility they might have had. Trafficking in humans is a very serious crime and is not to be encouraged at all.

Forced prostitution is the same as slavery, and slavery is the very worst crime of all. Always has been, and always will be!

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael