should prostitution be legalized?

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well?

it's a victimless crime. if it were to be legalized, it'd be much safer and there could be standards and checks put into place to maintain safety for all involved. it could bring in more revenue towards local and federal taxes, and it would provide a service to people.

Yeah I don't see why it shouldn't be.

Why is it illegal to sell something you can give away for free?

Yes, it should be legalized. I am not sure I support regulation of the industry to any great extent. If sex is a transaction then there are no externalities involved in sexual conduct as both sides are agreeing to risk, the market for sexual services exists with government persecution and really I think it will be more self-regulating if tolerated due to greater ability to specialize.

Not only that but given our societal distrust of prostitution, I think that information seeking tendencies of individuals will be able to compensate for concerns of imperfect information and protection from damage by that, it is true that on some levels we may have a market for lemons, however, better contracts between groups can likely help deal with that, as well as the need to maintain a good reputation in the long-run.

Finally, regulation will only create greater costs of entry or be subsidized in this industry, the former supports less competition which is bad and the latter could be described as evil by many.

Last edited by Awesomelyglorious on 08 Sep 2007, 2:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Social control.

Is it a victim less crime?

The prostitute consented to providing a service for currency and/or goods.

In order for a victim to occur in the process they must be kidnapped, killed, stolen from or the consumer fails to provide agreed payment for service. (Or any combination of stated actions)

Where is the victim?

By your logic barbers and secretaries are victims.

Just because two people consent to something... doesn't mean that one of them isn't a victim.

I could pay someone money to set me on fire... I'm still a victim. Perhaps of my own stupidity... but still a victim of something.

Alternative and TM1's pimp game would suffer some major profit impact if we had to compete with legal hookers. Here is a clip from the documentary about our lives:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifR2rtZnn-E[/youtube]

Yes.

No, you made the choice and consented. You are only a victim if you are forced do something againist your own will or someone does something to you without your consent.

Also, It is not the government's task to protect you from yourself, with the freedom of expression and choice also comes the freedom to be a complete idiot and personal responsibility. Every citizen has the right to do anything as long as they do not endanger others or their property without complete consent.

I don't think it's that cut and dry, Flagg. I can think of many situations in which a person could be manipulated into giving consent, without understanding the ramifications.

So your for privatizing the Social Security system then? Because I want to take the money I paid in and invest it in:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMnvmHVviBc[/youtube]

A person can foolishly give consent but by consenting I still would hesitate to call this person a victim of anything but stupidity. A choice one makes that solely affects them can be a bad choice but they do not become anyone's victim.

Frankly, I think it is your money, if you want to make bad choices then so be it. Maybe you will succeed in your dream, probably not, but it is your money and I am distrusting more and more the good of the government preventing people from acting on their own ends.

How not? If I know that another person has diminished mental capacity and I take advantage of that fact for my own gain, you'd really say that he wasn't a victim, because he consented? That he deserved it because of his stupidity?

Is this person intelligent enough to actually be considered a functioning being? If this person has enough intelligence where a contract would be valid then I would not call them a victim, if not then perhaps I would. Really though, this sloppiness can result in a rather large amount of "victims" who were simply fools in need of a lesson, the fact that others can be convinced into bad actions exists whether they get paid or not.