• admiralteal@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    We do not need to legalize it to get rid of the stigma. Spreading and calling out stories like this for the dreadful, inhumane, closeminded bullshit that they are is how we get rid of the stigma.

        • killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That has nothing to do with public perception which has everything to do with stigmatization.

          The fact that you listed things that have historically been highly stigmatised because of the law is bizarre.

          (Except jaywalking, not sure where that one is coming from)

          • QHC@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Jay walking was originally a derogatory term for rural people in the ‘big city’ and supposedly not knowing how to navigate paved streets.

            • killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yeah I guess I’m picturing people walking head on into traffic whereas it can also include simply crossing an empty street.

              Where I live the latter is fine but the former is illegal.

              • admiralteal@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                It’s the exact opposite way around. Early car users were plowing their way through crowded streets, which were designed for and primarily used by human beings. The streets also had their fair shares of carts, horses, trolleys, etc., but they were primarily for people walking around.

                The fledgling auto industry was under SERIOUS fire for the HUGE number of people getting killed by reckless, inattentive, unsafe drivers. Serious risk of cars being fully banned from many cities. So they ran a giant PR campaign to flip the blame. The issue wasn’t reckless drivers carelessly charging around crowded streets and killing people – it was actually the peoples’ fault for being in the streets (that had ALWAYS been theirs to be in previously and which were built for them by them).

                Worked great. Streets rapidly became places people were not allowed to use – only cars were permitted, and nearly rent-free. A total hostile takeover.

        • QHC@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          All of those are/were stigmatized specifically because of legal status.

          What are you even taking about, my man.

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          The law usually reflects what people think is moral. Not all people of course, but a critical mass. Smoking weed is still widely considered immoral. Drinking was considered immoral by a lot of people when Prohibition started, and it still is by a smaller but still substantial number of people.

          Jaywalking is more complicated, because there was a deliberate campaign to stigmatize it. I can’t recall if it was made a crime to promote the stigma or in response to it, but a sigma was definitely involved.

          • Little Trans Punk@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            But why was weed initially considered immoral? What did the aide to the president say about the “war on drugs”?

            Couldn’t possibly be ulterior motives, like the racism our country was founded upon. That couldn’t be right, right?

      • foyrkopp@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Cheating on taxes is a crime, but in certain circles it’s nit stigmatized.

        The same goes for ignoring the speed limit in other circles.

        A desperate mother shoplifting to feed her child would probably get compassion from many.

        On a side note, it is also possible for something to be a crime and not be punished. It is a way for a society to condemn something, but acknowledge that is just necessary under certain conditions.

        (Some countries use this trick for contentious topics like abortion and, yes, prostitution.)

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          All your examples are things you say are stigmatized, just not in certain circles. In other words they’re actually counterexamples, unless you’re agreeing with me and I’m totally misleading your tone. If the goal is for prostitution to be destigmatized only in certain circles, then we’re already there. Mission accomplished!

          It is a way for a society to condemn something

          If there’s a difference between society condemning something and that something being stigmatized, I’m falling to see what it is.

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          I think removing the stigma and changing the law are both worthy goals, and that one can facilitate the other, but I don’t think the stigma can ever be fully removed. Laws can be changed with a single vote, but cultural values never really go away; at best, they become fringe views, and even that usually takes a very long time.

    • Lem Jukes@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      But, why? This feels about as effective of a strategy as ‘thoughts and prayers’…