Ok, I’m sure we’ve debated this before at some point but that’s never stopped the raging abortion war, so let’s do it again with some new, fresh blood.
jarbaby says,
prostitution should be legalized in the united states, with designated districts, taxes, benefits and as much as I hate them, union representation.
I simply can’t see the downside to it. If you have a moral problem with it, stay out of the district, don’t spend your money and feel free to walk down the street haughtily at what a great person you are.
But, let’s face it. People want to get laid. All the time. For probably 97% of the population it is the prime directive. Why not pay someone who can provide the service in a clean, safe, enjoyable manner, is probably talented in the arena and willing to do it?
If prostitution were considered no more than another sort of ‘relaxation therapy’ ala going to a spa day or a round of golf, a lot of stigma could be alleviated, thus helping the women who choose to do this sort of thing feel better about themselves.
jbj: *If prostitution were considered no more than another sort of ‘relaxation therapy’ ala going to a spa day or a round of golf, a lot of stigma could be alleviated, thus helping the women who choose to do this sort of thing feel better about themselves. *
Probably true, but I think you should clarify what grounds you’re recommending legalization on: is it because you want to “alleviate the stigma” and reclassify prostitution as “therapy” rather than “sin”? That’s not really fundamentally different from opposing legalization because you consider prostitution sin rather than therapy, and it’s not likely that you’ll overturn what seems to be a majority opposition to legalized prostitution.
Or are you suggesting that it should be regarded as a rights issue, as a legitimate individual choice that the government has no business prohibiting? I think you can make more of a case on those grounds, but there are still some severe practical drawbacks. I applaud your wanting sex workers to have benefits and union representation, but as with other forms of unskilled/semi-skilled “women’s work” like domestic service, there would be a lot of abuse of the legal safeguards. (Anybody see “Live Nude Girls UNITE!”, the documentary about a group of strippers trying to unionize?) After all, there are several related categories of sex work (stripping, peepshow dancing, etc.) that are currently legal, and they are not well known for being havens of enlightened labor policy and high job satisfaction.
No no. I’m not interested in reclassifying prostitution as anything other than what it is. I just think that perhaps were prostitution legal, it would automatically remove some of the stigma attached to it. It will certainly never be a widely encouraged, highly lauded professon.
I think that it is a legitimate personal choice, not only to be a prostitute, but to visit a prostitute. I think truly, it is a victimless crime…IF THE PROSTITUTE is in her position due to personal choice.
Forced prostitution, desperate prostitution, sex for crack prostitution I think would be reduced for the same reason that I don’t go to unlicensed massage therapists. There’s better, safer quality elsewhere.
Since it seems undesirable to have a profession that is not highly lauded (like say the way we admire lawyers), I suggest that we get the government involved (there are always so many advantages, once you do that).
My suggestion is to have the government form the Piece Corps. All females from the age of 18/25 must spend no less than 1 year and no more than 3 years in servicing our country. This way all women will serve and none can look down on those that are presently serving. Think of how much more attractive the average prostitute would be and this would also add to the prestige of the profession. The ugly gals would have fewer customers, so men would start bragging about: “When my wife was in the Piece Corps she never had less than 10 customers a night!”. A system of awarding metals could further enhance the desirability of serving.
I think it’s a great idea. It would be safer for everyone…not even just the prostitutes and the people who visit them, but everyone else too. I mean you shouldn’t be having unprotected sex, but if you sleep with someone who has slept with a prostitute and you don’t use a condom you could be “screwed”. That could happen even if they haven’t slept with a prostitute, but the chances seem worse if they have. Testing and cleanliness would be nice. Also, they could tax it and use the taxes to fund AIDS research or something to help out even more.
However, it will still be a shady business. Will they be able to advertise? “Come get your lance waxed at slippery Pete’s whore house” isn’t gonna go over too well as a slogan. I think at best it would be looked at as lower than strip clubs or those 25 cent private viewing places…and that not too good.
Ah, but you forget these are Unionized Prostitutes. The Union would never allow the pretty girl to have more customers than the ugly girl. The Union would enforce rules that would make the clients pick the 300 pound prostitute with pimples and halitosis before the sleek Blonde sex kitten. “Sorry, Bud, but Big Bertha has seniority and nobody is getting laid until she gets laid. Union Rules.”
I disagree horhay. There’s no reason for prostitution to be the lowest of low. If a woman is healthy and friendly and talented in one aspect of sex or another and can bring a man or woman pleasure by providing that, why should it be shady? It’s shady right now because here in the majority of the United States, we see prostitutes as tragic, suffering figures, runaways or crack addicts or poorly dressed streetwalkers under the control of a pimp.
I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard that some of the prostitutes in Amsterdam are drop dead gorgeous, with beautiful bodies and are brimming with enthusiasm and sexual talent. If I had all that, I’d be proud as punch.
And advertising? Why? There are plenty of services in the world that don’t need to advertise. I rarely see ads for psychotherapists. People pick their therapists/massueses/shoeshiners/barbers based almost solely on word of mouth, in my experience.
Well, jarbabyj, that lack of advertising is more of a tradition than anything else. I’m sure the vast majority of starting psychotherapists/doctors/dentists would LOVE to take out full-page ads, but there was a pretty stiff tradition against it when I was a kid, and I’m sure it’s still going pretty strong. The ads I see on TV always come across as pretty shyster-like…
huh. TV ads for prostitutes? Billboards? Junk mail? Door-to-door salespeople?
jarbabyj–I agree that there is no reason for it to be the lowest of the low, but from what I have seen with peoples perceptions of strip clubs and the people who hang out there I can only imagine that it would be worse to take it even a step further.
Ethilrist–I was not implying that places of prostitution WOULD advertise. But I wonder if they WOULD BE ALLOWED too. I have seen billboards, and newspaper ads for strip clubs, and I can imagine that if prostitution were legal they would also want to be able to advertise, but I think a lot of people would object.
Well, Ethilrist, I think the point is that a lack of advertising isn’t really going to bury the prostitution industry. If there was a three block section of downtown Chicago designated as ‘red light’ and the men and women were in windows and people could freely speak to their friends about the “great lay I got last night on Rush street”, word of mouth would work perfectly!
Though I don’t necessarily agree with the profession of prostitution, I must say that I wouldn’t mind if it were to become legal one day. It seems to me that if it were, than it would be much safer than it is now, for both the prostitute and the consumer. There could be something along the lines of security guards who could make sure no got hurt. There would also probably be a much larger chance that they would use condoms.
I think it was George Carlin who made this point: A woman can fuck me, and that’s legal. I can give her money for no reason, and that’s legal. But when we put the two together, it’s illegal.
I think that accurately puts it into perspective how stupid it is to make prostitution illegal.
What consenting people do to each other that harms noone (not even themselves, any more than legal sex), even if money changes hands, should not be the business of the state, in my opinion.
kniz and Pyrrhonist, thanks so much for that demonstration of the respect and courtesy we could expect to be shown for female sex workers. :rolleyes: I don’t think that the legality of a business ought to be dependent on the amount of sniggering and tasteless jokes inspired by it, but you guys sure aren’t making much of a case for the likelihood of establishing sex work as a dignified and respectable profession.
BTW, I’m in favor of the idea, even if I am unlikely as a potential client.
That Piece Corps bit was amusing. Maybe we could splice this idea onto this thread from Homer, and people would stop worrying about where we’d find work for all those new High School grads.
I think at best it would be looked at as lower than strip clubs or those 25 cent private viewing places…and that not too good.