The legalization of prostitution, much like the decriminalization of drugs, has become a hot button issue recently. Because of the mass of public ignorance on sex work, as well as the evangelical Christian hold on US politics and governing. My stance is that prostitution should be legalized because it's the best way to protect women and prevent STDs and rape.
For much of history, prostitution was not only legal but had a celebrated position in many ancient cultures. Believe it or not, prostitution didn't become illegal until after WWII. Despite the often toted opinion that legalizing prostitution would lead to more sex trafficking, this isn't necessarily the case. It's well known that prostitution is legal in parts of Nevada, and the state doesn't yield any higher number of sex trafficking cases than states where prostitution is illegal. Many women who become prostitutes are exploited by pimps and are given no choice as to whether or not they can participate in sex work. 95% of these pimps use violent coercion to get the women to do as they please. Despite this, prostitutes are the ones being punished for being exploited.
In one case, a Connecticut woman who tried to call the police on the man who was exploiting her was instead charged with prostitution. In some states, this can mean thousands of dollars in fines for only the first offense; for a woman being used as a sex slave, this means she will be unable to pay the fine. While the law claims to want to protect women from trafficking and exploitation, it is exploiting them for the money they don't have and sending them further down into a world filled with drugs and deadly STDs.
Another argument for criminalizing prostitution is that making prostitution illegal leads to fewer rape and STD cases, and the exact opposite is true. Rhode Island made prostitution legal from 2003 to 2009 and saw a decrease in its number of rape and STD cases.
As for how legalizing prostitution can be accomplished, we can follow examples from around the world. In 1999, Sweden made it legal to be a prostitute but illegal to buy sex or trade it, so that the Johns and pimps are punished rather than the prostitutes. This would prevent cases such as the one in Connecticut where women are punished for reporting their exploiters.
Do you think prostitution should be legalized? Why or why not?
Do you think legalizing prostitution can help prevent exploitation?
Why do you think prostitution is illegal but other forms of sex work such as pornography, escorting, and sugar babying are not?
Replies
Intersting topic choice and very well done Eden!
I think that by legalizing prostitution the number of sexual assaults against sex workers would decrease and they could report it if they have been raped. There would be less sex trafficking and pimps wouldn't be able to take advantage of them as they do now. Some people say that it would be a step back in the process of women's emancipation and that it's degrading, because those women would be objectified. But I believe that we can talk about objectification when a woman who is doing something that isn't inherently sexual is judged on her phisical appereance and how she makes men feel. However when a woman decides to be a sex worker than it's not abjectification because she's owning her own body and making her own choices.
I think that if it were to be legalized there would be a signifigant drop in sexual assult and STD realted cases. I think it would help women overall fell less objectfied. I see no problem with it being legal especially considering it once alredy was and when expariments were done the effects were positive.
In our current culture women complain a lot about being treated like objects, but you want to make being treated like an object to be legal and monetized. I think this is a terrible idea for womens rights and just a flat out bad idea. This also gives and excuse for rape. People could say its not rape I paid and other horrible things. In general I think this is a bad idea.
In our current situation, people are already using illegal prostitution as an outlet for rape, and in Rhode Island, it was shown that legalizing it actually decreases rape cases. I don't necessarily think that the actual act of prostitution is good, I definitely feel that it is objectifying but if it is legal and safe then you put that power into the hands of the sex worker. I think we should follow Sweden's example so instead of punishing the women for selling it when they have no other choice, we should punish the people who traffick them.
should prostitution be legalized. No, because of the fact that just because your paying someone for sex work dosen't mean it will be less demeaning. Also, it doesn't really protect women women will be seen the same wether there haing sex for money or not,and I don't understand how STD's go levelsgo down.
I believe it should be legalized. It's their own body to do whatever they want with it and flaunt in any way. No one has control over them and how they express themselves. I don't see why people would be against it since they aren't apart of it in any way and have a decision to stay out of it. It's not like they'll become a prostitute as soon as it's legalized. I do believe it could prevent exploitation because many men will find a women who is consenting to sexual acts rather than raping a women who doesn't consent. Sex trafficking would also decrease since there are more women who are willing to fill that desire willingly rather than forcing a woman into sexual acts. I think it's illegal because they're seen as dirty and full of STD's since they go to different partners often. This isn't fair to the other things you stated. Escorting and sugar babies are the exact same thing, but legal somehow. The only difference is the name of the term and that sugar babying doesn't have to always contain sexual acts.
I agree. I think the fact that prostitution is currently illegal makes no sense because it's been shown to be made safe by being legalized. When it's illegal, people aren't given a choice as to whether or not they can be prostitutes. In other countries such as Sweden and New Zealand which have legalized all sex work, prostitutes are protected by the law rather than being thrown in prison and given fines even though many of them aren't given a choice as to whether or not they can sell themselves.
I'm not sure of my opinion on this since I haven't done much research on the topic. However, I can say that I think what Sweeden did is a great idea since a lot of the time women are being controlled by pimps, but to have an opinion on whether it should be legal as a whole I would need too know more so I would know what I'm talking about.
I strongly disagree that prostitution should be legalized. Like every other situation, laws are broken by citizens, and those citizens are (hopefully) punished for breaking laws. Making something as unconstitutional as prostitution legal gives the OK to continue on with this wrongful act. I think rather than letting something like this become legal so it "won't happen as much," more laws should be present to stop prostitution. Making prostitution legal is like trying to put fire out with fire. This opinion goes against every movement anyone has ever done to give women "more rights" and to be viewed as more than an "object." Those who agree that prostitution should be legal are ironically the ones pushing for womens rights. Also, "sugar babying" being legal doesn't make it okay for prostitution to potentially be legal. I think all of these concepts aren't far from insane so prostitution should-- no question-- absolutely not be legal.
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