Should prostitution be legalized?

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Filthy lies, all of it!

... you forgot their crusade against lap dances, lad's mags and beauty pageants.

Conceptually, I'm in favor of legalizing prostitution. The arguments usually made against it (morality, disease, demeaning to women) are either invalid or easily solvable if it were to be legal. In the case of disease, we'd be better off if it were legal and we could do something about it like testing.

But at the same time, I do think there are good reasons to keep it from becoming too prevalent. Frankly, as another poster said, some of us like sex but don't like relationships. In a societal sense, there is value to people having relationships - kids being raised in stable families, for one - plus the fact that people being in committed relationships is just generally better for society, I think - imagine what society would be like if we were all young and single with no responsibilities. (by the way, I'm completely in favor of gay marriage - one reason for marriage is to raise a family but its not at all the only reason). Paying for sex is easier than building a relationship of which sex is just one part, and fulfills an immediate need. Generally, its not good if people just go around paying for sex instead of having relationships with one another - then they'll never have relationships with each other. So while prostitution shouldn't be illegal, it should cost enough money that demand for it will be tempered to the point where visiting a prostitute would be an occasional splurge, not a relationship substitute.

Because there are some "happy hookers" the massive problems experienced by street girls should be ignored?

No, they should not. But why harass the "happy hookers" because of problems they do not experience?

Its funny, BTW. We don't judge the justification of accountants, carpenters or doctors on the basis of the "happiness".

Why apply this distinction exclusively to prostitution?

No! What we need to do is examine what makes a "happy hooker", and encourage that. I have a feeling I can already guess a few.

-Customers not being permitted to abused them
-Some choice in their customers
-Not being abused by their boss, pimp, whatever
-Not being exposed to a great many diseases
-A standard of etiquette being observed by customers on pain of denial of service

Guess what, by legalizing, regulating, blood-testing, etc., all of those would be taken care of. Pimps or madames would be subject to the same boss/employee rules as anyone else and same for customers. Independent Callgirls can choose their customers, and often do, but it'll be a lot easier without the possibility of an undercover cop. When they're required to get blood tests, the danger of illness becomes slimmer.

There will always be hookers. If there's a demand, people will provide a supply. Why continue to penalize in a system that makes it virtually assured that a large number are going to be miserable?

I'm not in favour of prostitution being illegal and I made that clear in my post.

I just used some stats that were conveniently displayed on a site that some object to.

Happy accountants, happy carpenters and happy doctors just don't have the same ring.

Insert beaten, abused or illegal in front of any of the above occupations for an alternate view.

It is a vice, and as such, people will do it regardless of legality.

Legalize, regulate, and tax is the answer for any vice.

I would like to think that there is an easy solution too but afraid it's just not true.

Two examples of legalisation, Amsterdam and New Zealand do not work so smoothly.

How could I forget that!

Same stats, different web site, including sources.

http://www.avaproject.org.uk/our-resour ... ution.aspx

Proof?

True, but sex is fundamentally different than nailing together two pieces of wood. If I force you to nail together two pieces of wood, you aren't emotionally damaged and I don't go to jail. If a carpenter teaches his 5 year old son how to nail two pieces of wood together, and then frequently engages in this activity with him, then again, nobody is harmed and nobody goes to jail for it.

A hooker being unhappy because she finds her job a bit boring is not fundamentally the distinction that people are trying to make when they talk about "happiness" in this context. If you find this word choice less than enlightening, I will have to agree with you.

Quite a lot of sex workers disagree with that statement. Unless you have first hand experience in the field of prostitution, I'll take their word over yours every time.

QFT (said the young single guy with no responsibilities )


I don't know that this would be economically feasible. Given supply and demand and the fact that some of them are doing it to scrape by, I don't think there is any way to make it legal in such a way that you can't get it relatively cheaply, unless you give up even trying to help the streetwalkers, who are the ones that most need the protection legalization might bring.

Evidence?

http://www.iusw.org/iusw-who-we-are/