Actually not true. When I was working in the rehab facility we had a class on suicide prevention. The counselor running the course said that suicidal people frequently talk about it first.
Yeah, I phrased that poorly. I was meaning in the context of making YouTube videos, but specifically that I don't think he's suicidal by a long stretch, that was a performance that he'd rehearsed, which is why he paused when the camera went off so people could witness it.
But thanks for the correction and insights.
prostitution isn't some career choice. The rehab outfit had a film of interviews with sex workers in Thailand. One young woman (I have no idea how old she was -- she looked about twelve) described the vicious circle she lived in: she needed to turn tricks to get money to pay for drugs so she could turn more tricks to get more drugs... Heart breaking. I'm glad I never gave him money to support that kind of abuse.
Totally - its heart wrenching when you see the stats of how many predominantly women and young girls are trafficked and forced into prostitution and the individual accounts are harrowing. I can't believe we live in a world where trafficking people like that isn't a death sentence.
I'm sure there are some that chose it, but even then I think it's because something else in their life failed - so they chose an "easy" option, but there's a reason people talk about escaping from it, and try to help others to do the same.
Fundamentally, people who visit prostitutes likely don't put the effort they should into determining whether they truly are doing it 100% of the own volition. They likely lack the resources to do so even if they wanted to. Which means they may very well be raping someone, even in western countries but especially in some where sex tourism is a bigger problem.
What's the difference, after all, between Harvey Weinstein taking advantage of someone who wants a part in a movie and someone taking advantage of a girl who needs money or drugs, other than it is far easier for the former to walk away ...
If someone says "yes" because they have no other option, then it's not really consent.