The Super Bowl Prostitution Hoax
Indianapolis is bracing for war. It’s Super Bowl week, after all. Time for the Annual Invasion of the Hookers, which promises to be as harrowing as the Ottoman Empire’s advance on Crete in 1647, though with considerably more nudity.
Yes, one of America’s great urban legends is again being trotted out just in time for kick-off: the notion that legions of out-of-town prostitutes descend on whichever city hosts America’s Big Game. This time around, it’s Indiana attorney general Greg Zoeller who’s milking the hysteria for political gain.
Zoeller is riding the momentum of a hoax that’s reignited before every major sporting event, be it the Super Bowl, the World Cup, the Olympics, or the NBA All-Star game. Alarming figures are pulled from the mist of imagination, where extra zeros apparently come free with every purchase. Anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 hookers will be coming to town! Hide the women and children! And perhaps the more effeminate men as well! You know, just in case!
It’s a myth that’s played to sell-out crowds for more than a decade. But there’s been trouble at the box office in recent years. No one gets too excited about garden-variety prostitution anymore. As a culture-war wedge, it’s so 1912. So promoters of the panic have changed their advertising. Instead of adult harlots, the siege now consists of underage girls.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2012-02-01/news/the-super-bowl-prostitution-hoax/
This is a lengthy piece, but it makes for some interesting reading..
= new reply since forum marked as read
