The news of Deborah Palfrey’s suicide struck me as terribly sad, last week.  I couldn’t quite describe why, but a recent article by Susannah Breslin captures it well. From one of the women she interviewed for the story:
“The first thing I thought about was the incredible isolation that both of them probably felt,” she said. “Because you’re doing something that’s perceived to be so morally wrong that you’re immediately outside society, as a prostitute or a madam. You’ve got this secret life or a compartmentalized life, and then to be pushed out there and villainized — I can only imagine the incredible isolation they must have felt.”
While the body of Deborah Palfrey was hanging from the rafters (her 76 year old mother was too frail to take her down), Palfrey client David Vitter was enjoying life as a United States Senator, having recently headlined a fundraiser with President Bush.
What the hell is wrong with us?