Thread: Should prostitution be legal?

My point is that regulation won't work, as most women will simply not register with local authorities. What benefit does this give them? A public record as a prostitute? The link I provided gives reasons why this is undesirable.

Aside from a few hardcore libertines, most women don't get into prostitution because that's the profession they want. Usually they are exploited by men or become desperate for money and seek income in the only guaranteed way of which they can think. Street prostitution, at least in the U.S., is reserved now for mostly desperate/ignorant prostitutes, as internet boards in the form of Craigslist ads and other places have replaced more random types of meetups. I was watching a show about pimping the other day that explicitly stated that prospects for pimps are dwindling as a result of the internet, since women need no intermediary to locate clients for them.

For harm reduction, the only thing I can think that would work is full decriminalization, sans regulation. I think that clinics and other help centers would spring up naturally as a result.

Trafficking and underage prostitution should still, of course, be totally illegal. Pimping and pandering another person for prostitution, similarly, would remain illegal. In my decriminalization scheme, internet sites would gain an exemption from pimping and pandering laws in case some group wanted to argue that, say, Craigslist, was de facto pandering for sex services

Originally Posted by samsmart

Things aren't all that rosy for farm workers or miners either, but we don't make those occupations illegal.

...and I don't think those people should be exploited either. However, there is no broad social stigma attached to those jobs.

Originally Posted by Whoppletraps

I say yes, the girls will have to be checked for STDs and it will hurt organized crime. It will also bring in revenue if there is a tax on the service.

No, and my reason why has nothing to do with owning one's own body or STDs or any of that.

Every country which has legalized prostitution en-mass has come to regret the underground human sex-slave trafficking they enabled. Like the 'war on drugs', "Legalize and regulate" fails every time it's tried.

Prostitution is just like selling organs: it's illegal because of the black market it creates because demand always vastly outweighs supply. It has nothing to do with a woman owning her body and having individual rights, etc.

Now please someone brush some dust of the leftist playbook and cite the bunnyfarm everyone can see how it doesn't represent entire countries.

Yes, prostitution should be legal and regulated.

Originally Posted by bowerbird

That is not the point

The point is to get them seeking health care without fear of reprisals.

Decriminalisation can lead to all sorts of assistance. Basing a health care clinic near or in a red light district for example. Hey! Simply getting the "sex workers" to report crimes to police would be a win

Sex workers report crimes to police all the time......

When they aren't paid.... they just report a rape.

Originally Posted by ChuckBerry

My point is that regulation won't work, as most women will simply not register with local authorities. What benefit does this give them? A public record as a prostitute? The link I provided gives reasons why this is undesirable.

Aside from a few hardcore libertines, most women don't get into prostitution because that's the profession they want. Usually they are exploited by men or become desperate for money and seek income in the only guaranteed way of which they can think. Street prostitution, at least in the U.S., is reserved now for mostly desperate/ignorant prostitutes, as internet boards in the form of Craigslist ads and other places have replaced more random types of meetups. I was watching a show about pimping the other day that explicitly stated that prospects for pimps are dwindling as a result of the internet, since women need no intermediary to locate clients for them.

For harm reduction, the only thing I can think that would work is full decriminalization, sans regulation. I think that clinics and other help centers would spring up naturally as a result.

Trafficking and underage prostitution should still, of course, be totally illegal. Pimping and pandering another person for prostitution, similarly, would remain illegal. In my decriminalization scheme, internet sites would gain an exemption from pimping and pandering laws in case some group wanted to argue that, say, Craigslist, was de facto pandering for sex services

What's the difference in legal prostitution and pornography? Touch. that is the only difference. Paying to watch porn is voyuerism, paying to have sex is prostutution. Porn stars make a good chunk of cash having sex and they choose to do it. Legalizing prostitution would lower the amounts of illegal street girls. As a law abiding citizen who enjoys sex, I would rather pay more money for someone i knew was clean and of age than spend less money on someone without a clean bill of health and of an unknown age. (I have never paid for sex, nor would i if it was legal, this is merely an observation.

[/quote]No, and my reason why has nothing to do with owning one's own body or STDs or any of that.

Every country which has legalized prostitution en-mass has come to regret the underground human sex-slave trafficking they enabled. Like the 'war on drugs', "Legalize and regulate" fails every time it's tried.

Prostitution is just like selling organs: it's illegal because of the black market it creates because demand always vastly outweighs supply. It has nothing to do with a woman owning her body and having individual rights, etc.

Now please someone brush some dust of the leftist playbook and cite the bunnyfarm everyone can see how it doesn't represent entire countries.[/Quote]

If you could legally pay for sex, from a clean woman, wouldn't you more than likely do so than break the law by paying for an unclean illegal woman? As far as human traficking is concerned, America has a high level of such trade, mostly with girls under the age of 16, mostly brought in through illegal prostitution. How man ranches in Nevada have been shut down due to trafficking? None because the prostitution is regulated.

My solution is a multi-step process:

1. Woman must become licensed.
2. Woman may only recieve payment for sex if she belongs to a licensed brothel.
3. Woman is contracted by the brothel. (Like a construction worker)
4. Woman shall be tested for STDs on a weekly basis.
5. Brothel's must submit to a minimum of 4 health and welfare inspections a year.

Pay a woman to have sex and be filmed....

It is no longer prostitution.

Originally Posted by samsmart

Yes, it should be. As long as the United States refuses to advance social systems that helps provide for people in need, including women, then those women should not have a source of income cut off to them.

Uh-oh. Government's fault again...

While I sadly agree that prostitution might benefit from being legalized, I'm not going to blame society for the plight in which these women find themselves. We have plenty of social systems that help provide for people in need.

Originally Posted by Whoppletraps

I say yes, the girls will have to be checked for STDs and it will hurt organized crime. It will also bring in revenue if there is a tax on the service.

It should be legal. It's none of our business what goes on between consenting adults.

Originally Posted by Centinel

It should be legal. It's none of our business what goes on between consenting adults.

My name is Caine, and I approve of this message!