Philosophical Ruminations from Geylang

J1: ooh... look at those creamy lumps of flesh!

J2: ya! look at how it jiggles when you hit it!

R: we are still talking about durians here right? i mean... come on... we are in Geylang.

it was a fruitful (pun intended) trip to Geylang last Saturday. We feasted on yummy food and gorged ourselves silly with delicious durians and Jeremy showed us his ability to polish his seeds till they acquire a shiny sheen... :)

we also took a walk to the even lorongs, just for the heck of it, which proved to be an eyeopener for some of the ladies. SH was, as expected, grossed out. and i've been trying to get her to tell me what exactly is wrong, ethically, about prostitution. unlike drug peddling, it doesn't overtly set out to harm people. is it not just a value judgement that we look at prostitutes and say that what they do is to be frowned upon? what is the basis for such aversion, what fuels our disdain?

i think it is because monogamy, sexual loyalty to one particular mate has been pivotal in humanity's ability to develop societies and consequently civilisation. and this is a key development that gave human beings, as a species, an evolutionary edge. as such, anything, any behaviour within the species that threatens to buck such a trend is seen as deviant and thus to be strongly discouraged. and thus, as prostitution is a form of sexual disloyalty, disrupts this order which allows for the smooth forming of society, it is seen as something to be objected to.

and yet it exists. why? because at our basest, evolution has hardwired into the males of the species to have as much sex, and thus spread our own genes as far as possible. so the case of prostitution is a struggle of that which links us to other animals versus civilisation, it is also a struggle between the individual's desires and the collective well-being of the species.