The world's oldest plotline

I have been trying to parse the meaning of he might "ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe,'' as in what sex worker "Kristen'' was told by her employer in relation to the Eliot Spitzer scandal.

The filing indicates Kristen took the 5:39 p.m. regional Amtrak down from Penn Station on Feb. 13 for her rendezvous with Spitzer in Washington.

Calling in to her dispatcher just after midnight on Valentine's Day, she reported that Client 9 had given her $4,300 for the session and down payment toward the next. Spitzer had used just two of his four allotted hours; he had to testify the next morning before the House Financial Services Committee on the "State of the Bond Insurance Industry."

Spitzer evidently had a reputation with the call-girl service for being "difficult" – a sentiment shared by many Wall Street executives he prosecuted – but Kristen was philosophical. "I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is," she said in a phone call recorded by the feds.

"I am not a . . . moron, you know what I mean. So maybe that's why girls maybe think they're difficult."

And besides, Kristen went on, "I have a way of dealing with that. . . . I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex?"

(Excerpts from the FBI wiretap documents are here, on The Smoking Gun.)

"Not ... safe.''

Well, let us assume that that that has nothing to do with the age of the alleged hook-up venue, Washington's vintage Mayflower Hotel. I can't imagine that the chandeliers there could not support at least some swinging.

But we're talking a lot more than that here, clearly, if a call girl company was concerned about his, um, sexual predilections.

This is why I have to wonder about Silda Wall Spitzer's standing by her man. Was this guy risking her health as well as hers with unsafe sexual practices?

It's the only reason I wonder, really. The woman is a Harvard grad and a corporate lawyer. She is no dummy, and she has to have had a clue about her husband's hobbies.

I once got this postcard from a safe sex campaign aimed at gay men. it was a drawing of a chunky, balding, middle-aged man, undressing in front of a hot young guy. The older guy says: "I always wear a condom because i want to protect the ones I love.''

It made me snort.

I know a lot of women -- and men, for that matter -- are speculating on why Silda showed up at that brief news conference, eyes downcast, unsmiling, silent. Pretty obvious to me. She forgives him. She'll make him pay but she forgives him.

If she had no intention of sticking it out, my guess is, she would have abandoned him long before they walked up to the podium.

Sidebar: I once sort of met Bill Clinton. I was part of a gaggle of reporters covering a book signing. I watched him check out the women in the group, especially the younger, prettier ones. There is NO question in my mind that he's a horndog. But he's a killer, a charmer. So I get Hillary (sometimes Rodham) Clinton's loyalty. Eliot Spitzer strikes me as a prig. So I don't get Silda's support. But then, I haven't seen him up close and personal.

Really, is it any of our business what goes on between husband and wife?

Oh, and yes, I know that wives cheat too. But, since I can't think of a single cuckolded political husband that stood in front of the media the way that all these political wives do, unfaithful women are not relevant here.

Enough speculation on how much testosterone is in this tiger's tank, or on the state of the Spitzers' conjugal relations. Some guys just need/want more. Actually, many guys do. And  relationships with sex workers are often the best solution. There's usually no emotional expense. It's cleaner, quicker and less likely to lead to late night phone calls from girlfriends wondering how come they are always the one to be alone.

This is just one reason that I feel that the sex trade should be decriminalized and that women be safeguarded from whackos, murderers and pimps in practicing the world's oldest profession.

Sure it's still cheating.

But, if adults are consenting, and wives are forgiving, then let s/he who is without sin cast the first editorial.

UPPITY DATE (12/03/08):
Here's today's exchange on the Spitzers, and political marriages, between my Star colleague Judy Gerstel and me from today's Living section.

Comments

[Tim]

It's because of common sense perspectives like this that I rejoice at your return to blogging Antonia. No one can truly know what goes on at the heart of any relationship we are not a part of. That's why it is best to avoid passing judgments on the ways people find to make those relationships work.

[Cathy]

Well, apparently Mr. Spitzer's extracurricular sexual activities have added up to around $80,000, so it may be that he has a sex addiction, one of our two original addictions, with food being the other one because well, humans wouldn't be here if we didn't have the brain capacity for those two addictions. So if he has an addiction he should come out and say so and then get some therapy. And if he does get therapy then I don't think he should have to resign. The premier of British Columbia didn't resign when he was charged with drunk driving. He apologized and then got help for his alcohol addiction. And I would tend to think that drunk driving is more dangerous to innocent bystanders than an addiction to prostitutes. It seems that democrats like to make love and republicans like to make war.

[mozo]

from yer column "But, since I can't think of a single cuckolded political husband that stood in front of the media the way that all these political wives do, unfaithful women are not relevant here."

can't recall if that mayor from small-town bc was cheatin on her hubby or just mis-usin the mayor's office. but she was certainly happy to pose wearin nothing but her chain of office

then there was the councillor from alberta who was "kidnapped". her hubby was certainly sufferin in front of the cameras fer a few days

[Gloria]

How much sex qualifies as an addiction?

[arthurdecco]

Cathy said: "can't recall if that mayor from small-town bc was cheatin on her hubby or just mis-usin the mayor's office. but she was certainly happy to pose wearin nothing but her chain of office"

If you "can't recall", then why spew such spurious chatter?

Facts: It was her husband who took the picture. It was later STOLEN from their home while they were out.

BTW, is missing punctuation and slurred spelling "Cool" now, Cathy?

[Gregory]

The liberals were sex-trafficking juveniles as 'exotic dancers'. Why should legal prostitution be any different?

Icky, sleazy, corrupt, and without ethics or morality. A lot of girls went missing in Canada, never to be seen again.

Two Americans died in mysterious circumstances and their deaths were covered-up by the last Liberal govt.

The liberals are a very dubious human rights quantity, it made me feel quite ill just to have to talk to them.

The fundamental problem is that legalized prostitution will always have pimps and criminals attached to it.

That is a given. In no country in the world will the police intervene positively, because the system once established has to be protected. That's just the way it is.

Protection & safety is a joke, myth, lie, and fraud on the intelligence. A safe model doesn't exist anywhere.

How many window girls in Amsterdam circa 2002 are still alive? The pro-prostitution fanatics don't do archive photos. What they're about is a wicked lie.

If they like it so much, they should try it.

Gregory Carlin

Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition

[Antonia]

Just out of curiosity: Who are ''the liberals'' here? I wonder if you might clarify your points, including your charge that two American girls went missing. I am not familiar with the facts of this case.

[Gregory Carlin]

"Just out of curiosity: Who are ''the liberals'' here? I wonder if you might clarify your points, including your charge that two American girls went missing. I am not familiar with the facts of this case."

The Western Standard, Lifesite, and Union Standard Pa. reported upon it, I was also interviewed by this newspaper in relation to the mistreatment of Romanian females.

'Gregory Carlin of the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition, which has consistently denounced the Canadian government for its implicit and active cooperation with international slave-trafficking, told LifeSiteNews.com that he is concerned that all isn't as it appears.'

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05062105.html

Two out of the four died.