Should prostitution be a crime?

Elizabeth's picture
Submitted by Elizabeth on 4 April 2007 - 3:29pm
Visitor's picture

Legalize prostitution?

Submitted by Visitor on 11 June 2007 - 10:26pm.

In circumstances where a person is not forced into prostitution (financially or otherwise), I have no moral qualms with prostitution.  However, how do we separate out the sticky cases of reality from the idealized scenario of the free actor?

My feelings are that legalization and government regulation of prostitution would:

  • Remove stigma that prevents women from seeking help when they need it
  • Allow women to work in safer environments away from violence
  • Reduce the spread of disease
  • Allow for sexual expression between consenting couples.

So, what are the arguments against legalization?  I have a feeling that they will stem from a desire to push personal morals.

 -Sean

Chris's picture

Prostitution Legalization

Submitted by Chris on 12 June 2007 - 6:14am.
Actually, there are some arguments against prostitution that—at least on the surface—don't primarily cite public morality. For instance, a lot of feminists claim that legalization would just give an overt, institutional stamp of approval to what they consider a form of oppression of women. They also say that legalization efforts have tended not to focus on protecting the workers themselves, but their customers. For instance, through mandatory health checks. It's true that you can see a lot of this kind of mentality in the Nevada licensed brothels, where the state laws and house rules are very definitely slanted in the favor of management rather than labor. Of course, using the legal situation in Nevada as our standard for everything, we should probably ban boxing and gambling, too.
Blog: Literate Perversions

“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then finally y

Visitor's picture

Prostitution should be

Submitted by consa (not verified) on 16 July 2007 - 9:03pm.

Prostitution should be legalised... but:

* It should pay income and sales tax. In exchange for this, legal prostitution would enjoy the full protection of business law. It would also be possible to arrest and convict those who perpetrate violent acts on prostitutes;

* Prostitutes should enjoy the full protection of labor law, including the right of unionize. The state shall have the right to set a minimum age to be a prostitute;

* A legal prostitute should do at least one year of full time study in a community college, with course work on the physiological, psychological, and sociological aspects of human sexuality;

* Legal prostitutes should undergo frequent medical examinations;

* The siting of brothels would be subject to full power of local government zoning authority. Hence prostitution would remain illegal in most locations;

* Legality could be confined to brothels. I have no difficulty with legalizing brothels while keeping streetwalking an offense. I would even hold still if solo call girls remained illegal. The advantage of legal brothels is that they would have procedures and policies, and would keep records. The freelance call girl is impossible to monitor and regulate. 

* The law should encourage brothels to be organized as business partnerships, with each prostitute being a partner. The law should discourage all forms of explicit and implicit pimping.

Look at how hard it is to open a bar or liquor store in most USA neighborhoods. It would be even harder to open a brothel, even if they were fully legal.

Chris OSullivan's picture

payment in kind, support, cash

Submitted by Chris OSullivan on 29 April 2008 - 2:30pm.

Separating the issues of sex for money from the issues of slavery; A one on one consensual interaction between adults is really between the adults interacting.

 

A married man supporting a mistress in addition to his family.

A single man supporting a mistress.

A group of men supporting a single mistress.

A group of men supporting a network of lovers.

A group of men supporting a network of sex workers.

A single man paying a single woman for a date.

A single man paying a single woman for sex.

A single man paying many women for sex.

A married man paying a single woman for sex.

A married man paying many women for sex.

 

Who's the injured party in a primarily tort based system?

Wives if they exist and if they object or are injured.

If a mistress is not to be arrested, why should a prostitute be arrested.

This all assumes an uncoerced freely entered into relationship.

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