Getting back to the OP, consent in most countries also depends on the age of the older partner. Many jurisdictions, including Canada and (I think) most U.S. States, have statutory rape provisions for “victims” that are technically past the age of consent for sexual intercourse with partners that are a certain number of years older (or past a certain age). This means, for instance, that a 16 year old couple may not be guilty for having sex, but a 21 year old girl having sex with a 16 year old partner may be guilty of a crime. To complicate matters, sometimes the laws are different for males and females, and often for sodomy (anal and/or oral sex).
I’m sure you know all this, I’m just pointing out the difficulty in trying to find one source that takes all of this into account. However, the Wikipedia article on Age of Consent has a list of articles in the “Ages of consent in various countries” section to regional summaries of laws that may be what you’re looking for.
The idea is that prostitutes have it bad enough without beeing criminals.
Police go after customers and pimps instead of making life tough on the “victims”.
This theoretically also cuts down on violence against protitutes, since they are (again in theory) free to go to the police and report crimes against them without having to face criminal charges themselves.
Wasn’t there a case a few years ago where a woman in Germany was denied social assistance because she refused to take a job for which she was qualified: prostitute?
If true, why is this illegal? If the country that you get the prostitute in legally allows that service, why should your home country be able to prosecute you for it? It seems like an overreach of government powers and completely unfair (keep in mind that this wouldn’t just apply to prostitution, something most people would consider bad, but even for potentially neutral or moral services)
Hmmph! Lied to by the media again! I usually use Snopes for things I get sent by email, not things I read in the Christian Science Monitor. (OK, that’s not where I read it, but it was the most reputable source I could find in the Google news archives.)
It sounds completely fair to me; if you are the citizen of a country that forbids prostitution, why shouldn’t it be able to prosecute you for it, even if you actually did it in a foreign country?
What? Just because something may be legal for citizens of one country doesn’t mean it must necessarily be legal for people of other countries on vacation. For example, I don’t see any problem with a law stating that it is illegal for citizens of the U.S. to commit murder anywhere (well, a strict reading of the Constitution might not give the federal government that power, but that probably wouldn’t be a problem), even if the killing is legal in the place of commission, Granted, proving that kind of case in court might be more difficult, since the country in which the crime was committed would likely not be compliant with providing evidence.
So according to Valete, Vox Imperatoris’ impeccable logic, any American that travels to Amsterdam should be subjected, upon his return, to Federal and State laws w/regards to the consumption of marijuana? Hell, for that matter, since US Customs is so friendly as is, why not have everyone traveling into the US piss in a cup? Wearing only their socks.
One of the most notorious US laws that applies overseas is the Cuban embargo. Can’t light up a Cuban stogie overseas. (But somehow doesn’t apply if you are the Vice President despite photographic evidence.)
You do ask your hosts where the sugar came from don’t you?
Replace ‘prostitution’ with ‘reading a certain banned book’. I’m of two minds about this. Obviously countries can do what they want, and there are certain nasty crimes that warrant international eradication, but on the other hand, maybe we need a escape route for liberty…?
Because it is ridiculously Orwellian. As long as I am abiding by the local laws, there’s no way that the US government should have any say in my actions.
If there were such a law, yes, but there isn’t, and I would oppose this law.
Even for child prostitution? I don’t see what the local laws have to do with it, besides the fact that if something were illegal for Americans overseas and illegal there, too, they could both prosecute you for it. If you’re a citizen of a country and that country prohibits people doing certain things, even overseas, you should be answerable to that law as a subject of that government.
