It’s interesting to see how an area, country, or society can change its morals almost at the drop of a hat. For example, Weimar Germany, devastated by the worldwide financial collapse of the 1930′s and saddled with an insurmountable war debt, quickly became a moral wasteland. As fortunes crumbled and the future seemed hopeless, the basic rules governing social interaction evaporated and Berlin became a destination for sex tourists, not unlike today’s Bankok. Businessmen from around the world used their vastly inflated home currencies to buy the affections of “demi-castors,” or upstanding middle-class women who turned to prostitution as a means of making ends meet.

From matrons to schoolgirls, women from every walk of life and level of society demonstrated that, in the end, there is one commodity that never loses its value.While Weimar Berlin is an outrageous example of the impact that a brutalized economy can have on society, recent events have demonstrated that the evaporation of social mores is not as unlikely as one might hope. From young New York women seeking to  themselves to wealthy businessmen, to people offering cheap rentals in return for  sex for gas, the news over the last few months has been full of sordid tales of women deciding to turn to prostitution as a means of dealing with inflation. The definitive event in this trend was probably New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s dalliance with Ashlee Dupree. While the news was running in circles attempting to explain Spitzer’s downfall, precious little attention was devoted to the woman who was willing to exchange her body for cash and an embarrassing moment in the spotlight. It’s interesting to speculate on the reason for this lack of coverage: was the media uninterested in the forces that motivated Spitzer’s Lolita, or was it simply convinced that it already knew them? Continue reading →