Allison Cooper: The ‘sheriff' and the ‘victimless' crime

March 13, 2008, was the 102nd anniversary of suffragist Susan B. Anthony's death.

Coincidentally, it was the same day that television pundits like James Carville and Robert Shapiro joined the sea of voices, including former madams, on television to discuss Eliot Spitzer and the outed "Kristen," the woman he allegedly paid to have sex with him in a Washington hotel room.

We've sure come a long way, baby. Wait a minute - scratch that.

I don't think this is what Miss Anthony had in mind when she crusaded for a woman's right to vote and be involved in politics. What a shock it was to hear the plethora of knuckle-headed TV pundits waxing idiotic about how Client No. 9's foray into sex-for-money is a "victimless" crime.

Certainly, it would stand to reason that "Kristen's" patrons can quiet their nagging guilt by imagining that their call girl is in control of her life, making $5,000 an hour and loving her job.

But, in fact, "Kristen," as we now all know, is Ashley Alexandra Youmans, a 22-year-old admittedly drug-addicted, abused runaway.

Come on, guys, how about a reality check?

Former madam-turned-author Jody Gibson joined Carville and his ilk on CNN, agreeing that when a woman makes $5,000 per hour she is not a victim. Gibson even likened the transaction to ordering a pizza.

Really? Ordering a young woman is like ordering a pizza? Wow.

The voice of reason on the CNN segment (who got about 15 seconds of air time) was Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of Equality Now, who said: "Purchasing a human being should not be allowed in any society, particularly when you're talking about purchasing a woman. This is another form of gender apartheid."

It does no good to pretend there is no human face on prostitution. It's like drug addicts, homeless families, babies without enough food to eat and all of our fellow human beings in dire situations. If we look too closely at the state of some of our disenfranchised people, it makes us uncomfortable in our perceived helplessness to ease their pain.

But let's, for a moment, think about the scenario in that Washington hotel room. A Harvard-educated, rich, powerful politician who seems to think he is "the law" and an abused runaway - naked. Honestly, who has the power in that situation?

Prostitutes have more incidents of drug abuse and addiction, sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases than those who don't work in the sex trade. Eliot Spitzer - who, as New York's attorney general, earned the nickname "the sheriff of Wall Street" - was a New York City-raised child of privilege.

Ashley Alexandra Youmans, at times, was alone and barely able to survive economically. This is a clear-cut example of the wealthy using the poor as a plaything.

Not to mention that Spitzer exhibited the height of hubris and hypocrisy when he got involved in a prostitution ring like those he had busted as attorney general of New York.

And I can't help but wonder how those male pundits, like Carville (political bulldog and Bill Clinton campaign strategist circa 1992) and Shapiro (OJ's attorney) might react if they found out one of their lovely daughters was taking off her clothes for the "steamroller."

Allison Cooper is a Messenger Post Newspapers editor.