# Is it merely religious bigotry that keeps Prostitution illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 28, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930 "2009-05-28T14:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/21 "2009-05-28T15:56:51Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Whether criminalizing prostitution is effective in addressing the issues I brought up above notwithstanding, I think it does show that there are plausible non-religious motives for doing so, which is what I understood your question to ask. Yeah, I thought this was the purpose of this thread. It seems evident to me that it’s not all religious-based – as I mentioned, I believe that some feminists oppose it for other reasons (as, I’m sure, some would support legal prostitution since it’s so paternalistic to have laws that, one could argue, mostly protect women from making their own choices). So, the OP seems ill-considered to me. And, I ask again – is it appropriate to use to term bigot for people who discrimate against someone due to their job? I suppose there are people who are bigots in that they may discriminate against any “lower-class” job, but that’s more of a class bigotry than against a particular job. It just seems like the word “bigot” is misplaced here. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/22 "2009-05-28T15:59:29Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Is porn really “highly regulated”? I might say it’s generally regulated, in that child porn isn’t allowed, porn can’t be sold to minors, and states have some restrictions on where businesses are located. But it seems to me, especially in the age of the internet, that it’s not that highly regulated. It would seem, as to be expected, that ‘highly’ as an adjective is subjective. I’m not speaking from a position of extensive experience, so feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken. But the very definition of porn is regulated. For instance, I can go to any theater and see two people having “simulated” sex that doesn’t look tremendously different than actual sex in porn, with the exception of camera angle that confirms that intercourse is really taking place. I can see almost as much (female) skin in an R-rated movie as I can in a Playboy and many consider that pornographic, though it generally doesn’t go to the lengths of exposure that Hustler does, but it’s distribution and exhibition is not as severely restricted as that of Playboy and Hustler. It’s always intrigued me that breasts and asses are generally considered tame, but vulvas and penises are deemed pornographic, even outside of sexual context. > [@](#): > > If that’s true, why? Is it because of high demand? Or because access is so easy via the internet, or simply that it’s too big a business to reasonably decimate without putting a lot of people out of work? Well, it appears the government hasn’t quite figured out a foolproof method of regulating porn on the internet. The ease of wide distribution at low cost of digital media has always problematic. Further, the vast majority of us are fully equipped to produce porn, whether we intend to make money off it or not. Then, you’ve got First Amendment protections to contend with. Larry Flynt’s efforts in challenging the law based on these protections have contributed significantly to deregulation of the industry. I suppose I can agree that pornography regulation of the past was considerably more prevalent than it is today, but then in another 50 to 100 years, our current regulations may seem pretty severe. > [@](#): > > To bring it back to the OP, if demand for prostitution were high and access easier, would we see a rollback of the laws restricting it? Perhaps. What’s the demand for it right now? I would think that the law is mainly responsible for keeping access to it relatively difficult to come by and more restricted, if only because accessing it necessarily entails avoiding law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/23 "2009-05-28T15:59:50Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Whether criminalizing prostitution is effective in addressing the issues I brought up above notwithstanding, I think it does show that there are plausible non-religious motives for doing so, which is what I understood your question to ask. Yes, and it was a good answer. I was just going a step further with it. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/24 "2009-05-28T16:01:10Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Yeah, I thought this was the purpose of this thread. > > It seems evident to me that it’s not all religious-based – as I mentioned, I believe that some feminists oppose it for other reasons (as, I’m sure, some would support legal prostitution since it’s so paternalistic to have laws that, one could argue, mostly protect women from making their own choices). So, the OP seems ill-considered to me. > > And, I ask again – is it appropriate to use to term bigot for people who discrimate against someone due to their job? I suppose there are people who are bigots in that they may discriminate against any “lower-class” job, but that’s more of a class bigotry than against a particular job. It just seems like the word “bigot” is misplaced here. Well one could argue that it’s bigotry against poor men and women who are having trouble finding a way to make money. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/25 "2009-05-28T16:06:47Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Fair enough. But homosexuality was made illegal for mistaken detriment-to-society reasons as well half a century ago. That’s not the same. There was never a widespread homosexual underground that went around committing violent assault, kidnapping, coercion, child exploitation, and blackmail. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/26 "2009-05-28T16:07:55Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well one could argue that it’s bigotry against poor men and women who are having trouble finding a way to make money. One could if one were so inclined to try to twist logic so far as to justify religious motivated bigotry against homosexuality. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/27 "2009-05-28T16:08:51Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well one could argue that it’s bigotry against poor men and women who are having trouble finding a way to make money. One could, if they didn’t have a real argument to use. Serious discussions about prostitution don’t involve accusing people of bigotry or discrimination or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/28 "2009-05-28T16:11:21Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > One could, if they didn’t have a real argument to use. Serious discussions about prostitution don’t involve accusing people of bigotry or discrimination or whatever. This is starting to remind me of that thread from a long time ago where a guy was saying something like, “Is it bigotry for a man to want his daughter to marry another white person just b/c he wants his children to look like him? what about for a man to tell his daughter to grow up to be a doctor/lawyer and not a prostitute? psyche, I’m actually black and I was just testing you all!” ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/29 "2009-05-28T16:11:41Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well one could argue that it’s bigotry against poor men and women who are having trouble finding a way to make money. Is it? Would it be safe to say then that the bigotry extends to \*all \*poor men and women who are having trouble finding a way to make money, whether involved in prostitution or not? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/30 "2009-05-28T16:12:53Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > One could, if they didn’t have a real argument to use. Serious discussions about prostitution don’t involve accusing people of bigotry or discrimination or whatever. I’d say serious arguments about SSM don’t involve accusing people of bigotry. I also hate that a utilitarian word like ‘discrimination’ has been turned into an epithet. We all discriminate. But hey, Newspeak is annoying all around. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/31 "2009-05-28T16:13:21Z")
I think it is similar in many ways to the issue of drug illegality. There is a great deal of genuine suffering, violence, and exploitation related to the sex industry. That’s not puritan propaganda, anymore than than the suffering, violence and exploitation related to illegal drugs, is prohibitionist propaganda. And people involved in policing it see those terrible things, and say “look at all these terrible things caused by prostitution. that’s why it should be illegal”. However, just like the illegal drug industry, what proponents of criminality fail to grasp is just that the those terrible things are to a large part caused by the illegality of prostitution, not the prostitution itself. If a stripper (or a store clerk, or a accountant, for that matter) gets beaten up by her manager or her customer, she goes to the police. The reason a prostitute does not usually, is because she is part of an illegal industry, so does not expect protection from the law. That’s not to say there is is not an element of moral puritanism involved, but that is not the only reason. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/32 "2009-05-28T16:15:07Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Is it? Would it be safe to say then that the bigotry extends to \*all \*poor men and women who are having trouble finding a way to make money, whether involved in prostitution or not? Well as prostitution is basically legal at the higher echelons and only illegal at the poorer ends of the spectrum, I’d say yeah it is a form of classism. It’s ok to date someone expecting fine hotels, them to pay for your apartment and buy you valuable durable goods such as jewelry that can be exchanged for money if the relationship ends, but it’s not ok to take cash on the night stand. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/33 "2009-05-28T16:24:00Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well as prostitution is basically legal at the higher echelons and only illegal at the poorer ends of the spectrum, I’d say yeah it is a form of classism. It’s ok to date someone expecting fine hotels, them to pay for your apartment and buy you valuable durable goods such as jewelry that can be exchanged for money if the relationship ends, but it’s not ok to take cash on the night stand. Are you saying people who end a romantic relationship are prostitutes? I’m not following the line of reasoning here. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/34 "2009-05-28T16:31:21Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well as prostitution is basically legal at the higher echelons and only illegal at the poorer ends of the spectrum, I’d say yeah it is a form of classism. It’s ok to date someone expecting fine hotels, them to pay for your apartment and buy you valuable durable goods such as jewelry that can be exchanged for money if the relationship ends, but it’s not ok to take cash on the night stand. Wait, you’re saying that high-priced call girls are legal? Wait, you’re equating dating with prostitution when there are valuables involved? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/35 "2009-05-28T16:33:33Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Wait, you’re saying that high-priced call girls are legal? Wait, you’re equating dating with prostitution when there are valuables involved? And I don’t even think that people look more favorably upon women who date men just for expensive gifts–generally people tend to call them gold-diggers, etc. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/36 "2009-05-28T16:35:16Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well as prostitution is basically legal at the higher echelons and only illegal at the poorer ends of the spectrum, I’d say yeah it is a form of classism. It’s ok to date someone expecting fine hotels, them to pay for your apartment and buy you valuable durable goods such as jewelry that can be exchanged for money if the relationship ends, but it’s not ok to take cash on the night stand. That’s an excellent point. When Anna Nicole Smith married that 90+ year old dude, nobody considered it prostitution, although you know that all she saw was dollar signs. If a woman is honest about it and sells herself on the street, then it is illegal. I guess you have to really charge a lot of money for it not to be prostitution.. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/37 "2009-05-28T16:37:47Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > And I don’t even think that people look more favorably upon women who date men just for expensive gifts–generally people tend to call them gold-diggers, etc. Apparently less so these days. It seems it is enabled now more than ever. See: [Founder of ‘Sugar Daddy’ Site Says It’s Not About Prostitution and She’s Not a Pimp](http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7614347&page=1) ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/38 "2009-05-28T16:38:37Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > And I don’t even think that people look more favorably upon women who date men just for expensive gifts–generally people tend to call them gold-diggers, etc. But are they prostitutes? Really? Not everyone wants the same thing out of a relationship. So what if certain reasons seem vacuous to judgmental types? I’ve accepted gifts from guys I dated. They didn’t seem to put out by spending their money on me. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/39 "2009-05-28T16:40:47Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > But are they prostitutes? Really? Not everyone wants the same thing out of a relationship. So what if certain reasons seem vacuous to judgmental types? I’ve accepted gifts from guys I dated. They didn’t seem to put out by spending their money on me. I don’t think they’re prostitutes either. I just mean that I don’t think that society is classist in saying it’s horrible for poor men/women to engage in prostitution but high-class and suave for a rich man to give his girlfriend/mistress a fancy car/house. Many people would see the latter as gold-digging, etc. But I think it’s stretching this argument beyond all belief to say that prostitution is an example of bigotry against the poor because rich men can get away with buying their girlfriend Porsches without being arrested. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930/40 "2009-05-28T16:42:29Z")
It is most likely mostly echoes of Christian morality that causes prostitution to currently be illegal. However, it should stay illegal. Prostitutes live awful lives. They are raped and beaten and strung out and even murdered. The majority of them suffer from PTSD and I suspect that there are probably issues with sex addiction as well. Supposedly, legalizing prostitution would solve this, but in practice it doesn’t. In places where prostitution has been legalized, the number of prostitutes who purchased a license and operated in a legal brothel, etc. is minor. Most prostitutes remain as illegal workers, under the same conditions as before, and the legality of it brings more money into the industry, and actually doubles (on average) the number of illegal prostitutes working in a country–usually trafficked in from another country. The problem is that most prostitutes are underage, drug addicts, runaways, or otherwise being used as the property of an abusive slimeball. And unfortunately, it looks like most of the customership of prostitutes is more than happy to make the jump to illegal workers. It lets them pay less and get more. They can hit the girl, have anal sex, forgo using a condom, or whatever else they want. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-merely-religious-bigotry-that-keeps-prostitution-illegal/497930.md?page=3)