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Should prostitution be legal?

Should prostitution be legal?

  • Yes

    Votes: 92 83.6%

  • No

    Votes: 18 16.4%
  • Total voters
    110
Peter Grimm said:
The difference, kingsbridge, is that toilet cleaners don't kill themselves at a rate 40 times higher than the national average. 75% of women who clean toilets haven't attempted suicide.
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Over here in Scandinavia, suicide rates are much higher than anywhere else. Perhaps we should all migrate and then nuke this Mordor on Earth?
 
Peter Grimm said:
It's degrading to the human spirit,
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I think having the government snoop into our sex lives is much more degrading to the human spirit. I prefer free state over nanny state.

and its potential to spread disease makes it a public health risk.
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Public health is one of the major reasons for legalizing it. Forcing it underground only makes the health risks worse.
 
AlabamaPaul said:
It really depends on where one works and for what reasons. A job is a job, and when one enters a profession, the goal can either be success along with a goal or to just make some money...
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Stripping and prostitution are psychologically damaging. This is backed up by all the statistics. When you reduce a woman to a commodity, to a piece of meat for you to purchase, she starts to see herself as just that. Her self-esteem goes in the tank, and self-destructive tendencies follow.

You can choose to ignore it, but the statistics about prostitution do not lie.
 
kingsbridge said:
Over here in Scandinavia, suicide rates are much higher than anywhere else. Perhaps we should all migrate and then nuke this Mordor on Earth?
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Hell, if I lived in the dark half the year (slight exaggeration), I'd be depressed as well...
 
kingsbridge said:
Furthermore, there are places where prostitution is legal, and many women actually CHOOSE to do it and even like it. It's not porn, no. It's just a different part of the world. I don't personally know any of them, but I don't think I'd be too far off if I said that some of them may find your comments towards their profession to be slightly offensive.
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If you're talking about Holland, many of those women were brought there from Russia or Eastern Europe as little girls via human trafficking.
 
Peter Grimm said:
Stripping and prostitution are psychologically damaging. This is backed up by all the statistics. When you reduce a woman to a commodity, to a piece of meat for you to purchase, she starts to see herself as just that. Her self-esteem goes in the tank, and self-destructive tendencies follow.

You can choose to ignore it, but the statistics about prostitution do not lie.
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I'm not ignoring anything. I've personally known girls, ladies who use this model rather than loans to pay for their education...
 
kingsbridge said:
Over here in Scandinavia, suicide rates are much higher than anywhere else. Perhaps we should all migrate and then nuke this Mordor on Earth?
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The difference in suicide rates is not nearly as pronounced (it is 40 times higher for a prostitute), and I think the fact that Scandinavia has such a high suicide rate means the people over there should look in to why that is and do something about it.
 
Geoist said:
A great point. Perhaps Peter Grimm would like to expand to pornography and make that illegal as well.
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I do think porn should be illegal.

Is it really that hard to put on a nice shirt, go out, and get some real *****?
 
Peter Grimm said:
I do think porn should be illegal.

Is it really that hard to put on a nice shirt, go out, and get some real *****?
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And what did it cost you? You see, IMV, those against prostitution are a bit hypocritical in that they don't equate the expense of getting "some real *****" with prostitution. Can you explain the difference other than you had to seduce one and not the other?
 
Peter Grimm said:
I do think porn should be illegal.

Is it really that hard to put on a nice shirt, go out, and get some real *****?
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Even if that ***** is full of STD's? As long as I'm doing the casual sex for free then its okay, right? Thats some messed up logic.

I get plenty. I'm married. I have no personal gain in my advocacy of legalizing prostitution. I just believe in freedom over nannyism.
 
Peter Grimm said:
I'm sure you're their best customer.
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Do you really want to go personal? I've discussed the issue, and it would be appreciated if you would confine your responses to the issue as well...
 
Peter Grimm said:
If you're talking about Holland, many of those women were brought there from Russia or Eastern Europe as little girls via human trafficking.
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"Many..."

That says it all. Many, but not all. Many people are killed for their organs, yet organ transplants are legal. People are kidnapped and sold for work in Asian factories, yet working in factories is legal. Of course people use and will continue to use sick methods of getting girls who don't want to do certain things to do those things. That's not going to evaporate. The question is whether making it legal for girls to willingly do it will help. The answer is probably a yes.

I'm not absolutely sure I would support it, but I don't think you've given me any reason not to. All these statistics and the degradation of societal values are irrelevant, really. Do we really need to go through all the dangerous jobs in the world? Because very close to 100% of the most dangerous jobs in the world are legal. Danger is not a reason to make it illegal, as long as the people do it do it willingly and do not harm others.
 
Peter Grimm said:
A Canadian Report on Prostitution and Pornography concluded <snip>
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Canada? Who cares? This is the USA we're talking about, a much different place than Canada. If you have to go to Canada to get your data then you must be running shy of it.


Peter Grimm said:
Estimates of the prevalence of incest among prostitutes range from 65% to 90%. <snip>
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And you believe legal prostitution would increase these "estimates"? How do you figure that?


Peter Grimm said:
The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years (M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes, Victimology: An International Journal, 7: 122-133) or 14 years (D.Kelly Weisberg, 1985, Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution, Lexington, Mass, Toronto). Most of these 13 or 14 year old girls were recruited or coerced into prostitution. Others were "traditional wives" without job skills who escaped from or were abandoned by abusive husbands and went into prostitution to support themselves and their children. (Denise Gamache and Evelina Giobbe, Prostitution: Oppression Disguised as Liberation, National Coalition against Domestic Violence, 1990)
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Considering the large number of adults who enter into prostitution I seriously doubt the 13 y/o conclusion.

But underage prostitution would still be illegal even if prostitution were legalized - and you've shown nothing to even imply legalization would make this increase. If anything, government oversight would tend to decrease this kind of child abuse.



Peter Grimm said:
80% of prostitution survivors at the WHISPER Oral History Project reported that their customers showed them pornography to illustrate the kinds of sexual activities in which they wanted to engage.
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We have safety and instructional classes at work, too. :shrug:


Peter Grimm said:
90% of prostituted women interviewed by WHISPER had pimps while in prostitution (Evelina Giobbe, 1987, WHISPER Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Minnesota).
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I have a boss. :shrug:



Peter Grimm said:
"About 80% of women in prostitution have been the victim of a rape. <snip>
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Peter Grimm said:
78% of 55 women who sought help from the Council for Prostitution Alternatives in 1991 reported being raped an average of 16 times a year by pimps<snip>
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Peter Grimm said:
<snip>73% reported having experienced physical assault in prostitution.
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Legalizing prostitution would decrease the violence because prostitutes could report sexual and physical abuse just like anyone else. With it being illegal they're basically blackmailed into keeping their mouth shut.



If anything, your examples have shown that legalizing prostitution would be a benefit. Nothing you've cited here would be worse than it is now and many things would get better with legalization.
 
Peter Grimm said:
The difference in suicide rates is not nearly as pronounced (it is 40 times higher for a prostitute), and I think the fact that Scandinavia has such a high suicide rate means the people over there should look in to why that is and do something about it.
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I think they have.
 
Peter Grimm said:
I do think porn should be illegal.

Is it really that hard to put on a nice shirt, go out, and get some real *****?
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Porn doesn't complain, or ask you to take it to dinner.
 
AlabamaPaul said:
Do you really want to go personal? I've discussed the issue, and it would be appreciated if you would confine your responses to the issue as well...
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Actually, you went personal by claiming you knew many of these women. If you didn't want me to respond to your situation, you shouldn't have brought it up.
 
Peter Grimm said:
Actually, you went personal by claiming you knew many of these women. If you didn't want me to respond to your situation, you shouldn't have brought it up.
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I did. Do you find that an appropriate excuse to make accusations as to my activities?
 
Knowledge=power said:
Porn doesn't complain, or ask you to take it to dinner.
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No, but I think porn is quite harmful all the same. Just a personal opinion, based on a bit of research, though big studies haven't really been done.

Prostitution, on the other hand, is very well studied and we know how harmful it is.
 
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