… I don’t hear the word “prostitution” and think “a victimless recreational activity between consenting adults.” I think it needs a heck of a lot more popular scrutiny than, say, the Pretty Woman treatment (which we consider so mainstream that it airs on TBS — or one of those channels — many given weekends).

I guess we can thank Spitzer if his predicament highlights crimes that go unpunished, women who are suffering in this “profession,” families destroyed by the industry … and point people in the direction of some of the children (not just his daughters) who have been hurt and exploited by human sex trafficking.

A latest example:

A 35-year-old Prince George’s County man pleaded guilty yesterday to human trafficking for forcing a 14-year-old female Mexican national into a life of prostitution in which she charged customers up to $30 for 15 minutes of sex, according to federal prosecutors. Javier Miguel Ramirez of Hyattsville faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison when he is sentenced in June, the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office said. He pleaded guilty during a hearing in the courthouse in Greenbelt.