The pursuit of pleasure...

We can often endure an extra pound of pain far more easily than we can suffer the withdrawal of an ounce of accustomed pleasure. ~Sydney J. Harris

SYDNEY (AFP) - Sex sells, as the saying goes, and while failing banks may give the stock market jitters, they have yet to rattle the world's oldest profession, Australian industry members say.
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This article does not surprise me in the least. Think about it. Sex has been around since day dot. It’s a commodity that is always going to weather the hard – excuse the pun – times. But anything you enjoy will. And regardless of your moral stance – sex is eternal and it’s always been there and people will always make money from it. I have mentioned on the blog before that I view sex workers being in business like anyone else – sure, they may not have been sitting on their arse all day doing office work/answering phones/or serving behind a counter but they still earn a living and must endure like you or me.

I believe in the strength of the human spirit. I believe in the crappiest times people carry on as best as they can and do not let things drag them down. Oh sure, there are always wimps who whine and want pity but most people gird their loins and move on. They juggle finances and make do. We’ve all been there and done that. I know I am not the only one who has been down to their last dollar and jumped on a train without buying a ticket, hung out at secondhand stores or eaten generic 2 minute noodles for weeks on end. We do what we have to survive.

But in saying all that, we are still human beings who crave excitement and relaxation. That the business of sex is doing well means people are not about to deny themselves pleasure – and pleasure means different things to different people. I know a lot of writers go into a panic if their end of month check for book sales is not what they want it to be. They blame the economic climate. You know, I don’t agree with that and I think that’s an easy thing to point the finger at. Maybe a small percentage of people will drop their book buying budget down for the month but ardent readers, in whatever genre, will still buy and still read. Why? Because it’s a pleasure, an escape and maybe the one thing that allows them to zone out for a couple of hours and think of anything but what is happening around them. Reading like sex is a constant in life. It’s like chocolate sales – people are hardly going to stop indulging in chocolate just because the stock market is crap. They may just wait until say - Tim Tams – are on sale and then buy. And sex – in whatever form – physical or written is no different. People will still crave what they do.

Am I condoning prostitution? I see no problem in sex workers who willingly ply their trade. Am I condoning buying chocolate on sale? Yes. Do I think alcohol or cigarette sales will drop because of the world markets being kicked in the arse? Of course not. We’re human beings first and outside work or inside the home work automatons second. We need pleasure, in whatever form to survive. Live first, worry second and then do what you can with what you’ve got.

I take it as a prime cause of the present confusion of society that it is too sickly and too doubtful to use pleasure frankly as a test of value. ~Rebecca West

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Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?