You know, I used to not care about prostitution. I used to not care less if prostitution was legalized or not. However in the past 3 years that I’ve been researching prostitution as it relates to craigslist and other online venues I’ve come to the conclusion that legalizing prostitution is not the be all and end all to solving all the problems that come with prostitution.
For example let’s take two places where prostitution is legal.
First off let’s go to Nevada. Brothels are legal in most parts of Nevada. Where it’s not legal is Las Vegas. That doesn’t stop women from walking the streets in Vegas. Some of the regulations are so stringent on the girls working in the brothels that a lot of them think that it’s easier to work the streets in Vegas than it is to work the brothels in the outlying counties.
Now let’s go overseas to the infamous red light district of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Not only does Amsterdam have the same problem as Vegas with girls operating outside of legal prostitution zones but they also have a large problem in human trafficking. Not to mention the organized crime organizations that run the human trafficking rings.
Most importantly legalizing prostitution would do nothing to stop child prostitution. That should always be illegal and unfortunately the demand will always be there as evidenced by the so called child sex tours that happen overseas in places like Thailand.
Drugs are another crime that goes hand in hand with prostitution. Either the girls are using which in some cases is why they turned to prostitution or in a lot of cases the john is using. Legalizing prostitution would do nothing to curb illegal drug activity that goes along with it. Let’s take strip clubs for example. They’re perfectly legal and the closest thing you can get to prostitution without it being prostitution. How many employees of your local strip club are either users or dealers? A lot more than you might think. And not just weed either, in my personal experience I’ve found that a lot of them either use coke, speed or meth.
The typical argument for the legalization of prostitution is to regulate it and tax it. While that may work in a perfect world the reality is that it would be a bureaucratic nightmare for all parties involved. While the government may collect taxes from legalized prostitution they would also probably be taking a chunk from the taxpayers as well to fund the services required to regulate it. Not to mention the taxes needed to keep illegal prostitution off the streets. History also shows us that government organizations that are supposed to regulate a certain occupation or activity are not always the best staffed or funded operations. Take children protection agencies for example. How many stories do we hear that CPS or Social Services visited a residence right before a child died from abuse or neglect? Too many. So in my opinion a government organization designed to regulate prostitution would be equally if not more disastrous allowing others to take advantage of the prostitutes in the ways they’re already being taken advantage of.
Lastly the most common argument I hear for the legalization of prostitution is that it’s a victimless crime between two consenting adults. Let’s take child prostitution out of the equation for a second. I find the definition of consent to be loosely interpreted in these situations. Between supporting drug habits and coercion under the treats of violence among other mitigating factors I think consent when it comes to prostitution is a relative term.
(Trench Reynolds blogs about craigslist and other classifieds related prostitution at Trench Reynolds’ Crime News.)
13 users commented in " The argument against legalizing prostitution "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackIf prostitution were legal and you gave her a bad check, would you be charged with Theft of Service or Illegal Entry ?????
When I was a wild eyed Libertairain I thought legalization would be a good thing. Now I think that we need to double our efforts, especially on pimping laws. Drug use is also a problem, as many of these women end up having kids to support.
i have written a response 3-4 times to this but it doesnt come out they way i want to explain what i feel..all i know is it would be one hell of a bad idea and if it ever happened the person or persons who leagalised it just want $$$ this occupation goes hand and hand with drugs and the people who do them usually get really kinky and $$ its a sick world and when you get $$ and someone who wants a child well someones gonna give in cuz they are selfish humanbeings who dont care …its a bad idea all the way around!!!
There are far graver societal impacts from legalizing prostitution than have been offered here.
Legalizing prostitution would make it far more prevalent than it is now. That means far more sexually transmitted diseases, not just for the johns, but also for their wives and girlfriends.
More prostitution means more marriages failing, more families torn apart.
Prostitution is horribly degrading to women. We already live in a society where women are objectified, a society in which David Letterman can make a joke about the governor of Alaska looking “slutty” and her teenage daughter being impregnated by a baseball player – and it’s all in good fun. Imagine how future generations of men will view women in a society where the government condones the practice of women selling their bodies.
–Between supporting drug habits and coercion under the treats (sic) of violence among other mitigating factors I think consent when it comes to prostitution is a relative term. —
So we should abolish marriage because some men beat their wives? A negative aspect can be found for just about anything.
Also, where are all these “sex slaves”? I haven’t seen a lot of complaints from them.
Legalizing prostitution would actually make it easier to protect hookers from abusive pimps and johns. It would make the business safer for the johns, too.
Stop trying to impose your morality on others.
I am an American living in a (first world) country where prostitution is legal. Young girls are in the business, not because they are cut out for it,
but for the money. This is also the case with other professions, but prostitution exacts an emotional toll on these girls.
Second, what government condones the break up of families?
Also, the men who use prostitutes get used to a type of sex that is more ego gratification than anything else.
Should we seek out all single, sexually frustrated men who can’t find women to be with, and eliminate them from society, so as to lessen the demand for prostitution? For example, most men with Asperger syndrome?
I’m for the legalization of prostitution, but I agree that it’s a slippery slope. As you said, child prostitution will still be around, and the regulators would have to be careful that brothels or whatever don’t become fronts for more illegal services, such as weapons or drug trades. However, a lot of legal things now also fall on slippery slopes. Abuse of over the counter or prescription medication, pirating of music, etc. I hope that prostitution becomes legal in the future, because the advantages of offering protection to those involved, but I don’t think it’s something that can be jumped into quickly.
ok….
if we put regulations on this law then it would help more then doing nothing about it. it may not solve every problem but the goverment needs to do something more then just making it illigal, that would be lazy and cheap. what needs to happen is more regulation and then if people dont follow the new regulations then there should be punishment.
I think prostitution should remain illegal because single men who are socially awkward and cannot experience sex any other way, deserve to suffer suffer suffer in their lonely frustration until they kill themselves and then we can go to their funeral and laugh at their family and that will earn us brownie points with God.
they should not allow prositution to be legalized because of drugs they use and all the damage they cause on the moral of marriage and family. its agaiants all fundelmentals of the bible which our laws are written from the mosaic law (ten commandments) the abuse and sex trafficing will get larger eg tialand,cuba,mexico and so on! CANADA IS STUPID TO BAND PITBULLS but want to legalize these prositutes? I believe that men are more likely to buy one for oral 40.00 and $60.00 for sex. If we had a woman PRIMINISTER this noncense would not be in our courts! would we be able to sue a prositute for child support if the hubby can’t pay? because no woman would stay with a man if that is just something he can buy? think of the debts on house holds.It’s usually to late when they figure out what is really going on.
Prostitution should be legalized or decriminalized, because of the socially awkward, who cannot find a sex partner any other way. Love Shyness is a condition or disorder which affects only 1.5% of the population, who cannot marry or form intimate relations with members of the opposite sex. It is much more debilitating for men, because of society’s expectation that men take the lead in initiating relationships. A love shy woman will usually be apprached by men. Don’t blame prostitution for the breakup of families and relationships. They are not the ones seeking your men. Blame the man. He could just as easily seek sex in a non paying adulterous relationship. You have more to fear from this type of adultery because it involves intimacy, emotion and possibly love. Encounters with prostitutes usually involve none of these, leaving you in no danger of losing your man to a prostitute. Also, I am a love shy man, and I have never encountered a prostitute or massage parlor worker who did no practice safe sex and use a condom. I have never had an STD in the over 15 years since I first used the services of a prostitute. I think this destroys the argument of the spread of STD’s by prostitutes, because most of the general population is grossly misinformed on this issue.
I meant to say in my previous post, that I have never encountered a prostitute or massage parlor worker who did not practice safe sex and use a condom in over 15 years, thus destroying the argument of the spread of STD’s, which I have never contracted. Also, no one has the right to impose their view of sexual morality on everyone else. Anti prostitution laws in the United States date from our nations Puritan origins. We are no longer a nation of Puritans. This is supposed to be a country with separation of church and state, where no one is required to follow any religion or religous dictates. It is long past the time for the United States to get rid of these archaic 400 year old laws, like most other modern, western nations of the world.
Leave A Reply