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UNConsidered stance or a real viewpoint?


  • Total voters
    2

Valeriechick

New Member
Jul 22, 2014
3
8
49
First-timer here and I've been a King fan since I was 15 and reading "The Shining" under my covers with a flashlight. I was a Jehovah's Witness and Mr. King was STRICTLY VERBOTEN!!. They claimed Steve was possessed by Satan and his works shouldn't be allowed in the house--much less read! My biggest problem with him (I ADORE him BTW) is his knee-jerk disdain for prostitutes. I rebelled my JW upbringing and paid my way (and my 20-year-old son's) way thru college by escorting. I'm retired now but I sigh whenever I read stuff like "you can lead a hooker to logic but you can't make her think" (Dark Tower series). How patronizing / I have a 185 IQ. This prejudice is so far beneath him. (I still love U Mr. SK)
 

Valeriechick

New Member
Jul 22, 2014
3
8
49
First-timer here and I've been a King fan since I was 15 and reading "The Shining" under my covers with a flashlight. I was a Jehovah's Witness and Mr. King was STRICTLY VERBOTEN!!. They claimed Steve was possessed by Satan and his works shouldn't be allowed in the house--much less read! My biggest problem with him (I ADORE him BTW) is his knee-jerk disdain for prostitutes. I rebelled my JW upbringing and paid my way (and my 20-year-old son's) way thru college by escorting. I'm retired now but I sigh whenever I read stuff like "you can lead a hooker to logic but you can't make her think" (Dark Tower series). How patronizing / I have a 185 IQ. This prejudice is so far beneath him. (I still love U Mr. SK)
(In the Poll I meant "UNconsidered stance". All Apologies---Nirvana
 

Lily Sawyer

B-ReadAndWed
Jun 27, 2009
6,625
15,016
South Carolina
First-timer here and I've been a King fan since I was 15 and reading "The Shining" under my covers with a flashlight. I was a Jehovah's Witness and Mr. King was STRICTLY VERBOTEN!!. They claimed Steve was possessed by Satan and his works shouldn't be allowed in the house--much less read! My biggest problem with him (I ADORE him BTW) is his knee-jerk disdain for prostitutes. I rebelled my JW upbringing and paid my way (and my 20-year-old son's) way thru college by escorting. I'm retired now but I sigh whenever I read stuff like "you can lead a hooker to logic but you can't make her think" (Dark Tower series). How patronizing / I have a 185 IQ. This prejudice is so far beneath him. (I still love U Mr. SK)

Okay. First: Hi and welcome. I think you'll like the site.
Second: I'll go out on a limb here. Not that I want to debate you, nor am I sitting in judgment of you and your decision to escort, but yeah, I *do* think prostitutes IN AMERICA are idiots. (Can't speak to the legal prostitutes in the Netherlands.)

Why?

Because they set themselves up for all kinds of violence against women and horrible situations: coercion into prostitution, violence from both pimps and johns, human trafficking, drug abuse, organized crime, prison. All it takes is trusting one very wrong, ill-tempered sort.

I applaud your efforts to keep a roof over your head and educate yourself and your son - would that all escorts and prostitutes used their earnings for educational endeavors instead of a drug habit - but I must admit, I'm relieved, as a woman, to learn you are now retired.
 

Shasta

On his shell he holds the earth.
Mr. King says a lot of things that I don't think he means personally in the voices of the characters. You're not the only one who has taken offense but you have to understand that good writers always write in the voices of their characters. They wouldn't be very good writers if they didn't.

Welcome to the board.
 

Wulfman

Well-Known Member
Jul 8, 2014
174
1,510
41
By the Pacific Sea
Mr. King says a lot of things that I don't think he means personally in the voices of the characters. You're not the only one who has taken offense but you have to understand that good writers always write in the voices of their characters. They wouldn't be very good writers if they didn't.

Welcome to the board.
Someone once asked me "What am I to believe from you?" My answer, "You are not suppose, I am a writer."
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Mr. King says a lot of things that I don't think he means personally in the voices of the characters. You're not the only one who has taken offense but you have to understand that good writers always write in the voices of their characters. They wouldn't be very good writers if they didn't.

Welcome to the board.

Shasta is so right--it could be a character perspective. Then again, none of us knows what (if any) views Mr. King holds on prostitution. Doesn't hurt my personal enjoyment of his stories either way, but it's understandable if it tweaks your ear a bit.

Welcome.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
...welcome young lady...as to any "knee jerk disdain"?....fiction is just that, King never shirks from the truth when he lets you know what's on his mind-as in any Op-Ed piece he's ever penned...he is a gunslinger of words, shoots from the hip and the lip-you'll never be in doubt about his stance on anything when he takes his fiction undies off and goes truth commando...
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I think prostitution should be legal and regulated. It makes it safer for everyone. As far as disease for the working person, the client, the family the client and working person goes home too. They are safer as far as being hurt or taken advantage of by cruel clients and pimps. They get their money. And maybe some of these violent kidnappings and child molestations wouldn't happen as much? Prostitutes can specialize in certain quirky things, so a client could set up a scenario that would scratch that itch and there would be no need for violence. Maybe? I don't know.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
...I sigh whenever I read stuff like "you can lead a hooker to logic but you can't make her think" (Dark Tower series)...(I still love U Mr. SK)

Mr. King says a lot of things that I don't think he means personally in the voices of the characters. You're not the only one who has taken offense but you have to understand that good writers always write in the voices of their characters. They wouldn't be very good writers if they didn't.

Welcome to the board.
Which character said that and in what context? It'd be one thing if sK himself made that statement, but since it was one of the DK characters, it isn't necessarily sK's sentiment but only the character's.

Welcome to the SKMB!
 

Lily Sawyer

B-ReadAndWed
Jun 27, 2009
6,625
15,016
South Carolina
I think prostitution should be legal and regulated. It makes it safer for everyone. As far as disease for the working person, the client, the family the client and working person goes home too. They are safer as far as being hurt or taken advantage of by cruel clients and pimps. They get their money. And maybe some of these violent kidnappings and child molestations wouldn't happen as much? Prostitutes can specialize in certain quirky things, so a client could set up a scenario that would scratch that itch and there would be no need for violence. Maybe? I don't know.

I'm with you on this, but for one thing.....crime stats from the Netherlands show that human trafficking and organized crime surrounding prostitution are on the rise. Wiki isn't a source I'd rely on, but The Economist and the international version of CNN have good reports on this. -I know that the Netherlands has made both brothels and prostitution in general legal, and that sex workers are now required to make regular visits to physicians to rule out sexually-transmitted diseases, but the legalization of it hasn't helped any with narcotic drug dependence. It would be interesting to dig deeper into it and see if there are really sound arguments for legalizing it, so that violence rates go down and public health improves.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I'm with you on this, but for one thing.....crime stats from the Netherlands show that human trafficking and organized crime surrounding prostitution are on the rise. Wiki isn't a source I'd rely on, but The Economist and the international version of CNN have good reports on this. -I know that the Netherlands has made both brothels and prostitution in general legal, and that sex workers are now required to make regular visits to physicians to rule out sexually-transmitted diseases, but the legalization of it hasn't helped any with narcotic drug dependence. It would be interesting to dig deeper into it and see if there are really sound arguments for legalizing it, so that violence rates go down and public health improves.

Everything about it is risky behavior to me, but I don't judge and I want everyone to be safe. I wish there was some way to keep everyone safe from all the bad that goes along with this line of work.
 

Shasta

On his shell he holds the earth.
Which character said that and in what context? It'd be one thing if sK himself made that statement, but since it was one of the DK characters, it isn't necessarily sK's sentiment but only the character's.

Welcome to the SKMB!
Oh, I have no idea. Nothing he says phases me because they are FICTION. I was just saying that in general, the things his characters say or think are not necessarily his views.