Should Prostitution Laws Be Legal?

Some say prostitution is the world 's oldest profession. Yet, only a small percentage of the world’s government allows it. The legalization of prostitution is a very controversial topic due to many people’s moral beliefs. Prostitutes all over the world are treated as outcasts. A reason for people to be against prostitution could be due to their religious beliefs, moral standpoints, or lack of knowledge over the subject. Many religions state that sex outside of marriage is a sin and those who do it should be looked down upon. Due to these beliefs people tend to be against the legalization of prostitution. Though there are many facts that show that prostitution should be legalized. Prostitution should be legalized in the United States because then it can be regulated, would help the economy, and would lower the prison population and crimes against prostitutes.

From analysing my research, I disagree with the proposed amendments. According to Van der Meulen (2013) this bill is supposed to protect the sex workers, however, it is hypocritical in which it puts the sex workers at increase harm. This paradigm is associated with a paternalistic view that ignores the issues of consent and choice. I believe violence against women must never be tolerated whereas; the Bill C-36 fails to address the issues to protect women in the sex trade industry. Canada’s justice minister insists that once passed, the Conservative government’s new prostitution bill will mean safer conditions for sex workers, “the ultimate goal, however, is to end the sex trade in Canada altogether” (O’Malley, 2014). Along the same lines, Conservative Sen. Donald Plett said “of course don’t want to make life safe for prostitutes; we can’t to

Overall, Bill C-36 attempts to create a new legal framing for prostitution in Canada and is rooted in the belief that prostitution is inherently violent and exploitative; therefore the intent is to protect sex workers from exploitation, protect communities from the harms caused by prostitution, and reduce the demand for sexual services. The framework of Bill C-36 seeks to “denounce and prohibit the purchase of sexual services, procurement of persons for the purposes of prostitution and the development of economic interests in the prostitution of others” (Canadian Criminal Justice Association, 2014). Even though the aim of Bill C-36 is to protect victims from exploitation and/or prevent exploitative situations, it does so at the expense of the lives of those in the sex trade. Bill C-36 creates the environment for exploitation to flourish by only

In Canadian law, buying or selling sexual services within Canada is considered legal. However, this controversial topic has raised discussions between people because of the possibilities of illegal activities inside the world of prostitution. From reading the newspapers to hearing it on the television, we know nothing good ever comes out of prostitution because of the exposure to the risky businesses and dangerous people. Prostitutes engages in a number of dangerous harmful activities such as taking drugs, rape, emotional and physical abuse, and the worst case scenario is death. In this thesis paper, I’ll be discussing the main points and arguments as to why prostitution should have been illegal to begin with and why Canada should

The 2013 case, Bedford v. Canada, started in the Superior Court of Ontario, when three current and former sex workers brought the case to the court as a violation of Section 7 of the Charter. In the court’s ruling the Justice declared that, “These laws, individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” (Like any other job?, 2014: 3). At the heart of this ruling was that these were limits on sex work imposed on sex workers that stopped them from actually doing the job, and since the job itself was never made illegal it was infringing on their civil liberties to add these addition laws that put them at risk for doing their job. The SCC agreed with this ruling.

Sex work is a very controversial topic and many individuals are passionate about what they believe. Regardless of the moral arguments, beliefs and disbeliefs, every person in Canada owns the right to have their human rights as well as their health respected one hundred percent. The Courts of Canada have focused on the precise question of whether or not Canada's current laws abide by the Constitution and serve to protect the human rights of the persons engaging in sex work.

Canada is seen as a renowned country that is liberal-leaning and an evolving nation, that promotes the progression and development of women all over the world. However, this is not the case under every circumstance; because as a government and society they are guilty of punishing those that are involved with prostitution. The laws that are in place (i.e. Bill C-36), show an antiquated view on the ideology/issue of prostitution; which is one that not only prosecutes sex workers but also affects their means of creating a stable income, as well as affecting their personal safety by forcing them to conduct their business in dangerous environments in order to prevent themselves from being charged/arrested. If the Canadian Government were to assess the various countries that have legalized prostitution, and examine the successes and failures presented by those legislations; then they could successfully create a realistic law concerning prostitution that meets a middle ground for both parties. Although prostitution may technically be “legal”, the acts that surround the issue are still considered to be illegal, such as: the advertisement of sexual services, purchasing said sexual services, financially benefit from the money received from said activities, and etc. The legalization of prostitution within Canada is not a newfound issue, and has always been a controversial issue. Therefore, within this essay I will be providing a summary of the “Attorney General of Canada vs. Bedford”

Within our society laws are created to limit and deter individuals from harming others or themselves. However, crimes such as recreational drug use and prostitution do not harm individuals but in the eyes of the law they are looked down upon due to consequences associated with drug use and promiscuous sex. Additionally, individuals arrested for marijuana usage and even prostitution make up a fair amount of the prison population. As a result of this, there have been several protests calling for the decriminalization and or legalization of these crimes. Though it has been a long battle calling for decriminalization, some countries or even states in the U.S. have worked on fully decriminalizing marijuana and prostitution for important reasons

“The oldest profession in the world”; this is how prostitution is often defined or referred to. However, the reality of prostitution in the 21st century is much more complex than it was before. With the emergence of nation-states and democracy, the question of the legal status of prostitution became an issue now more controversial than ever. In Canada, this question resurfaced in the last decade with the Bedford case, which eventually led to a change in laws pertaining to prostitution with Bill-36 in 2014. While the Conservatives supported an abolitionist view on prostitution, their bill was severely criticized by the opposition parties and many groups defending human rights. Thus, a critical question arises: should prostitution be

Women who can legally prostitute themselves will not need government assistance; therefore there will be a decrease of the number of women who need a form of government assistance to survive their everyday lives. As a result of the United States government declaring prostitution illegal, many women get arrested and serve long sentences for their conviction. The United States government spends approximately $45,000 to house an inmate in any state correctional facility or federal penitentiary per year (Hirby, 2013, p.1). The same $45,000 that the government is spending to send a woman that has been convicted of prostitution to prison, could be spent to send that exact female to any private college in any state to further her education. Education is knowledge; knowledge leads to innovation, and innovation leads to a bigger, brighter future.

Known globally as “The world’s oldest profession”, a prostitute can give you quite the bang for your buck! Prostitution should be legalized within the United States of America for numerous reasons, some of which including decrease in rape and diseases, adding a nice little boost to our economy, and generally reducing violence against women of the night. Even though prostitution can be very dangerous, many women choose that path.

In order to reduce human sex trafficking the Johns, the name given to men who solicit and/or buys a prostitute, needs to be targeted and not the women themselves. Lessening the demand for women will drive down the supply of them since not as many will be in demand and needed. Since many victims of sex trafficking are forced into prostitution the best way to reduce sex trafficking is to reduce prostitution. A very effective way of doing so is by using John schools based on the First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP) model, which has shown to reduce prostitution by 50%. Since prostitution is drastically reduced, sex trafficking is also reduced, but because of such an unknown number of women are sex trafficked there is no exact number of how much it reduced from this program, but it is concluded that sex trafficking may be reduced up to 30-50% in the areas where the John school is offered. Research has shown that, not only does this program reduced prostitution and sex trafficking but it “does not divert the problem to somewhere else, it actually ends it” (Shively). The FOPP program has been the only initiative proven to reduce prostitution and sex trafficking( Nealon). This paper will be looking at and evaluating the FOPP program and its effectiveness that is set up in San Francisco, in which most John Schools in the country have since modeled by their program around.

When the chance to pick an arguable topic arose I chose one that has been particularly sensitive within my own group of friends. The question is: Should prostitution be legal? My question is: Why shouldn’t it? By all means I respect the opinion that having sex for money is completely illegal in most states but what about stripping? Stripping is completely legal and paid for lap dances aren’t the only advancement allowed. Strippers are allowed to receive payment to have sexual encounters within the establishment and it is completely legal. Protection for working women should exist across the board, not just for the select few.

Prostitution is defined as the act of “providing or receiving sexual acts, between a prostitute and a client, in exchange for money or some other form of remuneration” (Hock 557). The idea of exchanging sex for valuables has been around since the beginning of human society. The first reported data about prostitution was reported around 3000 B.C.E in one of the first known civilizations, Mesopotamia (Caraboi and Fierbinteanu 362). It is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, even though prostitution is illegal in most parts of the world, it is still prevalent worldwide with different ways to exchange sexual services for payment and many different types of prostitutes. One of these types of prostitutes are brothel workers; brothel workers work in “a house of prostitution,” a brothel, which are normally in areas where prostitution is not criminalized or is legalized (Hock 560). Like prostitution, human trafficking has been around for thousands of years and is still present today.

Prostitution has been one of the oldest professions of all time. So should it be legal? When it comes to the topic of prostitution, a lot of people will readily agree that it is “wrong” for moral reasons and or religious beliefs. People will also argue that prostitution is in the bible stating it is wrong, but not everyone has the same beliefs and others do not believe in God. Everyone has different opinions and mindsets towards it. Where this agreement usually ends, however is with the question, if Prostitution be legalized. Some are convinced that it should not be legalized because it is considered sexual harassment, rape, battering, domestic violence, a violatation of human rights, childhood sexual abuse and many other reasons. Whereas others maintain that it should be legalized for many reasons such as it will reduce violence against women, it will make sex workers healthier, it is also a victim less crime and they can be a source of tax revenue. Plus, believe it or not, prostitution is not going away anytime soon. I agree with prostitution being legalized.