Diving Head First Into The Legal Prostitution Pool
| By Bluejacket - Oct 22nd, 2005 at 11:58 am EDT |
I just kept writing in response to this story, so I decided to turn it into a post.
To begin, anything that is illegal is far more dangerous that the same thing that is legal. Look at prohibition. Alcohol was not causing half the social unrest that illegally trying to distribute alcohol did. In fact, it was such an issue that they made another constitutional amendment to restore people's ability to drink. At that point, people are not only paying more for the privledge, they are taking more risks to get to that taboo substance. People who are getting the alcohol are not getting a good product at all, and I strongly doubt that if they have no moral problem buying a poor product, they have no problem doctoring the product to make it go a little further to make some more profit. It creates a far unhealthier situation for everyone involved.
Whether or not it is legal, people are going to do it. Making it legal can make it safer for all parties. Men (I know there are male prostitutes, but we'll just keep this straightforward, shall we?) do not have to go to seedy locations to find what they are looking for, and women do not have to lurk in dangerous areas, protected by disreputable men, to ply their trade. Women could be required to get regular tests, have greater access to health care, and work in nicer locations. They would have greater legal protection, so they would not have to worry so much about illegal protection. It also may stem the flow of venerial disease. And think about the tax revenues!
I am sure that most prostitutes have had a rough past. I am sure very few of them are putting themselves through college. And, I am sure there are very few women saying "How I long to be a prostitute! If only it wasn't illegal!" As it was pointed out in the comments, having a rough past does not mean you are headed right to the strip club or the bottom of a bottle. What women who end up as prostitutes really lack is any kind of support system to deal with what has happened to them. That is something the community needs to address. And society needs to stop marginalizing crimes we are not comfortable with. Theft, murder, sure we can help! Rape, molestation, well...we can help...but quietly. We need to make people more are there are places they can turn if this happens to them. It is not the victims fault, but the criminals.
Actually, at no point did I ever think of prostitutes as just people that wanted more sex. I think of them as people who did not have a choice, and went with what they had to do at the time.
I do not subscribe to the thought that by legalizing something, it is an implicit endorsement of his sort of behavior. Alcohol is legal, and I am pretty sure it does not endorse alcoholism. Baseball is legal, but beating the crap out of someone with a baseball bat is not. If you made pot legal today, made it legal and free, I still would not do it.
This is all sorts of a tricky topic. Angles everywhere. But, I think that removing the dangers from these women who are in this unfortunate situation should be our first step. Maybe then they can spend more energy on working on their future than avoiding the law.
To begin, anything that is illegal is far more dangerous that the same thing that is legal. Look at prohibition. Alcohol was not causing half the social unrest that illegally trying to distribute alcohol did. In fact, it was such an issue that they made another constitutional amendment to restore people's ability to drink. At that point, people are not only paying more for the privledge, they are taking more risks to get to that taboo substance. People who are getting the alcohol are not getting a good product at all, and I strongly doubt that if they have no moral problem buying a poor product, they have no problem doctoring the product to make it go a little further to make some more profit. It creates a far unhealthier situation for everyone involved.
Whether or not it is legal, people are going to do it. Making it legal can make it safer for all parties. Men (I know there are male prostitutes, but we'll just keep this straightforward, shall we?) do not have to go to seedy locations to find what they are looking for, and women do not have to lurk in dangerous areas, protected by disreputable men, to ply their trade. Women could be required to get regular tests, have greater access to health care, and work in nicer locations. They would have greater legal protection, so they would not have to worry so much about illegal protection. It also may stem the flow of venerial disease. And think about the tax revenues!
I am sure that most prostitutes have had a rough past. I am sure very few of them are putting themselves through college. And, I am sure there are very few women saying "How I long to be a prostitute! If only it wasn't illegal!" As it was pointed out in the comments, having a rough past does not mean you are headed right to the strip club or the bottom of a bottle. What women who end up as prostitutes really lack is any kind of support system to deal with what has happened to them. That is something the community needs to address. And society needs to stop marginalizing crimes we are not comfortable with. Theft, murder, sure we can help! Rape, molestation, well...we can help...but quietly. We need to make people more are there are places they can turn if this happens to them. It is not the victims fault, but the criminals.
Actually, at no point did I ever think of prostitutes as just people that wanted more sex. I think of them as people who did not have a choice, and went with what they had to do at the time.
I do not subscribe to the thought that by legalizing something, it is an implicit endorsement of his sort of behavior. Alcohol is legal, and I am pretty sure it does not endorse alcoholism. Baseball is legal, but beating the crap out of someone with a baseball bat is not. If you made pot legal today, made it legal and free, I still would not do it.
This is all sorts of a tricky topic. Angles everywhere. But, I think that removing the dangers from these women who are in this unfortunate situation should be our first step. Maybe then they can spend more energy on working on their future than avoiding the law.
!
Comments are closed for this post.
Every tenet of progressive thought and, indeed, human history suggests that this can be reversed or altered.
jesus, guys, go take a cold shower. you don't need to prove your manhood here.
And someone is more or less open to criticism based on what gender they are?
As if I'd treat a man who disagreed with me any differently -- did you see my response to Siddique?
Sorry, but I don't play identity or interest-group politics, on any scale. I think they're illogical, dangerous, and counterproductive to honest debate -- whether it's the race card, the gender card, the orientation card, or the class card. It usually just one more way to tell people who can and can't have an opinion.
99% of people are just plain people, defined as individuals and not by membership in interest groups. Any argument that hinges on people's interest-group affiliations is doomed to be flawed.