No good deed goes unpunished. I’m guessing Fairleigh Dickinson University professor David Flory would not debate that after his arrest in June on charges of promoting prostitution in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The charges stem from the fact that Flory, a physics instructor, operated a message board called “Southwest Companions” where people allegedly communicated about illegal behavior.
Now, if Flory were a high-school dropout named Snake with tattooed knuckles, gold teeth, and a string of previous offenses, no one would care about his arrest. But Flory is a silver-haired grandfather of 68 with previously unblemished status, and this made him an irresistible target for bloggers and journalists of every slant, who frothed with moral indignation over “the pimping professor.” (Subsequently arrested was former University of New Mexico president F. Chris Garcia, 71. The academic motif was an unrelated coincidence that nonetheless further stoked the Professors-Turned-Pimps! hysteria.)
I find this outrage misplaced. There’s no report of any violence connected with the Southwest Companions site, no mention of anyone underage, no drug angle, no lurid revelations about ministers or politicians. More tellingly, I can’t find any specific allegations of Flory actually taking money from either sex workers or clients. No women have come forward to say that Flory victimized them. Flory is quoted as saying he didn’t profit from the site; he maintained it so people who posted would have a safe way to meet.
Flory and Garcia have been accused of “recruiting new prostitutes… for their multi-state ring.” After careful examination of the slippery phrasing in the stories, I’m translating this as: They e-mailed women who were already sex workers in other states and said, “I’d like to meet you, you should come visit Albuquerque!” Sex workers get e-mails like this all the time. That’s not recruitment; that’s fan mail.
Labeling Flory a pimp is pernicious nonsense. I’ve met a few real pimps. They’re bad people, and nonprofit safety is not their goal. Unless there’s new evidence forthcoming, Flory is being vilified simply for providing a forum where people discussed paying for sex. It’s reasonable to infer he had some personal interest—he is also alleged to be a client of sex workers. However, that’s the opposite of being a pimp. When people equate guys like Flory to predators who use fear and physical abuse to compel women to be prostitutes, it ultimately endangers women more, because it attenuates outrage at genuine exploitation.
Yes, prostitution is illegal. But even if you think it’s a social evil, message boards can be effective harm-reduction tools. Calling their moderators “pimps” is like calling people who run needle exchanges “drug pushers.” As long as we criminalize private consensual adult behavior, the media will distort information to get a dirty story, and once mud is slung, it can’t be taken back. It’s possible the charges against Flory will be dropped or reduced. But his reputation is permanently ruined. That’s an unjustly heavy price to pay for good intentions. 
It drives me crazy that the media tend to equate all types of sex work. I’ve heard many arguments against prostitution from otherwise liberal, intelligent people because they assume that legalizing prostitution will mean legalizing the violent and coercive stuff that sometimes accompanies streetwalking.
on a more neurotic note, “grandfather of 68” is both making me laugh and making my eye twitch. rephrase!
The wonder of a puritanical view of human sexuality.
His crime was allowing sex workers to have a nonprofit public forum. How dare he??
Albuquerque, New Mexico will not tolerate such shameless, immoral behavior as free speech. It’s a fine, upstanding place, where sex workers can be seen, and used, but should not be heard.
Fight fire with fire.
The morals police foist their agenda onto society by shaming people who engage in activities that they deem inappropriate. But isn’t it the people who have a prurient interest in the private lives of others the ones who have the problem? We (the sex positive community) need to make a point of ridiculing those who take inappropriate interest in the goings-on in other people’s bedrooms.
The idea that Flory’s reputation will suffer is one that far too many people accept as axiomatic. Why? We can discuss this amongst ourselves endlessly but we need to throw this back in the faces of the busybodies until society makes them out to be the fools.
Why is it that cops no longer bust gay bars or go after anal sex practicers, but bust two consensual adults looking for companionship. Kind of a big freaking joke when you consider that federal law enforcement is having to explain why they sold automatic weapons up to and including .50 caliber MGs and M-16s to Mexican drug cartels and used in actual murders. All the while, the guy who merely wants to “holster” his “weapon” is jailed.
Crazy weird world we live in, man.
You got it right, Matisse! Ask any escort in any major city and she will tell you that the local escort review boards are what keep her safe. Thank you for drawing attention to this!