Legalizing prostitution (article on my blog)

[KnightofPhoenix]

Legalizing prostitution (article on my blog)

Hey folks. So I asked the moderators if it's ok to post this and I got the green light.

So I wrote a brief piece with regards to human trafficking and how I believe that legalizing prostitution would be a good policy to have, to help combat human trafficking and health hazards.

It is a big problems that merits discussion, certainly more than it usually gets.

(feel free to check out the rest of the blog if it pleases you! I have 4 articles as of yet, this being one of them. I only started a month ago or so).

 

[freakie1one]

Interesting and thought provoking read. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Babli.480]

My only problem with the article is that (as is usually the case) even though it mentions at the beginning that not all of it is just women, at the end it is all about suffering of women. Once again, suffering of men is marginalized. Even those tags... feminism, women's rights. I see it more as humanism and human´s rights issues.

And about the prostitution itself, I am with George Carlin on that one:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1prYbbnDs7Q[/media]

 

[Veleda.980]

I don't care if it's criminalized, but don't see how legalizing prostitution would have any effect on human trafficking. And I for one would not want to see my local government devoting time and resources trying to figure out how much to tax for a blowjob versus an all-nighter. It is marginal human activity and should stay marginal.

 

[freesia.430]

Well, where to start. The problematics you have chosen to discuss is extremely vast, plus as you already pointed out, there is no simple solution, if there is a solution to begin with. I would agree with the basic thought that if you legalize something and thus put it under certain laws you can observe and control it better.

I should maybe stress out that even though I would not want or be able to do it, I don´t consider prostitution as something inferior to other activities, or let´s say jobs. I completely agree with you that the hypocrisy connected with prostitution is almost outrageous.

And now I´m choosing just a part from your original article I mean to react to. I think it would certainly help to prevent from spreading some serious infectious diseases and might help improve the health conditions of prostitues as well. There is a kind of similar approach in the Czech republic, when certain human organizations provide new and clean needles for frug addicts. It may sound contraproductive and weird to someone, but it surely prevents certain diseases, especially hepatitis from spreading throughout the community. But back to the original topic. I believe that with the possible legalization, even the people trafficking would decrease to a certain extent, but as long as there is a big difference in living standarts (now pardon my generalization) for example between the eastern and western Europe, there will always be people, who would want to try their luck and get out of their country at any cost.

 

[Garrison72]

I don't care if it's criminalized, but don't see how legalizing prostitution would have any effect on human trafficking. And I for one would not want to see my local government devoting time and resources trying to figure out how much to tax for a blowjob versus an all-nighter. It is marginal human activity and should stay marginal.

Taxes for legalized prostitution might mean less money spent trying to fight it. It could be compared to the 'war' on drugs.

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Of course it should be legalized, what a backwards fucking notion that you should send someone to jail if they sell their own bodies. My fucking taxes are gonna pay for some lady to just sit around in a cell all day long because she charged a man for sucking his dick!? Fuck. That. I'd rather they'd tax me when I pay the same whore to suck my dick. So we can, you know, use the taxes for good shit like health care and education.

Though, personally, I probably couldn't ever pay a lady for her to have sex with me. I prefer it when women give it up voluntarily. And prefarably love has to be involved too. There's nothing better in the world than laying with someone you care deeply for, naked, exposed, rain drizzling on the window pane and you're looking into her eyes and you see a soul who couldn't stand losing you.

But I digress, legalize prostitution. Get with the times motherfuckers!

 

[Sirnaq]

Government should do everything to discourage such cancerous behavior, not legalize it, it should also propagate respect. The good starting point is school that teach kids not only common knowledge but also how to be decent human beings.

 

[chromie92]

Taxes for legalized prostitution might mean less money spent trying to fight it. It could be compared to the 'war' on drugs.

Which brings up another thing that I feel should be legal. Prostitution and drugs cost too much to enforce and really the only way to ever finish the war on drugs would be to make them legal. Same goes for prostitution. I think New Zealand has the right idea. "commercial sex is regulated not by criminal law, but by civil codes, business regulations and the range of fair labor protections."

I don't care if it's criminalized, but don't see how legalizing prostitution would have any effect on human trafficking.

Not necerssarily human trafficking but legalizing it would help in reducing crimes in this area."Exploitation and danger are exacerbated when sex work is criminalized. Studies consistently show a reduction in violence when sex work is legal."

 

[CostinRaz]

As a Romanian I live in a country where sex slavery is a rather big problem that is marginalized a great deal. People just don't give a fuck that so many people get so much suffering inflicted upon them, a lot of them children!

I've debated whether or not legalizing prostitution would help deal with the problem and I believe it would to a certain degree if implemented well. Corruption is a big problem here but if the government taxed the prostitutes it would then ( in theory, I know a lot of money would be stolen ) be able to devote a lot more resources to combating slavery then it currently does.

Also regardless of what you do there will always be prostitutes. Why? Because there's a demand for it and the women and men who do engage in prostitution won't stop doing it: It pays extremely well. By legalizing it you could, as Knight points out, improve health conditions for customers and prostitutes, reducing sexually transmitted diseases.

 

[Garrison72]

Of course it should be legalized, what a backwards fucking notion that you should send someone to jail if they sell their own bodies. My fucking taxes are gonna pay for some lady to just sit around in a cell all day long because she charged a man for sucking his dick!? Fuck. That. I'd rather they'd tax me when I pay the same whore to suck my dick. So we can, you know, use the taxes for good shit like health care and education.

Though, personally, I probably couldn't ever pay a lady for her to have sex with me. I prefer it when women give it up voluntarily. And prefarably love has to be involved too. There's nothing better in the world than laying with someone you care deeply for, naked, exposed, rain drizzling on the window pane and you're looking into her eyes and you see a soul who couldn't stand losing you.

But I digress, legalize prostitution. Get with the times motherfuckers!

No one can accuse you of holding back Foggy, lol.

 

[Veleda.980]

Taxes for legalized prostitution might mean less money spent trying to fight it. It could be compared to the 'war' on drugs.

I don't think they should try to fight it. But I don't think they should regulate it, either, which also becomes an imposition on private life.

 

[Veleda.980]

I've debated whether or not legalizing prostitution would help deal with the problem and I believe it would to a certain degree if implemented well.

Prostitution is legal and regulated in Turkey (the biggest source of tax revenue in Istanbul is reportedly a madam) but that certainly doesn't stop human trafficking there.

 

[Veleda.980]

But I digress, legalize prostitution. Get with the times motherfuckers!

What "times" are those, when everything should be legal but society should also be obligated to pick up the pieces of dangerous and anti-social behavior?

I don't care what individuals do- but if you're going to advocate complete personal freedom, then the only way that works is if you have complete personal responsibility on the other side, at least where adults are concerned.

 

[CostinRaz]

Prostitution is legal and regulated in Turkey (the biggest source of tax revenue in Istanbul is reportedly a madam) but that certainly doesn't stop human trafficking there.

Turkey's human trafficking is nowhere as bad Romania's or Moldova's and I completely disagree that they shouldn't fight prostitution if it's illegal, since that would mean that would be a big hit in the efforts of trying to stop human trafficking.

Now obviously legalizing prostitution would not stop it, Ayman noted this in his article, but it would help!

 

[Aver]

Taxes for legalized prostitution might mean less money spent trying to fight it. It could be compared to the 'war' on drugs.

I think that if we would legalize all drugs like heroin, methamphetamine etc. then we would spent as much money on health care for junks as we spent on fighting with drugs or even more. Well, unless we are talking about Mexico .

Turkey's human trafficking is nowhere as bad Romania's or Moldova's.

I'm not saying that you are right or not, but every time when someone is posting such info, it doesn't have any value for me unless he post some link with an official data.

 

[SkycladGuardian]

Prostitution is legal here in Germany, but it hasn't done anything to stop human-trafficking or the exploitation of prostitutes.
In fact the legalization has made the work of police and other public authorities harder, since the legal obstacles to control for instance brothels have increased. Prostitution is seldomly an act of free will. Maybe some women sell their bodies, because for them it might be a fun way to earn money, but let's face it, the majority of women who go into prostitution do so because they see no other way to make a living. And though many start as an independent and free "entrepreneur", they often end up in a dangerous dependence from a pimp.
So prostitution maybe is the oldest business in history, but it is a business often born out of misery and despair.
The best way to fight prostitution then is to create a society where women don't have to sell their bodies to make a living. Fight poverty and sexism and you fight prostitution.

 

[CostinRaz]

Aver: Sure, though keep in mind there are a lot of problems with gathering data. What should be noted as well is that Romania has higher corruption rates then Turkey, so more people are able to get away with it then Turkey.

http://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf

Find Romania there and then Turkey in this article by searching for them, there is a pretty big difference between the two countries. Yes Turkey convicted a few dozen more people, but Romania has a LOT more victims.

SkycladGuardian: I don't disagree about fighting it, but not through criminal law, it has been proven to fail.

 

[SkycladGuardian]

Of course it should be legalized, what a backwards fucking notion that you should send someone to jail if they sell their own bodies.

Punishing the women would be indeed stupid and backwards. I prefer the Swedish model. The "customer" is punished, the woman goes free.

 

[Garrison72]

Punishing the women would be indeed stupid and backwards. I prefer the Swedish model. The "customer" is punished, the woman goes free.

Free to break the law again? Sounds screwed up to me. If it's illegal both parties are at fault.