A New Zealand taekwondo champion, Logan Campbell, has decided to try to fund his next Olympics bid in an unusual way – by opening a brothel. However, he has run into difficulties, with the New Zealand Olympic Committee set to sue him:
Campbell went public with the scheme in July and the 23-year-old said he hoped to raise NZ$300,000 to alleviate any financial burden on his parents and to have more time to concentrate on training.
After remaining silent on the issue for three months, the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) had written a letter to Campbell demanding he cease linking the Olympics to his business or face legal action, the athlete told New Zealand television Wednesday.
“Based on the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, we would place your actions as totally inconsistent with these values,” TV3 network quoted an excerpt of the letter, signed by NZOC secretary-general Barry Maister, as saying.
“Your open solicitation of ‘clients’ for your ‘business’ while using the Olympic or Olympian connection must cease immediately, or the NZOC will be forced to consider taking legal action against you.”
Campbell, who finished outside the medals in the featherweight division at Beijing, defended his business and fundraising efforts.
Owning and running brothels is legal in New Zealand, where laws governing prostitution are relatively liberal by world standards.
Hmm, interesting question – if running a brothel is not actually illegal, can Campbell be sued for funding himself in this way?
My co-blogger has pointed out that there is historical precedent which may be in Campbell’s favour, if one really wishes to embrace the true Olympian spirit. I quote from the Wikipedia entry on Sacred Prostitution:
In 464 BC a man named Xenophon, a citizen of Corinth who was an acclaimed runner and winner of pentathlon at the Olympic Games, dedicated one hundred young girls to the temple of the goddess as a sign of thanksgiving. We know this because of a hymn which Pindar was commissioned to write (fragment 122 Snell), celebrating “the very welcoming girls, servants of Peïtho and luxurious Corinth”. …
The ancient Greeks (from whom the Olympics are derived) were not opposed to prostitution. Indeed, as this demonstrates, some parts of Greece even had a concept of sacred prostitutes (hierodules). In addition, the Ancient Greek world possessed the hetaera, an educated female companion and prostitute. Such women were respected and could take part in symposia with men. On the other hand, there were also porne, apparently the less-educated prostitutes (whose name gives rise to words such as pornography). It is not without reason that prostitution is sometimes called “the world’s oldest profession.”
The Wikipedia article on prostitution states: “Prostitution is historically and culturally ubiquitous.” I guess that even if you have run out of every other resource, then selling your body is always something you can consider to make ends meet (no pun intended). Hey, if Campbell became really desperate, he could always become a gigolo rather than try to sell someone else’s body. I wonder if that’s incompatible with Olympic ideals?
Maybe Campbell has got the wrong end of the stick. Xenophon waited until he’d won his event at the Olympics before getting into prostitution sponsorship… while Campbell is trying to raise some folding stuff before. One thing is abundantly clear, however. The NZ Olympic Committee has managed to get the wrong end of both sticks, big time.
12 Comments
Well, at least his means of earning a dollar involves increasing the aerobic capacity of many individuals, whereas sponsorships from food companies has the chance of increasing obesity in at least some.
Although, warm-up and cool-down stages of those exercises… naaa, three wise monkeys impersonation happening.
A very fine and moral stance.
I’m also sure there is absolutely no truth to the scurrilous implication made in John Clarke’s ABC-TV comedy show The Games that after a visit to a city of the IOC, the local sex workers need a few days off to recover and spend all their extra money.
Because that, of course, would make the NZOC’s stance hypocrisy of the worst sort.
Hi
Hi back, Nanu. {waves}
Stepping away from the moral relativism problem, they’re on firmer ground prosecuting him for attempting to associate the Olympics and/or its symbols with a private commercial enterprise (regardless of respectability) that hasn’t paid for that privilege.
Dave – yeah, I had thoughts too that at least he was promoting physical activity, but nah, I don’t wanna think about it too hard either.
David J – LOL!
Hi Nanu – long time no see
DEM, yes, they’re on much firmer ground on re the Olympic symbols from this lawyer’s point of view. I was looking at the Olympic Charter, particularly Rules 7 – 14. If he’s trying to promote his business by associating it with the Olympics…or using Olympic symbols for his business…he may be in trouble.
Is prostitution the oldest profession? I’m not so sure. What about shamans (or whatever the tribal spiritual leader/doctor was called)?
Maybe prostitution is the world’s oldest continuous profession.
Actually, I’m tempted to think “mother” is the oldest profession. It’s certainly the hardest job I’ve ever done!
P.S. but unfortunately, it ain’t paid…
LE@7 “oldest profession”
Indulge me telling a joke:
A doctor, architect and politician (in some versions, a lawyer) were discussing “the oldest profession”.
The Doctor says “In Genesis, god took out Adam’s rib… so medicine is the oldest”.
The Architect says “But before then god created order from chaos and did the basic blueprints for the universe, so architecture is the oldest”.
And the politician (or lawyer) asks “And who do you think created the chaos in the first place?”
But God is also a god, so isn’t divinity the oldest?
(At Edinburgh University the faculty for studying religion is still called the School of Divinity.)
I suspect prostitution emerged as soon as someone figured out how to ‘truck and barter’, so it’s as old as markets… and markets are old.
DEM@9
(no… not criticizing your theology that is unlike more offensive ones… tongue firmly in cheek here…)
Professions usually come with a professional associations, and codes of ethics that cause ejection if you violate them. Deities claiming singularity can’t have professional associations.
Hey, are graduates of the School of Divinity taught to become deities? Having created a new life form (recombinant DNA work in 1983) do I get any course credits for deity-like stuff already done? Can I become a god by correspondence or coursework rather than on-campus and thesis?
And besides, just cause there are schools, doesn’t mean it’s a profession… Schools of Management abound, but the AusBureau Stats classifies “managers” in a completely separate category from “professionals”. (check ANZSOC at abs.gov.au)
Of course, there /have/ been those who’ve combined the commonly-thought oldest profession and divinity… the priestesses of Astarte/Ishtar in Sumerian times.
No offense taken Dave. On the profession/trade question, you could counter argue that all he has is an unusually large scale Horticulture qualification.
(And no, judging by those post graduates I’ve met they are NOT being taught to be deities. It is sweet though, isn’t it?)