The guilds used the apparatus of the state as well as collective action to retain their monopoly power. If you were accepted as a full member of a guild, you had it made.

Also the Writers’ Guild and the Screen Actors’ Guild are not exactly pushovers. Guild seems like it’s still a term in vogue for artists who practice an individual craft.

I know a woman who graduated from UCLA with an MBA in law. Now she’s out there educating people on youth homelessness and trying to set up community funds to restore bad neighborhoods.

She was NEVER dimwitted or weak. She was forced into it against her will and did what she could to survive.

Generally, when someone is “forced” into doing something, it is because that person is weaker than the person doing the forcing. It looks like you were so upset by the use of a negative term like “weak” that you couldn’t read right. Derbyshire is just pointing out the same thing I see again and again in feminist discussions; that there’s often a significant power imbalance and someone being taken advantage of, even when there’s no explicit coercion.

Derbs links this at the end of his screed.

Can anyone tell me what in Sweet Jesus’ thorny crown this is supposed to be?

It would appear to be a sappy love song dubbed over scenes featuring two characters in the TV show Firefly. I’m guessing its there because the woman (Inara) is a member of the Companions Guild, which is heavily based on the old Japanese Geisha system. The show also had some pretty hardcore free market/libertarian themes, so thats probably a bonus.

Can anyone tell me what in Sweet Jesus’ thorny crown this is supposed to be?

jill (29):

first. calm down. for some reason or another, if someone disagrees with you on any topic then for eternity whatever they write you react to it as if it was written in a tone that they’re screaming at you.

No, that tone is generally reserved for annoying commenters who only come here to leave obnoxious, ignorant comments. And this one was particularly condescending. Please do not tell me to “calm down” or to “relax,” or I will kindly tell you to fuck off, because you are on my last nerve.

first. calm down. for some reason or another, if someone disagrees with you on any topic then for eternity whatever they write you react to it as if it was written in a tone that they’re screaming at you.

second. i said that five posts had been put up on spizter. as a feminist site (with several law students/attorneys running it) i was surprised the question whether prostitution ought to be legalized or not was not one of them. so i don’t even understand your response. i was talking about the site as a whole, not specifically you. moreover, it was a comment about why those five posts before this one.

third. as i’ve said before, i’m aware it’s your site. i made that comment a couple of times like when you wanted to act like a jerk to me but expected me to never respond in kind. i said fine.

so relax. even if i disagree with 95% of what you write, and your tone in 99% of your posts, i still enjoy the site to see what those like you have to say.

Actuallly, William, you’re right, and I remember how one politician in particular tried to advantage of that situation.

A few years ago, an Illinois state legislator who shall be known here as The Weasel was running for the U.S. Senate. Gun control was a big issue in Illinois at the time—specifically, the state was debating a ban on semiautomatic weapons.

The Weasel issued several press releases about how he favored a ban on automatic weapons, which, as you probably know, have been illegal for civilians to possess in this country for decades.

I don’t know how many people he fooled with this (a prominent Chicago Tribune columnist called him on it), but he didn’t win the election.

Oh. I’m sure that would make a big difference in Derbyshire’s theoretical heroics.

Oh, I’m sure it wouldn’t, its just a pet peeve of mine. Accuracy in these kinds of things is important because a lot of people on both sides of the gun control debate often don’t know what they’re talking about. Sorry if my own personality quirks were misread.

FFS. The geisha system in Japan didn’t mean that there was no regular prostitution. Geishas were for the very wealthy, the aristcrats. But there was plenty of unvarnished prostitution, where you paid your money and got sex, sans the witty conversation and songs and poetry.

Granted, I *do* think all sex workers should be unionized. But hey, I’m a sex-hating Stalinist. ;)

Male cultures have long had rewards for the fortunate. Hookers with intellect and sophistication were the province of our dads, the Greeks. Many of our elites have had dalliances with mistresses. Kind of “my wife doesn’t work”.

Stop placing your selves into the picture and look at it from the view of Jane Sixpak. Sleeping around won’t get you sorority points. It labels you as “fair game” for everyone and their cousins. Your bride-price plummets. The men that will have you are not the kindest in the land. Let’s be real, most of our working class still operates under the philosophy of feudalism.