Should prostitution be legalized?

[Sunstone]

By "prostitution" I am not here referring to our elected representatives, nor even to Britney, but to the world's oldest profession: selling sex for money. Should it be legalized? Should it be both legalized and regulated?

Would legalization and regulation improve the working conditions, health, and welfare of prostitutes?

Would legalization and regulation eliminate pimps?

Does Nevada or Amsterdam provide good models for legalization and regulation?

Last, would legalizing prostitution mean we'd have to accept talk show hosts as a legitimate part of society?

 

[Mister Emu]

Don't legalize...

 

[Majikthise]

Legalize it.
I could have made a killing in my younger days,
all that wasted time.........

 

[sparc872]

I voted no because I am an idealist and would rather see no prostitution at all, but the other side of me accepts reality. There has and always will be people willing to pay for sex, and those willing to sell it. Legalizing sex for money would make it a safer profession by allowing the prostitutes to contact police about any abuses, keep prostitutes from pimps, and there would be more regulation over the sort of conditions prostitution would occur in.

But I stand by my vote for no.

 

[Draka]

Legalize it. No reason really to keep it illegal. All it does is make it more dangerous. Being illegal doesn't stop it from happening. It only stops the safety practices that should be in place.

 

[Mathematician]

Legalize and regulate it.

As I stated in another topic, I don't see the big difference between consenting porn and consenting prostitution, besides a camera.

In reality, regulated prostitution could be SAFER than porn. I'd like to know how many porn stars have regular STD and pregnancy checks.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

/me pulls his hat down over his eyes, sneaks to the ballot box, and drops one in for 'legalize and regulate it'

I appreciate sparc's wish, but ultimately I agree with Draka & Gene's rationale for why it would make sense. I just don't think keeping it illegal has made a dent in the demand, and I also don't think making it legal would create more than a temporary 'curiosity' boom.

Legalizing prostitution would probably reduce the role of criminal elements like pimps and would definitely bring in more money in tax revenue than is currently collected in fines from people convicted of prostitution, solicitation, and pandering.

Now, I have never contracted such services, and it is unlikely I would if it were legal....honest.

 

[niceguy]

Legalize and regulate. Sweden criminilized the sex trade a few years ago and as a result we now got an illegal sex trade running unchecked, including trafficing of sex slave from abroad. Simply put, criminalization made it worse, far worse. I got to go to work now but I may elaborate on this later.

 

[kevmicsmi]

By "prostitution" I am not here referring to our elected representatives, nor even to Britney, but to the world's oldest profession: selling sex for money. Should it be legalized? Should it be both legalized and regulated?

Would legalization and regulation improve the working conditions, health, and welfare of prostitutes?

Would legalization and regulation eliminate pimps?

Does Nevada or Amsterdam provide good models for legalization and regulation?

Last, would legalizing prostitution mean we'd have to accept talk show hosts as a legitimate part of society?

I actually think all of the questions you ask Sunstone are mute to the issue. Personally I like the fact that prostitution is left up to the states (although you would think the so called right to privacy would guarentee it as a right if certain justices in the past were consistent). I would absolutely have no problem with legalized prostitution in my state, and if it came for a vote, I would vote for the right simply because I think it is an issue government should stay out of.

 

[MaddLlama]

Regulation is better than criminalization. Anything on the black market is worse than what you would get in regulated industry.
Besides, since when does the law get to dictate why I have sex with someone?

 

[ChrisP]

NZ's legalised and as far as I can tell it's made the situation a whole lot better for those working in the industry. One of my old flatmates is now a prostitute, I don't see her much but she was ecstatic when the laws were passed.

She's paying tax now, but at least the police can't hold things over her anymore, which shouldn happen, but it does. Facts of life .

 

[kevmicsmi]

Regulation is better than criminalization. Anything on the black market is worse than what you would get in regulated industry.
Besides, since when does the law get to dictate why I have sex with someone?

I cetainly think law should dictate if someone has sex with someone so they will kill their signifigant other, but again, that is a contract that directly harms someone else. Prostitution does not directly harm anyone in any signifigant way to justify legal action.

 

[MaddLlama]

But, if I kill someone, then that's a violation of the law, and it's the end result of an action. The law still doesn't get to control my motivations for having sex.

 

[egroen]

Bah! We're all whores

Payment does not have to be in the form of money, and I have given sex to my husband for services rendered.... and I've been known to 'work for sex' when he has not been in the mood.

-Erin

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Payment does not have to be in the form of money, and I have given sex to my husband for services rendered.... and I've been known to 'work for sex' when he has not been in the mood.

Gosh I wish I had those problems.

I don't think that prostitution should be legal.

 

[MaddLlama]

Gosh I wish I had those problems.

I don't think that prostitution should be legal.

Do you have a reason? Or, just because you think it's gross?

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Do you have a reason? Or, just because you think it's gross?

First of all, I think that prostitution brings out the very worst in humanity - both legal and illegal - both the buyer and the seller.

I'd rather see our government resources used to better the lives of people who are reduced to selling themselves for sex - educating them and teaching them skills, and if all else fails, people who have no skill or drive for anything but sex should be given a gun and sent to the military. We can get even more brutal: have snipers behind them to shoot them if they don't fight like the trench warfare in WWI.

I see it as using someone as a means only, and if we're going to do that, I'd rather the government force them to do more productive things.

 

[egroen]

I'm hoping any actual debate on this subject can be kept here (even though it is not in the 'debate' forum):

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34321

I do not want to have to copy and paste my recent posts on the subject to another thread.

-Erin

 

[Jaymes]

I'm for legalizing and regulating it. It's going to happen whether we want it to or not, and we can make it win-win if we legalize and regulate it.

With it regulated we'd also be able to control, to the best degree possible, STDs. We could have records of who's slept with who, and if that person later turns up to have an STD we could inform those that have slept with them and encourage them to get tested.

That's the idealist in me, though.

 

[sparc872]

Legalizing prostitution would provide women who choose to have sex for money a legal means to protect themselves and it would allow them a chance to move beyond their current position. Whether the person makes a conscious decision to become a prostitute or not is a very important factor in determining the harm done to someone in the prostitution industry however. Many people who go into the industry are forced there due to circumstances decided for them prior to their birth. They are born into a situation where prostitution is the only means to survival and I am sure that, if given a chance to survive without prostitution, many of them would jump at it. The harm done to some prostitutes is something that they should be protected against, but if the woman openly decides to become a prostitute, then I see no reason why she should be prevented from having sex for money provided it occurs in a safe manner.

I have switched my view and now feel that prostitution should be legalized, but not without a major effort to help prostitutes who want to get out of their current setting. Allowing them to continue to live in an impovershed setting does nothing to correct the problem while a social program to help them make a living they actually want would make bounds in fixing the situation.