Prostitution: Legalize? Regulate? Ignore?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was thinking about the issue of prostitution today and eventually came to this conclusion:

Prostitution is a morally questionable practice that takes place everywhere regardless of its legality in each situation. (In other words, people do it whether it’s legal or not.) Because it is an inevitable practice, the best thing a government can do for its people in regards to prostitution is to make the practice as safe as possible by legalizing and regulating it. It would seem that the least the government should do in terms of regulation would be to restrict licenses to ‘workers’ who have no sexually contagious diseases by requiring the workers to schedule and pass regular disease tests. Optimally, though, the government (or the businesses which provide such services) would test the workers regularly and provide them with preventative-maintenance type drugs. Here we’re talking about spending a lot of money to keep people safe. I think it’s worth it, but it has to come from somewhere. Nevada seems to be a good example of this system gone right: it uses the money from its endlessly profitable legalized gambling industry to maintain safety in its legalized prostitution industry.

Here are a couple of questions to think about:

What’s your take on all this?

Is it a practical solution in the rest of the U.S. and the world?

Is it morally wrong to tempt law-abiding citizens with legalized vices such as gambling and prostitution?

If prostitution is morally wrong, can it be eliminated?

2

I’ll answer your questions, fetus

What’s your take on all this?

Calling prostitution a morally questionable practice, I find morally questionable. It’s a necessity.

*Is it a practical solution in the rest of the U.S. and the world? *

Legal prostitution works fine in the Netherlands.

*Is it morally wrong to tempt law-abiding citizens with legalized vices such as gambling and prostitution? *

Forgive me, but: :rolleyes:

If prostitution is morally wrong, can it be eliminated?

Prostitution isn’t morally wrong and you can never eliminate it.

3

May I ask you a question, fetus?

When you posted this, did you feel the presence of god as well?

4

He was experiencing hype.

5

What’s your take on all this?

I think it should be legalized.

Is it a practical solution in the rest of the U.S. and the world?

For people to get booty with no strings attatched? Yes!

Is it morally wrong to tempt law-abiding citizens with legalized vices such as gambling and prostitution?

I don’t get this one. If something is legalized, then the law makers must’ve have thought it was ok for the public. If Bob is tempted to cheat on his wife with a hooker, that’s Bob’s problem. Not the hooker, not the government, not anyone but Bob.

If prostitution is morally wrong, can it be eliminated?

I don’t think that it is morally wrong. But some do, and some will always feel that it is. Too bad for them! I don’t think that it could ever be eliminated because there will always be a religious nut, or someone who feels its “dirty” to preach wrong information to fresh minds.

6

I think I’ve been a tad bit misinterpreted.

I personally think prostitution should be legalized and I don’t think it’s morally wrong. I asked if other people think it’s morally wrong because this is an IMHO poll and I’m curious to see how many people do think it’s wrong. I think it’s maybe a little morally questionable. I wouldn’t think someone immoral for using such a service, and I probably would at some point in my life. But it’s not exactly passing out soup at the homeless shelter, either.

I’ll answer my own questions. Maybe that’ll clear it up.

What’s your take on all this?

I think it should be legalized and regulated a la Nevada or the Netherlands.

Is it a practical solution in the rest of the U.S. and the world?

Yes, but we’d (speaking of the government, here) probably have to make some changes in our spending habits to run it smoothly without digging a bigger economic hole for ourselves.

Is it morally wrong to tempt law-abiding citizens with legalized vices such as gambling and prostitution?

No. I agree with PA: if someone chooses to partake in an activity that some would call morally questionable, that’s his problem (if it’s a problem at all). I personally believe that a democratic government should not and can not enforce a concept of morality (except in extreme cases such as rape and murder, where someone’s life is being taken or threatened, etc.) because then it would no longer represent all of the people, because each person has their own unique sense of morality. This is why I think the attempts of democratic governments to keep things like drugs or prostitution or gay marriage illegal on moral grounds are fallacious in nature.

If prostitution is morally wrong, can it be eliminated?

No.

gum: Forgive me, there appears to have been quite a miscommunication. No, I did not feel the presence of God, nor do I feel that there is a God-given set of morals that precludes prostitution, as implied. I think there’s nothing wrong with prostitution; I didn’t say it was wrong, I said it is probably morally questionable, but each person has their own set of morals and I don’t see anything wrong with prostitution in my set. I can, however, see how someone would reach a conclusion that it’s morally wrong; that’s what I meant by ‘morally questionable’.

7

I was not stating my opinion in those questions, I was merely asking about the opinions of others. Forgiven, but I think a “No” would suffice.

8

I’m kinda curious as to why you even asked this. I read the linked post, and the OP again and fail to see any correlation. Unless you’re trying to equate morals and religion somehow, because IMO, and I think widely excepted, morals exist outside of religion. If this is not the case, pardon my hijack.

9

It seemed to me that the (incorrect but understandable) implication was that I was the religious-right sort who equated religion with morality, and felt that correct religious morals (I don’t believe there is such a thing, BTW) precluded prostitution.

I guess I just failed to communicate my opinion, which has been explained in this thread now, in my OP.

10

Not even discussing whether it’s morally wrong or not :
During millenias, thousands of law-makers, clerics, kings,… tried to eliminate prostitution. Nobody ever suceeded. Ever. Nowhere. Even for a short time. Whatever could be punishment, including death sentence. There were prostitutes in Kabul under the Taliban’s rule. I’m not sure what you could come up with to enforce this moral that would be more dissuasive than what these people tried.

So, no. There’s no way to eliminate prostitution. Believing there’s the slighest chance it could be done is completely laughable in the face of the moutain of evidences accumulated over the centuries in the whole world.

11

Well-said, and I agree. I was just curious if anyone out there thought it actually could be eliminated.

If prostitution has been proven impossible to eliminate, and the idea of the criminalization of an activity is to eliminate it, it should follow that the criminalization of prostitution is fallacious and should be undone. Thoughts?

12

Lets take your logic and apply it to another situation:

example
Theft is a practice that takes place everywhere. People do it eventhough it’s illegal in every society and culture. Theft is impossible to eliminate. The idea of the criminalization of theft is to eliminate it. It should follow that the the criminalization of theft is falllactious and should be undone.

Obviously theft should not become legal, but you can see what I’m getting at.

Prostitution is one of those activities that doesn’t cause loss of property or bodily harm (if done safely), but is still looked upon by almost all cultures as being wrong. Yes, it doesn’t really harm people like murder or theft does, but it is an activity that can and does destroy relationships and families. It’s also not without health risks. You can see it is much more of an ambiguous activity to deal with.

Regarding the OP, Is legalized prostitution a practical solution in the rest of the U.S. and the world? I think it would require a major shift in how people look at sex. That idea is not likely to change anytime soon, so I think it would not be practical here. In the USA, the majority of people think its wrong, so it’s not going to happen.

13

The government has no business policing consensual behavior. All other considerations are up to the individuals involved, and none of anyone else’s business.

14

Good example; I hadn’t thought of that, and yes I do see what you’re getting at, and it’s a very good point. Although it can be said that the criminalization of theft is aimed at dissuasion to the greatest extent possible and the reduction of harm when theft does occur, and it seems to achieve those means fairly well; while on the other hand, the criminalization of (usually) mutually consensual activities such as prostitution and drug use aims to eliminate, which has been shown to be impossible.

Amen!

15

Not even in the interest of public health?

16

Well, Canada has somewhat liberal prostitution laws, though I think they could be opened still up a bit.

The act of accepting money for sex is legal if you’re 18 or older (age of consent is 14, here, but prostitution isn’t legal until you’re an adult). However, soliciting for sex on the street (as opposed to in newspapers) is illegal, working in your own home is illegal (considered unfair to the neighbours), and pimping is illegal.

The pimping provision seems good at first, but it’s been used against escort services that actually provide a measure of protection for sex trade workers.

As for the “bawdy house” provision, the police here in Montreal seem to have a very liberal interpretation of what constitutes a bawdy house, and there’s some feeling in these parts that they’ve overstepped their authority (there was one dominatrix a few years ago who didn’t do sex, just punishment, and her house was raided; also gay strip clubs are more likely to be targeted than straight ones, and really – if the neighbours aren’t bothered by a strip club, are they likely to be bothered by the sex trade under the same roof?).

17

I think there would be a fair old stink if any government actively promoted these activities.
Smoking cigarettes is legal but, far from promoting it, governments go to great lengths to stress the dangers associated with it.
Legalising prostitution is a sensible reaction to an unchangeable situation and, by merely doing so, I don’t think you could claim a government was “tempting” potential customers to partake.

As to the question of fidelity & family breakups: An interesting, yet probably unworkable solution, would be to compel the customer to prove he/she was not subject to a legally binding contract (marriage) that forbids infidelity.

18

I think it should be banned in certain areas, and advertising it should probably be heavily regulated or banned.

I mean, who wants to be walking downtown and, just as you pass the “Cooch for Cash” billboard outside of the art museum, you get propositioned for sex by a filthy heroin addict on your way into the library?

If people want to pay for sex, fine, it doesn’t hurt me, but I don’t want cities transformed into giant bordellos by an enormous, unregulated prostitution industry. Imagine corporate pimps. You know that’s what’d happen within months of legalization.

19

I’d be more worried by the government promoting gambling than prostitution. Unfortunately, mine does. My provincial government encourages gambling, with slick advertising campaigns for the provincial lottery.

I think the question of prostitution promoting infidelity is rather moot, since infidelity has easily existed in places where prostitution is quite illegal.

It also requires the government to assume responsibility for a matter of people’s personal lives that in no way affects the interests of society. This should be a matter for the two spouses, of no importance to anyone else.

20

Funny that prostitution has been legal in Canada now since the 19th century without going corporate. In Montreal, some of the trade is controlled by motorcycle gangs, but sex industry is one of the few places where the independent businessperson can still thrive. I have a friend who paid his way through university that way.

On the other hand, for all of you who are eager to get rid of the sex trade, I’m surprised you don’t want it to go corporate. Just the thought of a MacDonald’s House o’ Sex is enough to drive a person to celibacy :smiley: