Because there are demonstrable physical and mental health dangers associated with having sex with strangers for money.
I'd like to see some evidence for that. However, that may be true for some people, but it is not true for everyone. I know people who have worked in the sex industry, then went on with their lives. No trauma, no PTSD.
Some people can view having sex as simply a transaction but others have a greater emotional investment.
And the people with greater emotional involvement should not work as prostitutes. But that doesn't mean people who can separate sex from emotion shouldn't work as legal prostitutes.
Personally as a married man who is faithful to his wife I could not take paid sex work (assuming that there is a niche out there I would fit into) without having terrible issues of guilt.
Which is fine, for you. You are not every person in the world. Some people are in open marriages. Some people are in poly relationships.
I'm not sure that there is an equivalence between sex work and other jobs. A lot of this is due to the stigma of sex work but disclosing that you are a past or current sex worker will reduce your future work opportunities far more than, say, revealing that you are currently or have in the past cleansed the toilets in a fast food restaurant
This is true, though I suspect that is based on the stigma of the sex industry more than anything.
and being a past or current sex worker will also reduce the pool of future life partners.
This is also true. Then again, if someone couldn't love you, flaws and all, would you really want to spend your life with them?
How about an interest in public safety and health? These are still good things, last I checked, and prostitution puts that at risk.
Illegal prostitution puts them at risk. We are discussing legalizing, which would likely bring regulation. Things like mandatory condom use, STD testing of prostitutes, etc.
At the same time, random hook-ups on CraigsList bring the same dangers to public health. But no one is trying to make that illegal.
In a manner of speaking we already have legalized prostitution in the form of pornography (which I'm also against) and there is already an issue of health of safety, especially for the actors(?).
A good analogy, since the porn industry does test their actors for STD's.
The problem is much worse because you're talking about prostitution, exposure to paid sex with complete strangers... Is the John infected with AIDS? Are they sane? Are they criminal? And on, and on, and on.
See my above comment about Craig's List hook-ups.
What about laws that prostitution conflicts with, such as employment laws? What's to prevent employers from adding clauses in their employment contracts that require employees be willing to submit to sexual advances?
There is a difference between forced prostitution and willing prostitution. The clause you mentioned would be forced, but that is not what we are talking about here. The topic of the thread is about legalizing prostitution for those who choose to work in that field. No one here is advocating everyone take a turn, working on their back.
What about civil rights, which legalized prostitution is notorious for trampling on?
What civil rights?
Anyone who thinks that this is only about some religious/moral outrage are wrong, anyone who thinks prostitution is a victimless crime are even wronger.
Except it can be a victimless crime - especially if the person doing the work is doing it willingly.
And that is several orders of magnitude different from having sex with complete strangers, which is just stupid.
And yet it happens every weekend, all around the world. (Random hook-ups, I mean...)
It creates a situation that dissuades (mostly) females from entering the work environment, because at any time they could be called on to perform sexual favors for their employer or immediate supervisor and their only legal recourse would be comply or quit.
Again, you are confusing legal, willing prostitution and forced prostitution. No one here is advocating for forced prostitution.
Prostitution negatively impacts minorities (women, the lower class, and non-whites) the most and encourages them to not seek a more complete education or a better life in exchange for short-term gains.
I'll pass that on to a white, female doctor I know who worked as a prostitute when she lost her job several years ago. And there's the white, female lawyer at a BigLaw firm in California who was working nights as a call girl to pay her student loans.
Alcohol, drunk responsibly and in moderation, is not only safe but actually healthy.
Sex, when done safely, is also healthy. Good endorphins. Makes you feel good.
So being used and abused as a nameless sex object doesn't make prostitutes victims?
Not if (s)he is doing it willingly and know what she's getting in to.
So what you're saying is that you consider paying a man that you are on a first name basis with to use his knowledge and training that he went to school and earned to cut your hair cut is the same as getting a blow job from some prostitute you don't even know the real name of half your age who likely dropped out of high school?
You are making a big assumption. As I said, I know a doctor who worked as a prostitute. See also, the lawyer I mentioned above.
Not all prostitutes are poor, drug-addled, and poorly educated.
You see, when a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman like each other in a special way they touch each other in a special way that makes each other feel really good. It is both really wonderful and incredibly dangerous and should only be done with someone you really like and can trust or you could get hurt, or sick, or killed.
Or sometimes people just want to get laid. So they go to a bar, or go on Craig's List (or any number of other sites) and find someone else who wants to get laid.
Sex does not have to be tied to emotion. Maybe for you, it is. But everyone is not you. Some people can (and do) have random, fun sex, no strings attached.
