Arnold Zwicky's Blog

🐅🐅🐅 tiger tiger tiger taking out July; the rabbits of August will soon leap in, bringing us Swiss National Day

For which I will briefly re-run bits of two earlier postings. The first — from 7/2/26,  “National days” — riffs on:

my absurd pride in the remnants of Swissness that cling to me, most especially the egalitarian, aristocrat-free ideals the federation has espoused since the original alliance [of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden — a formula I memorized like a mantra in childhood] was formed in 1291, over 7 centuries ago; there is nothing like it in all of Europe.

… Switzerland (celebrating 1291), the US (celebrating 1776), and Peru (celebrating 1821) all clearly have two aspects to their events: one, a celebration of independence, so of liberty and of freedom; and two, a celebration of community and its establishment (a history of community development will precede the break of independence, while establishment of a formal community will typically come later, and might not come at all, though it’s necessary for political nationhood).

The second — from 8/1/20, “Switzerland at your service” — about a different form of freedom:

Today, August 1st (rabbit rabbit rabbit), is Swiss National Day, which I will celebrate by observing that (female) prostitution has been legal — but of course regulated — in Switzerland since 1942, and male prostitution since 1992.

… Yes, I understand  that sex workers can easily be exploited, and the Swiss government is keen to prevent the exploitation of people who find that their [sexual parts, fore and aft] are their most available resources for making a living — though, of course, what they mostly offer is a human connection. In any case, a significant number of them are not desperate people with no visible alternative to sex work (who especially need the protections of the state), but people who choose this line of work because they have a talent for it (like people who choose careers as professional athletes) and find the work satisfying.

(Just another line of work.)

This entry was posted on July 31, 2026 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Events and occasions, Gender and sexuality, History, Language and politics, Language of sex, Prostitution, Switzerland and Swiss things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.