Legalizing Prostitution

Besides moral reasons... it would be itneresting to see if it could be legalized or not. You also have to think though that most prostiutes (sp I know) are killed. People don't like them because of what they do and we're moving into a racism issue, especially if it was made legal.

The best way to a man's heart is really through his stomach, that way you don't have to deal with that pesky rib cage!
~Anomous

that is a very interesting idea
JZ

In Las Vegas I believe that it's legal. I can see why it's wrong though. Many prostitutes are drug addicts and the people who they work for etc. PLus, it's an industry that the government can't tax because they'll never have control over it. Personally, these people make a living. I'm not for or against it.

Prove me wrong, but I doubt you will ever meet a little girl who tells you "I want to be a prostitute when I grow up." I think legalizing prostitution would just enable people to take advantage of women who have hit rock bottom and are desperate for a way to get back on their feet (or desperate to score some drug money) I agree that it woudl be better if the police didn't have to spend their time (and funding) dealing with prostitution, but I think it is needed. Instead of legalizing prostitution, more energy and resources should go into women's shelter and halfway houses to give these women other option aside from prostitution.

Technically speaking, there's nothing wrong with suicides other than moral reasons either. We should from now on stop making a big deal of people who commit suicide because we as a community already have a lot to deal with.

I think that you ask a very compelling question. Many liberals and even "feminists" argue that the reason why we should legalize prostitution is because it will allow for the following: 1) women who work in the industry will receive health care/benefits because it will be considered labor and this means that they will also be "protected" 2) it will remove/challenge the stigma surrounding women's bodies (the criminalization of women making "choices") 3) it will reduce human trafficking -- the heart of the debates surrounding human trafficking are centralized around human trafficking because as the TIP says, "where there is prostitution there is trafficking."

I would like to respond to these three characters that are often pegged for reasons why we should legalize prostitution because, this are very valid reasons why we should not legalize prostitution or rather, why legalizing does not work:

1) What we do know (we as in scholars and activist) is that it legalizing prostitution does not work. In response to the first part (benefits) what happens when you legalize prostitution is that the government then becomes the pimp in the relationship. Also, legalizing prostitution does not eliminate exploitation because it only endorses it through government policy.
2)The second part is that if you talk to women in the industry last research developed by Donna Hughes showed that approximately 80% would not work in the industry if they had a choice. You may also want to read Melissa Farley's Prostitution, Trafficking and Traumatic Stress. What many women suffer from working in the industry is post-traumatic stress disorder. It is often used to characterize Vietnam War Veterans and their experiences after trauma, but theorist/academics/researchers find that it also occurs in prostitutes, survivors of sex abuse as well as survivors of bullying. If you are likely to be raped at least once a week (if not more) it does not seem like a far stretch as to why many women suffer from ptsd. However, the question then is what about women who "choose." One of the most difficult and least understood phenomenons are victims survival tactics in any situation. Sometimes, staying seems less dangerous then leaving (especially if leaving = you are going to die because you are being threatened this on a normal basis or some form of frequency).
3) If you take countries such as the Netherlands or even here in the U.S. where we have legal counties in Nevada, what has occured is that legalizing prostitution increases human trafficking. Public officials in Amsterdam conveyed after legalizing prostitution that it was a mistake. Why? Because what they saw was not an increase in local women working in the industry but the trafficking of women from other countries (south-eastern European countries).

To legalize prostitution is to perpetuate the violences against women's bodies through government endorsement of a relationship in which it pretty much says that it's okay to commodify women.

Suggested Reading: Prostitution, Trafficking and Post-Traumatic Stress Edited by Melissa Farley
or
Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography edited by Christine Stark and Rebecca Whisnant

--Putting all morals aside--
Other than the fact that sex is something that should be cherished, disease is one HUGE reason not to legalize prostitution. There are already enough disease's being spread around-legalizing prostitution would just make them worse.
Sure "the cops have so much to do" already, but what about the hospitals? You don't think they are booked full with people?

If the government was to legalize prostitution it would have to be able to be taxed. so how about legalizing it only if it is in a business like situation where they have to have a business license and file taxes just like any business, you could even go as far as making it mandatory to have health inspections. but if you ask me, if you get a disease from a prostitute than that is the risk you have taken and it shouldn't be the governments business to stop it, after all the government doesn't force people to wash their hands just because it can spread disease.

How can we make prostitution safer? im not being sarcastic or anything...But its impossible unless there's someone there watching and maing sure that the guy wears his condoms, or that both people are free from STD, and I highly doubt they can even afford getting tested for one, and besides prostitution is not really a job where you can get a healthcare or an nsurance company will insure....so we might as well get red of it.

Making it illegal would force SOME women from becoming prostitues, and thats better than none; making it legal would only enforce the thinking that its okay.

If you can give it away for free, why can't you sell it?

In the rural counties of Nevada, the state I live in, and some designated areas besides, prostitution is legal. It is relegated to brothels where women are screened for disease, drug addiction and the patrons are too. THere is security and decent money in being a prostitute. The dangers involved in street-walking are largely avoided for all parties involved.

The women aren't forced to be there, and neither are the men. The work may not be the most appetizing, but I can honestly think of plenty of nasty jobs I wouldn't really want to do. Why is selling pleasure so wrong in this country?

Res ipsa loquitur.
Memento mori, mahalo.

It doesn't matter if prostitution is legal or not... It is always going to exist. Even if it was somehow made legal, it is likely that any restrictions placed would be ignored. I don't think that there is a way to make prostitution a "business," or at least not a law abiding business.
*~Heidi~*

Nevada, I believe (at least some parts) have legalized prostitution. It gets rid of many of the problems with illegal prostitution; it is much safer for all participants involved.

this was a topic in my history class...of all classes right. well my teachers backing for not legalizing it was if we make prostitution why not just legalize drugs? he has kind of got a point...if you start legalizing such things where is the stopping point, the finish line?

We actually had this issue brought up at my Student Leadership conference my senior year in the capitol. One student proposed legalizing prostitution and somehow in the student legislation it passed. We decided it would be better for everyone involved and would promote safety, plus if the United States allows it, they can tax it. That would be a huge revenue. They could also impose certain things like STD tests that would keep prostitution cleaner, and safer for all. It would also get rid of the problem of the pimp.

In the Netherlands, prositution (along w/ use of weed) is legal. After hearing about this, I wondered how different things were for them socially because of that than they are for us in America.

I personally don't think prostitution will be legalized in America any time soon. We are still too wrapped up in our Puritann values, although it doesn't always seem like it. While we greatly falue personal freedom over many other things, we're still too afraid to open up legal prostitution to society.

i know your being sarcastic goosebusterfan but i agree with you.

I am sorry, but how would this be taxed . . . I mean I am a server, and it is hard enough to tax us because we all like about how much we make in tips, even though we are not supposed to, so how do you propose to tax prostituion.

Francesca Chambers

This would never work, and I am glad it won't. It is not only demeaning to women it would cause even more problems. If prostitution were legal that would probably mean that it would go on in a lot more places than it is today... therefore more men would be going to them and you would probably see families falling apart... more abortions... and a huge outbreak of AIDS!!! It would ruin humanity.

I think it wouldn't be a real bad thing to legalize it. Its gonna happen regardless.

I think while it seems "obvious" that if you look at prostitution from a labor rights perspective/health perspective, legalizing it would then in effect mean that "workers" would be safer and have rights. Prostitutes experience rape at least once a week. Legalizing prostitution will not prevent rape - what it does is legally endorse the rape of women/children. In legal prostitution the government becomes the pimp.

I think if you consider economic necessitation a "choice" where someone only has two options: the corner McDonalds or prostitution, is that really a choice?

But, it's not as simple as agency. Where there is prostitution, there is human trafficking. Yes, prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. But, government officials in 2004 explicitly said it was "a mistake." Why? Because what they found was that having a legal venue increased human trafficking. A majority of the women working in the industry are not natives/locals - they are predominantly foreign.

And... About our favorite Nevada state: human trafficking networks traffic women and girls throughout Nevada counties using the legal brothels as a front for legitimate business. You should looking up the Innocent Loss campaign. Nevada was one of the hubs for human trafficking. And if you have ever seen the Tyra Show where Dennis Hof brought his bunnies, what you don't see on the airtime is that one of the women says: I pretend to be someone else. This is a prime example of post-traumatic disorder in which this person is highly alluding to their body-disassociating disorder.

But in general, where has legal prostitution worked? No where. It's a sad attempt to perpetuate the colonization/exploitation of women's bodies through the rhetoric that it is "liberating" and that women have "agency." But, where is the liberation or the agency when the results are simple: the psychological and emotional trauma, and the physical scars if not STDS or some other form of phsyical disfiguring because of weeks/months/years of abuse.

Prostitution is not a liberatory space for women's bodies and legalizing it is not the way to go. The U.S. should draw upon the Swedish model.