Actually, in the Netherland, were protitution is famously legal in registered brothels (I believe it works this way), illegal prostitution is still an important issue. Most of these prostitutes are illegal immigrants who, of course can’t legally stay in the country, let alone prostitute themselves. And they are also the most likely to be exploited by pimps who helped them enter the country and quite often forced them into prositution.
In France, where prositution is legal (and the income taxed) but soliciting in a public place is fobidden (of course it still happens, so the prostitutes are arrested and pay fines on top of the income tax), and brothels are forbidden too, which would be a mid-way between the US and the Netherlands, there’s a similar issue with the exploitation of illegal immigrants, and even most of the prostitutes living legally in France have pimps (this despite pimping being a serious crime heavily punished).
For the record, I’m pro-legalization (living in France, that would mean Nehterlands-type legalization) with brothels.
Netherlands actually forbids brothels, though at the time of our last great prostitution brou-haha, I read that there was some sentiment to legalize brothels.
While the Netherlands is held up by people on both sides of this debate as an example, it is a poor one. Most forms of prostitution are still illegal there, and the issues of immigration form another legal barrier which causes an opportunity for arbitrage by pimps. But that is a huge, separate issue.
Sua
equivocal lmao yeah shit that means like two meanings doesnt it! i remember now from my philosophy lectures hehe
bollocks i meant equivalent
Unfortunately, most prostitutes here are sorely lacking in the fields of quantum physics and theology… 
No, seriously, I find it hard to believe that legal prostitution could be that shocking! Over here, the classified ads have an entire section devoted to prostitutes, transvestites, and “massage parlors”. I simply dont see any reason for it not to be that way.
True, its a job no one should have to do, but hey, things like mining coal or scrubbing toilets arent probably cakewalks either…
It should be legal. It doesn’t make sense that a person can have sex all they want, but if they get directly paid for it then they go to jail. Not only that but its an infringement on our individual liberties because it is basically an attempt to thwart individual will when their desires pose a threat to another person’s morals.
It should be legalized, but to keep down on controversy it should also be hidden. Streetwalking should still be illegal but red light districts or escorts should be legalized
Priceguy mentions that in Sweden prostitution was legal and then it became illegal with a new law.
I filed a mental note to look up ‘prostitution Sweden’ in the Internet with a search engine.
Correct me for any errors.
What did I find?
In a new law effective Jan. 1, 1999, prostitution is not really totally illegal but in a way, partially illegal.
Now, read this carefully:
It is criminal for a man to offer to pay a woman for sex; but it is not illegal for a woman to offer sex to a man for money from him in return.
How’s that?
The way I understand, it works this way:
If you are a guy and you approach a woman asking her to have sex with you on the offer of giving her money in return; she can report you to the law, and you will get fined for $1,000 to $2,000 or imprisoned to the maximum of six months.
I guess other interested parties can also file that complaint against you, for what I think lawyers call solicitation from a guy on a woman with promise of money.
I did not look up all the findings from the search engine.
But I think I have read enough.
The new law is a multiple piece of legislation aimed at reducing violence on women and instilling honor on them from the part of men.
Correct me for any errors I commit here.
Now, as regards the ills that this kind of illegalization (per terminology of Priceguy) brings, I have not read any texts on the social harms or benefits of this new law.
But I think it is a good law, in favor of women.
A woman can earn a ‘decent’ legal living, offering to sell sex favors, but she is protected from guys who are preying to have sex with her even enticing her with the lure of money.
Susma Rio Sep
Yup. The customer is the criminal, not the prostitute.
If you’re convicted. To convict you, evidence is needed. Where’s the evidence? Entrapment is illegal in Sweden.
There aren’t many, and even fewer have been translated. My views on the matter come from personal observation and talks with a police officer I know.
Just let me point out that the gender of each participant, prostitute and client, is irrelevant. A woman buying sex from a man is (in theory) just as criminal as a man buying sex from a woman. Homosexual prostitution is also covered by the law.
But I agree that the law did the best thing such a law could: criminalize the clients, not the prostitutes.
Depends on how you look at it. Since her profession is now illegal, although she is not herself a criminal, she more or less has to go underground. Her clients are criminals and by definition more dangerous than before. They now have jailtime hanging over them. Also, it’s not like she can go to the police if something happens, if she ever wants another client. She does not need to be seen as less than trustworthy.
Clairobscur: please read the entire post. I wrote: “Feel free to ignore everything I’ve written; I know it’s not backed up by cites and I know that it’s not an argument for illegalization, but rather an explanation of why prostitution sucks the big one” at the end, and the beginning held a disclaimer. I get like that when I’m depressive.
I think for everyone here interested in the topic of prostitution and its legalization, the case of Sweden might be the most objective and humanistic treatment of the question.
See:
“The end of prostitution in Sweden?”
by Maria-Pia Boëthius, in SWEDEN.SE Thursday 17 April 2003,
http://www.sweden.se/templates/Article____2295.asp
Thanks, Priceguy, for your contribution on Sweden.
And to all you women, I think contemporary Sweden is the place to learn genuine feminism.
To Priceguy again, allow me to put in a last word:
If I were a woman in Sweden and I want to make a living selling sex favors, I believe I could do pretty well and safely from the law there; but I would also be freed of unwanted customers.
Susma Rio Sep
Wanna bet we’d see Miss Maggie’s House on the Hill hit the S&P500 if it ever went public? Most of her earnings probably coming out of Microsoft employees’ pockets, interestingly enough. 
I havent seen too many people make posts upholding the current outlawing of prostitution. Does anyone have any good ideas to actually make/keep prostitution illegal?
Im also curious if the Roe v. Wade decision strenghtens the case for making prostitution legal, and if someone was convicted of prostitution, would using that decision as his/her defense actually in a way make the profession legal.
To my understanding this topic was also covered in Congress back in 1999. Here’s a link: http://www.house.gov/bernie/town_meeting/1999/ProctorHighSchool4.html
Was this the last time that it was discussed in Congress? And how close has the U.S. actually come to legalizing it? It seems like the support is mounting.
The opponents of prostitution say the same thing about that.
My comments were on what I saw on discussions of abortion on this site. In order to soften appearances of impossing their will upon women pro-lifers will often preface their comments with statements such as, “In general a woman has autonomy over her body but…”
I was saying that it would be hypocritical for any of the posters who had made those comments to then say that prostitution should be illegal.
Another “Legalize It” Proponent
And in the interest of consistency, the overturning of:
- Drug Laws
- Seat Belt Laws
- Dr. Assisted Suicide Prohibitions
- Etc., Etc., Etc.
Or for that matter, the laws restricting the sale of body parts.
But alas, in a country where 2 of the 3 largest states now prohibit smoking in bars, I’m not going to hold my breath
I’m a proponent of legalization, and I gotta say, Priceguy, that this is not a winning argument. Prostitution, in both its legal and illegal forms, causes and contributes to social ills.
The winning argument is that prostitution in its illegal form causes or contributes to considerably more social ills than prostitution in its legal form.
Sua
Someone earlier said that pimps should be kept illegal. I agree. Not because they’re violent or anything, but because NO ONE has the right to wear a purple suit and matching hat with a long feather in it; that’s harmful to everyone involved.
But seriously folks,
Morality is the one reason I keep coming back to. Our laws are an expression of our collective morality. That morality has been traditionally christian.
That doesn’t cut it. A whole mess of things are legal in this country that violate our collective, traditionally christian morality.
So are laws are not an expression of our collective morality.
Sua
This is my favorite book on this subject, and the issue of consensual crimes in general:
Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do : The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country
Ding! Ding! Ding! Sua gets it in one! There’s absolutely no rational basis for keeping prostitution illegal, yet it remains so. So what’s the REAL basis for the ban? What interests are being served here?
I note that very few of the posts to this thread so far defend the status quo. Most are pro-legalization. Yet legalization of prostitution is not a hot topic, not in any state of the Union. Obviously this is because the participants in the SDMB are not a statistically representative sample of the general public; we are, to begin with, self-selected for a certain level of interest in intellectual matters. But I wonder what this does reflect about the range of public opinion on this issue. It is possible that most Americans really would favor legalization – I haven’t seen any polls. At any rate, there are some obvious reasons why it’s a good idea, discussed above. Nevertheless, prominent state politicians never fight for legalization, never even raise the issue. Why not? Probably because that would make it too easy for well-organized religious-conservative minorities to torpedo their careers. Probably, also, because johns and whores do not constitute an organized special interest.
Hijack: This is yet another example of why we need to reform our political system to empower radical minority parties – including the religious conservatives but also including the Libertarians and Greens! If we had at least a minority of Libertarians in every state legislature, the legalization issue would get raised every session! We need ballot fusion, instant runoff voting and proportional representation! See the thread I’ve got going right now: “Should the U.S. adopt alternative, pro-multipartisan voting systems?” End hijack.