Decriminalizing Prostitution

Legalizing prostitution has become a vexed topic of discussion when it comes to feminism. Approximately 80% of prostitutes around the world are women who are either deeply affected by their sexual career negatively or not affected by the business at all. There are several cases in this debate that imply that once prostitution is legalized, the tremendous amount of women involved in prostitution would be elevated in terms of feminism, would be protected, and would help the economy. While legalizing prostitution can have its positive effects on the country and it’s economy, it is no lie that this business could possibly negatively impact someone’s life. It also leaves the position of women, universally, a step back from achieving full equality

Another country famous for adopting the approach of decriminalizing prostitution is Sweden. However, the implemented prostitution statute is not the average decriminalization law. It is recognized that such was established when Sweden passed a law in 1999, as part of a violence against women bill, that criminalized buyers of sex while keeping the person who sold sex or was sold for sex decriminalized.It gave birth to the partial decriminalization approach.

Just last week in New Jersey between October 13 and October 20, 239 pimps and prostitutes were arrested in an FBI child sex trafficking bust, rescuing 82 minor children from forced prostitution. Investigations are ongoing to determine if the prostitutes (women) were victims of sex trafficking as well. A commercial sex act includes prostitution, pornography and sexual performance done in exchange for any item of value, such as money, drugs, shelter, food or clothing and is considered to be the world’s oldest profession. Prostitution is one of the root causes of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking, considered to be modern day slavery, is one of the country’s largest unregulated industries and it is happening here in this country more than anyone wants to admit. Making prostitution legal will not take the crime out of it, nor will it control the growth of the sex industry, it will only expand it and increase the demand, leading to sex trafficking without actually protecting the women/children.

According to Serughetti (2013), “In the last decades of the twentieth century, a major change has occurred in the public understanding of prostitution, with the focus shifting from the sex worker to the client.” On the social scientific side, studies on clients have growingly shed light on motivations and behaviors of men who buy sex. Prostitution involves the exchange of sexual services for economic compensation. Women Prostitution involved in prostitution constitute a high-risk group for contracting and transmitting STDs, including HIV.

Prostitution has been an issue that is widely debated on. Many believe that if prostitution is legal, it would end the abuse people would have with women and children. People think that if prostitution is legal then it would reduce the number of women being forced into the sex industry. In addition, people this if prostitution were is legal then it would increase the number of women and children needed to fulfill the needs of the “johns” that are buying them. Recent research shows that a large majority of Americans believe that both the prostitute and the “johns” that buy them should face equal punishment for breaking the laws against selling sex. When it comes to whether or not these laws should exist in the first place, the public is evenly

Sex workers have been stigmatized for almost all history. Prostitutes are considered immoral, dirty, and untrustworthy. They are often associated with drugs and gangs. Moran describes her experience as a prostitute as emotionally, physically, and mentally corrosive. She says that she was used and exploited , and used drugs to help her through that time (Moran 1). Both women and men in the sex industry are considered dirty. Society thinks

What constitutes a sex offense has fluctuated after some time and place. A present offense might be decriminalized at the stroke of a statute (e.g. same—sex rehearses in England and Wales in 1967), and existing conduct might be seen as holding up be criminalized (e.g. male ambush in 1994). In 2000 the UK finished a wide investigation of every one of its laws on sexual culpable (Home Office 2000a) and established the viably confined laws in the Sexual Offenses Act 2003.

Prostitution is an act of engaging in sexual activities in exchange for immediate payment or financial gain. Prostitution is too described as a dangerous and exploitative institution relatively close to slavery. Recently, France and Germany have started to amend their prostitution laws to increase the possibility of risk for paying for sex. France following in the steps of Sweden have decided to switch their prostitution laws to the Swedish or also known as the Nordic model, where sex work is legal but paying for it is not. This essay will discuss why prostitution laws that criminalise sex buyers rather than sex workers should be implemented.

As shown by the safe conditions the Netherlands has created, prostitution can be a safe and well controlled profession. If it remains illegal it forces women to work “underground” in unsafe conditions and without proper health and safety precautions. The Netherlands is now one of the best know examples of open, legalized prostitution because of its innovative advancements (“Legalizing Prostitution”). Under the government's new laws, safer environments are in place for prostitutes to work, and there has been a large creation of policies to promote safe sex. For example, brothels became legal as early as 2000 though the move is widely controversial (“Prostitution in the Netherlands”). Brothel owners feel as though it is unfair because it forces

From one of the world’s oldest professions comes one of the oldest legal debates. There is no denying that the sex industry has taken international dimensions and is recognized as an economic motor for many countries. As countries around the world debate the merits of legalizing, or at least decriminalizing prostitution, the following questions should be addressed. Would legalization reduce some of the inequalities and abuse suffered by the women involved? On the other hand, by legitimizing prostitution, would society reverse decades of work to promote human rights and improve the status of women?

Many people consider legalizing prostitution as “opening Pandora’s box,” because prostitution is a profession people consider ‘immoral.’ Prostitution has no good sense about it. Many prostitutes are forced to work on the street, and many take drugs, not to mention that they help spread diseases such as the infamous HIV AIDS. So why would countries like Germany and Holland legalize such a forbidden profession? The answer? They look at the bigger picture.

To make a living in this country, individuals take up jobs that provides a service that society deems a necessary need, whether that profession be a doctor, teacher, engineer, labor worker, or prostitute. All of these jobs exist in the United States; however, all of them except prostitution is legal and are equipped with rights and rules (Nussbaum 669). The only law that exists concerning prostitution is the one that outlaws it. Its legislation is due to the nasty stigma people have towards it since it is believed to be against our common set of morals. However, the reality is that this job will not disappear with the constant flow of clients that demand this service. Thus, prostitution should be legalized so that the government can regulate the profession, which would allow the fabrication of laws to protect prostitutes and create a safe atmosphere for them to practice their profession. In turn, such a change in governing has the potential to finally eliminate the idea that it is degrading the modern-day world.

When it comes to the topic of prostitution, some of us will readily agree that it is harmful for men and women. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of should prostitution be legalized. Whereas some are convinced that women and men should be allowed to do what they please with their bodies and the legalization of prostitution would cause the decrease of STD’s and rapes. Others maintain that prostitution is not a mainstream job and can cause psychological issues. Though I concede that prostitution is not a mainstream job in the sense that there is no resemblance to another mainstream job that consists of using your body to exchange sex for money. I still insist that it should be legalized, because we are paying millions of dollars in taxes to arrest the prostitutes. Furthermore, it would help boost the economy, help bring awareness to sexuality in a sex positive matter, protect minors, decrease sexually transmitted infections, and rape cases.

Prostitution is a growing social problem around the world, and continues to grow here in the United States. The existence goes far back as biblical times to Ancient Greece where it was associated with religion. Despite efforts to eradicate it, prostitution has the uncanny ability of adapting itself to any institutional system. Whether tolerated as a social evil

In a cozy, first world country, the realm of crime, abuse, and drug use, seems like it is worlds away, when in reality, these horrific acts occur in our own backyard. But to a prostitute, it’s their entire world, being forced to work in the grit and grime of the streets, and to make a dangerous living in the underground. The criminalization of prostitution and sex work is flawed at its very core- men and women shouldn’t have to lower their standards of living in order to exercise their rights to both their body and work.