Should prostitution be legalized?

[tsg]

Instantly comparing prostitution to sewer work shows what we are dealing with here.

I wasn't. That is a gross mischaracterization of the argument.

 

[tsg]

Sewer workers are useful to society, quick sex for a quick buck is not.

The simple fact that there are so many prostitutes despite it being illegal means the service does have value.

 

[pgwenthold]

I don't think that was the argument I was making.

It's like gambling and drugs, I'm just not sure the government should make these things that obviously lead to very bad things legal.

Have you ever seen an arm that got caught in a grain auger?

I know of three such instances. In two of them, the arm was amputated. The other (my father-in-law) was fortunate to keep his, although it was immobilized for about 4 months.

Man, how can the government allow grain augers that lead to such obviously very bad things?

 

[tsg]

This is a very good point.

The difference is that both those things can demean and devalue the man. The alcohol cannot know it is being abused.

Care to support the assertion that voluntary prostitution is abuse?

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I wasn't. That is a gross mischaracterization of the argument.

How so?

It should be noted that you brought up the job occupation of working in the sewers.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

On a quick google, I found references to research that showed that (this is from memory as I closed the window by mistake, I'll find it again if anyone is interested)between 50 and 90% of prostitutes had previously been abused as a child, and that the average age of entry into prostitution is something like 13.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Care to support the assertion that voluntary prostitution is abuse?

Because a man is driven to using prostitution out of the naturally irrational libido. Not much, other than hunger is as powerful. I see society as something that should decrease irrationality.

Why the hostility guy?

 

[tsg]

How so?

Because it isn't comparing prostitution to working in a sewer. It's pointing out that jobs not being glamorous isn't a reason for making them illegal.

 

[pgwenthold]

Maybe it's just me but I don't see any benefit these things bring to the individual and society.

I'm not saying it's just you, but clearly there are plenty who do see a benefit, particularly to the individual. I mean, think about it, why do people do them if they don't think there is a benefit?

Legalizing them is like endorsing them in a way.

As far as I know, it is perfectly legal to go out in my driveway during a rain storm and hop up and down on one foot while quietly singing "Yellow Submarine."

Does that mean the government endorses hopping up and down on one foot in the driveway singing Yellow Submarine during a rainstorm?

 

[tsg]

Because a man is driven to using prostitution out of the naturally irrational libido. Not much, other than hunger is as powerful.

And?

Why the hostility guy?

Asking you to support an assertion you made is hostile? You're in the wrong place, guy.

 

[kosai]

It's like gambling and drugs, I'm just not sure the government should make these things that obviously lead to very bad things legal. Maybe it's just me but I don't see any benefit these things bring to the individual and society. Legalizing them is like endorsing them in a way.

Because the government making them illegal doesn't work. They tried this method yet people still do these things. Saying "you can't" simply isn't effective at stopping the world's oldest profession.

Legalization allows for those who enjoy a little to have a little, it also alows those who need too much to seek help without fear from authority. Legalization also allows taxation on these activities, money which can be used to help those who become addicted. This gives the most freedoms to the most people and that is why it works.

 

[pgwenthold]

On a quick google, I found references to research that showed that (this is from memory as I closed the window by mistake, I'll find it again if anyone is interested)between 50 and 90% of prostitutes had previously been abused as a child, .

This I can believe. However, what does that have do with making prostitution legal?

It's not like prostitution causes the participants to have been abused as a child.

and that the average age of entry into prostitution is something like 13

All the better reason to make it legal, where you can regulate it. 13 year olds would not be working as legal prostitutes.

 

[tsg]

On a quick google, I found references to research that showed that (this is from memory as I closed the window by mistake, I'll find it again if anyone is interested)between 50 and 90% of prostitutes had previously been abused as a child, and that the average age of entry into prostitution is something like 13.

When it's illegal to be a prostitute at all, it's a little difficult to enforce an age limit.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Asking you to support an assertion you made is hostile?

No, it's not.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

All the better reason to make it legal, where you can regulate it. 13 year olds would not be working as legal prostitutes.

I doubt the old man who wants to abuse a 13 year old girl is going to be put off by an age limit put on legalised prostitution.

There is a big trade, and big money to be made in a child prostitution ring.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

I don't have a definite opinion on whether it should be illegal or not (I tend to think it should be legal but not for the reasons many others here seem to be arguing), but I do think it is relevant inasmuchas people tend to be assuming that prostitution is a free choice made by women when the evidence seems to show that it is a way of life that they have pretty much always been in, and don't have much experience of NOT being abused by men and may not know how to get out of. They never made a conscious adult choice to become prostitutes.

 

[tsg]

I doubt the old man who wants to abuse a 13 year old girl is going to be put off by an age limit put on legalised prostitution.

There is a big trade, and big money to be made in a child prostitution ring.

That is not an argument for keeping adults from being prostitutes.

 

[Cleon]

This is a very good point.

The difference is that both those things can demean and devalue the man. The alcohol cannot know it is being abused.

And not all prostitutes are abused. The interviews with Spitzer's "favorite" don't indicate any abuse at all--she seems fairly content with her line of work.

Now, of course, there is rampant abuse in prostitution--particularly in "lower echelon" prostitution rings. In my opinion, those situations are more along the lines of human slavery with a sexual component rather than actual prostitution per se. The prostitute is not selling her body for money, she's being used as a sex slave by her pimp.

These situations frequently occur now, even with prostitution illegal. I doubt legalization would really affect them; possibly, it might hurt their "business" as "clients" begin going to legal prostitutes that have been tested for STDs, rather than gamble with a shady operation. (Note; this is not meant to argue that "the only reason abuse happens is because prostitution is illegal." I definitely don't think that's the case.) It wouldn't give them a legal cover--coersion is coersion, and society generally frowns on slavery. Sex slavery, even more so.

 

[kosai]

I don't have a definite opinion on whether it should be illegal or not (I tend to think it should be legal but not for the reasons many others here seem to be arguing), but I do think it is relevant inasmuchas people tend to be assuming that prostitution is a free choice made by women when the evidence seems to show that it is a way of life that they have pretty much always been in, and don't have much experience of NOT being abused by men and may not know how to get out of. They never made a conscious adult choice to become prostitutes.

Precisely, use the tax money from the brothels to help those that seek it. Women's shelters are a perfect use for the income generated to the state. This allows those who need help to "get out" to do so, while still keeping the freedom to do as you wish an option. The system as it is now is the one in which people get stuck and much of it stems from lack of funding for real help. Instead we use the prison system which has terrible results at reforming people.

 

[pgwenthold]

I doubt the old man who wants to abuse a 13 year old girl is going to be put off by an age limit put on legalised prostitution.

There is a big trade, and big money to be made in a child prostitution ring.

So you are saying that, at worst, legalizing prostitution will have no effect on the current problem of child prostitution?

Then again, given the availability of legal prostitution, there is reason to believe the demand for child prostitution will go down. No, you will not eliminate completely the demand for child prostitution, but you will decrease the demand for illegal prostitution. You will eliminate the 13 year old being picked up by someone looking for any old streetwalker. By making it legal, you will only have those who are out still looking for illegal prostitution. That is likely to be less than now. It certainly can't be worse. Therefore, it is not a reason to not make prostitution legal.