Should the US make Prositution Legal?

[PhantomWolf]

**** New Poll ****


Since there is a long thread about Gay marriage and it seems to boil down to "The Government shouldn't make laws based sololy on morality" does thast mean that Prosititution should be legalised? I'll note here the New Zealand and many other countries already have.

[BertL]

I'll be the first to vote. I am against prostitution in general because I'm against every 'branch' of (or maybe reason for) prostitution.

[LunarOrbit]

The difference between gay marriage and prostitution is that no one is hurt by gay marriage (no more so than by straight marriages at least). It really shouldn't matter if people don't approve of a marriage, it doesn't affect them.

Prostitution can be harmful to the prostitutes and the johns (and their families). But I guess you could make the argument that legal prostitution could be regulated making it safer than illegal prostitution. Sort of like how it's better to keep cigarettes legal rather than let them become another unregulated illicit drug.

[Data Cable]

It's a service, like any other. There are far more dangerous occupations which are entered willingly and legally.

[Jason]

Bert, isn't prostitution legal in the Netherlands?

[echnaton]

My long held opinion is that sexually oriented businesses should be legal. However since they are an affront to the general accepted morality, they should be restricted to operate in certain areas. Visits to the red light districts in Amsterdam and Hamburg (for sightseeing purposes only) confirm to me the advantages of this type of zoning. It allows those that want to participate a way to do so while allowing those that don't want to or don't want to explain prostitution to their young children a way to avoid having the sex trade all around them.

[BertL]

jason said:

Bert, isn't prostitution legal in the Netherlands?

It is legal in the so-called "red light district", but the government is slowly tightening the laws and banning out prostitution.

[gillianren]

Legalizing prostitution is far, far safer for society as a whole than leaving it illegal.

Yes, in fact, I can justify that opinion, even to the extent of citing historical precedent!

First, a quick look at the history of serial killers shows that prostitutes are a very popular victim choice, simply because they are marginalized and afraid of the police. If prostitution were legalized--and, note, regulated like hell!--it would be harder for prostitutes to just disappear without anyone noticing.

Second, let's talk disease a minute. Prostitutes are a major vector of STDs. This is where my historical precedent comes in; there was a Civil War general who licensed prostitution in his area of control. (Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name! I studied a lot about the American Civil War.) Prostitutes (already known as "hookers" for twenty years by that point) were inspected by doctors; diseased prostitutes were sent to an infirmary and cared for--and not allowed to ply their trade. The VD rates of the local soldiers plummeted until the Army decided the experiment was unseemly and forbid it.

So yeah. Legalize and regulate. Pimping--well, regulate that, too. Agents are legal in other industries, right? They just aren't allowed to beat up their clients.

Oh, yeah--it might help with drug problems, too.

As I said, I've spent a lot of time thinking about anything about which I have a strong opinion, including this.

[Ginnie]

I don't have any serious objections to it.
But keep it clean and safe.

I wouldn't visit one though. I'm too married for that.

Modified: Just thought of it now, I don't live in the U.S. In Canada, prostitution is legal, but not soliciting for the purpose of prostitution. I can never understand exactly how that works.

[BertL]

You know, I completely forgot to add more than those two sentences in the post.

While I myself am against prostitution, I think that if it's a woman's own free will, she should be able to go ahead. So yeah.