The DC Madam: She Took the Fall for Everyone

You may be surprised that a middle-aged mom is writing a post advocating the legalization of prostitution. Here's why. A short while ago, news got out that the DC Madam killed herself while visiting her mother in Florida: a death that was really unnecessary.

For those who haven't followed the salacious story of the DC Madam, her name was Deborah Jeane Palfrey and she ran what she referred to as a "legal and high-end erotic fantasy service" that catered to elite clients in Washington, DC. In mid-April, a jury found her guilty of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. Ms. Palfrey's known clients included Senator David Vitter and Randall Tobias, a former State Department official. Her client list apparently contained thousands of names including high-ranking officials at the White House and Pentagon, movie stars, lobbyists, and prominent DC attorneys.

I don't know about you, but I haven't heard of Senator David Vitter or any of the other clients on the DC Madam's list killing themselves or, for that matter, facing jail time.

The Sacramento Bee reported a couple of weeks ago that:

A review of prostitution arrests in Sacramento County reveals an alarming gender bias. According to arrest data compiled by Sacramento Bee reporters Phillip Reese and Ryan Lillis over the past three months, Sacramento city police and county sheriff's deputies arrested 210 prostitutes but only two of their customers.

210 women arrested and only two men - what's that about? You think it might be blatant gender discrimination?

I have taken up an interest in prostitution only because my husband Seth Greenland has become somewhat of an expert. He is about to publish a novel about the field called "Shining City" and after extensive research for his book (on the Internet he assures me . . .) he pondered the arena here on HuffPost:

Other than huge ratings for Diane Sawyer, and sales of "Kristen's" song on MySpace, what good can possibly come from this? Human beings are flawed and that, admittedly, provides great entertainment value. But aren't there terrorists to catch? Wait, here's an idea -- the Pentagon can contact the Emperor's VIP Club, order seventy-two virgins, air-lift them to Waziristan, where bin-Laden is allegedly hiding...

I gotta admit, I agree with him. There are more important places to spend our limited time and resources than on busting hookers. But there is another important issue as well. While most of the time prostitution is a victimless crime, when there are victims you better believe they are female rather than male.

If we can't treat men and woman equally here, what about this for a solution: let's regulate it, let's tax it, and let's mind our own business. Failing that, why don't we arrest a couple of the high level clients whose names keep popping up on these lists and send them to jail? Who knows, that might bring about a shift in public policy.

Comments

[JNV]

Susan, you ladies outnumber the males and yet you can't keep the Scalias from expropriating your reproductive organs. Maybe polygamy is endemic which accounts for the males wanting to monopolize a woman's body for free. Prostitution, gambling and drugs corrupt not humanity but government.

[OnTheCusp]

You're kidding, right?

[NABNYC]

I thought it was really a shame when I hear this yesterday. Apparently this woman was herself a prostitute at some point in time, then decided to become a madam. That was her real mistake: only men are allowed to own, organize, run, and profit from businesses which sell women for sexual purposes. I guess she didn't get the memo.

How many times do we read about some highly-respected very wealthy male who earned a living selling nude photos of silicon-injected women to men who use them to jerk off. Yet the men who do it are respected if not admired, seen as cool. Any woman in the sex industry is treated like a dirty kleenex.

I agree that if big-shot wealthy elite men use prostitutes, when they know full well it is illegal, then if we're going to throw people in jail over this it should be the men, not the prostitutes, not the women. But everywhere in this country the opposite is true. All over D.C. men use prostitutes every day without any legal consequences. But this woman was going to be thrown in prison for 50 years for what? I don't think it's because she was a madam -- I think it's because she was cutting into the business usually run by men. Very sad to hear that she killed herself.

[Crowhaul]

A White House that would 'out' a NOC agent such as Plame would have no compunction in 'silencing' their DC Madam.

Speaking of which, when is Bush going to get around to 'taking care of' whomever in his administration outted Plame? If this isn't an impeachable offense, then I don't know what is. And why doesn't the Press Corp keep pinning him down on this issue???

[OnTheCusp]

Because the US continues to condone torture.

[faust2001]

Hey SouthHouse, it's a good thing we have patriotic Americans like you to protect us from conspiracy theories. Otherwise we might wind up wasting billions of dollars and thousands of lives looking for WMD in Iraq.

[SouthHouse]

I think you miss my points-- which are these:

1. Conspiracy theorists generally used to be individuals with far fetched suspicions about evil things the government is doing to us.

2. Growing numbers of Americans REALLY DO have suspicions that the government is doing evil things to us.

3. What the government IS DOING is making more Americans suspicious.

What scares me is whether democracy in any form can remain viable in a country where the people no longer trust the words, the actions, or the motives of its government. In such an atmosphere of distrust, conspiracy theories will emerge constantly.

[AurigaRa]

One day when her business records are fully exposed, we will see who benefitted from her "suicide."

[DakotaMinnesota]

You know who was the biggest conspiracy theorist of all time?

Sherlock Holmes.

How many people are out there reading detective novels and then don't have the guts to exercise critical judgment in the real world? With the DC Madam, when she gives interviews stating outright that she is not suicidal but also fears of being "suicided," this is what we call a CLUE.

And our media is looking the other way. They couldn't stop talking about Heath Ledger's death. But this one, which is the juiciest news they could ask for, they're more than ready to avoid. What's YOUR explanation for that?

Too many friggin' Watsons out there. Nobody with the guts to be a Holmes.

[OnTheCusp]

The Holmes' of the world get sent to Guantanamo. Simple as that.

[bac]

I felt very sad when I read about it. That the Government should hound her to her death for such a benign victimless crime, while the many who have enjoyed her services have gone scott-free, just does not seem right.

[SouthHouse]

Hi Folks--

Conspiracy theories aside, the scariest part about all of this is the rapidly increasing numbers of Americans who believe that our government is a criminal enterprise that will use any means-- including murder-- to protect its interests.

[zeldamae]

Once you start torturing people and justify it, nothing is out of realms. It's a really steep slippery slope. Once you start invading and destroying countries that haven't attacked you, nothing is out of realms.

[RoloTomassi]

Oh, I see...so the PERCEPTION that the government might be that corrupt and criminal is far more disturbing than the possibility that such a perception might be TRUE?

If that is the case, then your comment is disturbing to me.

[SouthHouse]

Yes-- because for many, PERCEPTION IS REALITY.

What are implications for our free nation-- particularly with respect to the First Amendment-- if the general population accepts the notion that anyone who suggests our leaders are not acting lawfully or ethically CAN and WILL be silenced permanently?

[thinkb4uleapII]

After hearing of Ms. Palfrey's death yesterday, I was overwhelmed with a despairing sense of outrage over the global corruption that exists in our society, culture, governments, .... I might still be in a state of despair today if it were not for my enduring and firm belief that cosmic justice will prevail for the willful and corrupt perpetrators of injustice, and their victims. I'm not talking about "Heaven" or "Hell", since I don't ascribe to those concepts as commonly taught, but a more universal belief in the restoration of balance and equity in our social and other institutions through a paradigm-shift of human consciousness.

I recall the verse: "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see [goodness prevail] In the land of the living." and find affirmation for my faith in this concept of universal justice.

I believe Ms. Palfrey, among many others, is a victim of injustice, independent of how her life may have ended. I trust that she and her loved ones will take comfort in knowing that truth and justice will ultimately prevail.

[Cathexis]

Ditto, LRM!

[LRM216]

Beautifully said.

[Darksider]

After the news broke I called my congressperson's office and asked what did this woman do that was wrong? I asked her that what two people do is between them and not the government's business. I personally support the legalization of prostitution as long as it's kept off the streets. The high end service that Madam Palfrey ran was hurting no one. Some powerful guys had fun, some young women profited off of their attractiveness. Who was hurt? Why is the government in our bedrooms telling us as consenting adults how we can get off? If I drop a hundred bucks at dinner and then take a girl home that's okay but if i cut the middleman out and just give her the hundred directly we go to jail? Why should the government care or even have the right to care what happens between two consenting adults?

[gulopartisan]

"We" don't go to jail; she does. That's the point.

[arkgrfx61]

My sentiments exactly, people will always want to get off...the government can't stop it...the same w/ gays wanting to be married.
How does it hurt anyone else what they are doing? Why is it anyone's business.
If they are going to burn in hell for being gay or using a prostitute...then isn't that THEIR problem and not the gov't's???
(BTW I DON'T believe they are going to burn in hell .... *drum roll please* I'm playing the devil's advocate.)

[rroy]

The human race is indeed a strange species!I'm not a biologist but it seems to me humans are the only species on earth that engage in the practice of,for want of a better term,"recreational sex".
It used to be,before the advent of the pill , abortion on demand,and other controls of female reprocuctivity,Recreational sex was pretty much,but not totaly,the pervue of the male members of the species.All of that obviously has changed,not because of a change in moralesit is a "liberation"of women's sexuality equal to her male counterpart.
Yet there is still the dogmatic mind set in society that sexuality is the inherant right of the male members of the species and not thefemales.
As an older member of society,I often find "sexual liberation"of the female of the species difficult to cope with.Yet I am still rational enough to realize it is here,and must be accepted.
What all of this has to do with prostitution and weather or not it should be legalized,I don't know,other than portraying the patron as the victim in a victimless crime strkes me as quite reactionary and backward.

[CrazyDogLady]

Dolphins and the Bonobo Chimpanzee also engaged in recreational sex...and the Bonobo's have even been thought to trade sex for food...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphins

Not sure if "humping" counts as a recreational sexual activity...but my one dog does have an ongoing lustful relationship with my sofa cushion...Guess it's a good thing he's fixed as there is no chance of "pillow puppies" :-)

Having your "Right to Life" taken away and being murdered in a manner to look like a suicide is not a "victimless crime"...unfortunately it does appear that some powerful male specie members did pay for recreational sex outside of the sanctity of marriage and now they don't want to get caught with their pants down as it would expose the fact they actually lack the very morals they espouse...

[Herm]

"my one dog does have an ongoing lustful relationship with my sofa cushion...Guess it's a good thing he's fixed as there is no chance of "pillow puppies" :-)"
****************************************************

If your dog impregnated a pillow and there were offspring, they would be 'puppy pillows', not 'pillow puppies'.

And yes, Ms. Palfrey has taken the ultimate hit for one of the many things rich white men are famous for. Surprised, anyone?

[CommanderWhitehead]

Do you seriously believe the woman committed suicide? (If you do, I've simply got to tell you about this bridge that I've been trying to get rid of.)

Don't you see that the "hanging" method is the dead (no pun) giveaway?

It's actually a lot easier to bolt down a bottle-full of pills than it is to get the right sort of rope, rig up a noose, the platform, the whole deal is a minor engineering feat. The little that I know of Ms. Palfrey tells me she ain't the hangin' kind.

It's been more than rumored for some time that Cheney had been a client. (I know what your probably thinking, but really, he's most certainly into bondage. No penetration necessary.)

Just as the death of Paul Wellstone was no accident (it's amazing what someone with the right remote control device can do to a small plane nowadays), the so called "DC Madame" was snuffed.

She was sitting on a mountain of dynamite. What's another murder when you tally the number of dead people that this regime has racked up to date?

It will, I'm sure be largely glossed over by our "ministry of propaganda". The notion that she was actually murdered will never be offered or contemplated, and America will remain in it's semi-sleep state, believing that the "good men" who govern us are incapable of such an injustice.

That's what's so cool about America. We never do anything wrong.

[AurigaRa]

now way it was a suicide.

Every woman out there knows she would not have left her dead body for her beloved mother to find.
Her mother's whose was ill with her heart operating at 30% capacity.

No, she would have driven somewhere or gotten a room, taken some pills and let the police find her.

Somewhere trusted friends have her records and will expose the government officials who made this happen. What a bunch of dicks.

[drkazmd65]

I certainly hope you are right AurigaRa - If this was not a suicide, Then the conspiracy needs to be brought out into the open.

Cockroaches don't like the bright light of day though,...

[KitChandler]

I can not imagine a woman who apparently loved and cared for her aging mother would hang herself in her mother's home. Can you image the trauma that this has caused this woman? In other words this was not a suicide.This was a contrived murder reminiscent of other unsolved mysteries.

When someone in government dislikes you, you'd better run for cover.

[thinkb4uleapII]

I say stand your ground. If more of us stood our ground, we would need not fear our government.

[DakotaMinnesota]

Anyone interested in honest detective work about Paul Wellstone's plane crash, watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vbf49kzWFw

"A fire that could not be put out with water." The official explanation is a cartoon. Both Norm Coleman and Governor Tim Pawlenty are in office in Minnesota under suspicious circumstances. I think it has something to do with the NAFTA Superhighway's intended route into Canada through Minnesota.

Skeptical? Google "NAFTA Superhighway" and read. It's already started in Texas despite major protests.

And yeah, I don't get how people could just accept this DC Madam business as suicide and leave it at that, especially after she warned she would be taken out in just such a way. She outright stated in her final interview that she was not suicidal - obviously for a specific reason. Why doesn't this get reported in the major media, if only in the interest of full disclosure?

[PistovAmerican]

So nobody's going with the "faked her own death with the help of highly placed government officials in exchange for her silence" scenario?

[DakotaMinnesota]

Dude, are you making fun of the possibility that she was killed be equating it with some stupid dime novel plotline?

So many pretend like this kind of thing has never happened before anywhere in the world.

Go talk to a person from El Salvador or Guatemala or Nicaragua or Chile.
Go talk to a person who