# Why is prostitution illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 5, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491 "2019-05-05T01:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491/61 "2019-05-09T01:24:05Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > \*snip > > This is an issue with legalization. The government will require (as it should) drug tests, treatment, health inspections, condom use, business licenses, no brothels near schools, churches or residential areas, the payment of income tax and the like **which will drive up the price and exclude some women who want to become prostitutes**. What does a drug addicted prostitute do under this system? …do you have any objective data that this is what would happen? As you know its been legal here since 2003. What happened to the pricing and did it drive anyone out of “the system?” > [@](#): > > Nevada is the perfect example. Nevada is never the “perfect example.” > [@](#): > > I am told (yes, really I was told 🙂 ) that these places are out in the middle of nowhere, are insanely expensive, and due to the regulations and the realities of the business model, they only have a certain number of prostitutes. This means, naturally, that only the most beautiful women fill the limited slots (there’s a joke in there somewhere) leaving the vast majority of women who want to become prostitutes unemployed in these legal brothels. Which is why Nevada is a terrible example. Almost nobody advocates for the Nevada system. > [@](#): > > Further, the customers will want certain things like cheaper prices, more convenience, a better selection to meet their budget, and blow jobs or intercourse without a condom. In New Zealand finding “cheaper prices”, “more convenience”, a “better selection to meet their budget” are all things that can be done within the confines of the law. Sex-work without a condom though remains illegal. And nobody is complaining about that. > [@](#): > > I mean, suppose I am in Vegas and am drunk and horny right now. I’m not going to get a cab for a two hour ride out in the desert and blow most of a paycheck and then a two hour ride back. I am going to look for an illegal hooker, and that is exactly what happens. Vegas is awash in prostitution despite it being legal nearby. Then don’t advocate for stupid implementations of legalization. > [@](#): > > It seems that you still have the illegal market with all of the issues that come along with that while establishing a legal system where the well to do have access to legal prostitution. Doesn’t sound like a practical solution. It seems that despite my having showed you in a previous thread that there are “more than one way” to implement legalisation, you will continue to frame the issue within a limited framework. Sex work is legal in Nevada because rich men wanted to make more money and convinced local officials to pass ordinance that allowed for legal sex work. In New Zealand sex work is legal because sex-workers decided to fight for their rights, gained support from womens-rights groups, got support from local MP’s, and managed to pass legislation through parliament. Nevada laws are problematic precisely because of the motivations for why those laws and ordinances got passed. So if you really are concerned about “what does a drug addicted prostitute do under this system” then perhaps you should be looking at less problematic implementations of legalisation. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491/62 "2019-05-09T01:29:07Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > So if you really are concerned about “what does a drug addicted prostitute do under this system” then perhaps you should be looking at less problematic implementations of legalisation. This is becoming similar to the UHC threads: UHC will never work! Yeah? What about these places where it DOES work? It will never work! (repeated) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491/63 "2019-05-09T01:33:49Z")
> [@Barack\_Obama](#): > > Glad to hear that. Prostitution is one of those issues that isn’t really going to win you a ton of voters so nobody is really running on it. So it’s never going to be legalized unless we talk about it more often. Why would we want to legalize it? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491/64 "2019-05-09T01:50:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Actually, I do. But I don’t have the power to enact or repeal laws. > > You asked why prostitution is illegal. And I answered that question. Don’t get snarky because you now realize you meant to ask a different question. Damn, if I rubbed a lamp and you came out of it, I would be fucking careful how I made my three wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491/65 "2019-05-09T01:52:48Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Why would we want to legalize it? …Georgina Beyer, the worlds first transgender member of parliament and former sex worker had this to say: > [@Georgina Beyer](#): > > GEORGINA BEYER (NZ Labour—Wairarapa) : I rise to make my contribution to the third reading of this bill, which I support. I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the members of this Parliament for a considered and varied debate from both sides and both points of view. Along with that, I congratulate supporters of both sides of the argument for their contribution, which expresses a fair view from both sides of the nation. I particularly congratulate and pay great credit to Tim Barnett, who has had the courage and commitment to see this bill through to this most important point. > > **I support the bill, because, as everybody knows, I have had experience in the sex industry—and I am the only member of this Parliament to have had it. If I had had a law like this to protect me and give me some teeth for redress when I was 16 and 17 years old—even on entering into the sex industry—then I might have been spared the 5 or so years I spent in that industry. Barriers would have been created against people who would coerce those under 18 to enter the sex industry in the first place. I support this bill for all the prostitutes I have ever known who have died before the age of 20 because of the inhumanity and hypocrisy of a society that would not ever give them the chance to redeem whatever circumstances made them arrive in that industry.** > > This bill provides some of that protection. **It provides people like me at that time with some form of redress for the brutalisation that might happen when a client pulls a knife.** The horror of that situation is that it could be a life and death one—one does not know—but it would have been nice to know that instead of having to deal out justice afterwards to that person myself, I might have been able to approach the authorities—the police in this case—and say: “I was raped, and, yes, I’m a prostitute, and, no, it was not right that I should have been raped, because I said no, and it was not paid attention to.” > > \*\*I think of all the people I have known in that area who have suffered because of the hypocrisy of our society, which, on the one hand, can accept prostitution, while, on the other hand, wants to push it under the carpet and keep it in the twilight world that it exists in. \*\*We are bringing prostitution reform into the light with some of what is proposed in this bill, and the criminal element does not necessarily like to be standing in the glare of greater public influence over how an industry like this might be conducted within our society. **It is about accepting that that occurs, and it is about accepting the fact that the people who work in this industry deserve some human rights. I plead with those members in this House who are wavering right up to the wire, to think, for heaven’s sake, of the people of whom I have just spoken, including myself, who might be spared some of the hideous nature of the way society treats prostitutes—because that is here with us.** > > But if one does have fears, this legislation will be reviewed in 5 years to see how it is operating and whether it is effective. If this bill passes tonight, in 5 years we will be able to reassess its worth. That is something that those who are wavering should be comforted by. But to do nothing now would be irresponsible of this Parliament, because the status quo would remain, and that is unacceptable. This is our one chance in perhaps 20 years to do something. Whatever side of the argument we take, I know we all come from a humanitarian point of view, but I beg members to consider the side I am on, and the side many others in this House are on also. It is the side I consider to be right. It does not diminish, in my opinion, the opinions of those who are against this bill, because some valid points have been made, but not to address this issue now, with this possibility, is not right. > > I will conclude by saying that **right now we have a sex industry, and we have legislation based on an outmoded double standard.** Let us change, please, the part we can. > **[Beyer, Georgina: Prostitution Reform Bill — Procedure, Third Reading - New...](https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/47HansS_20030625_00001427/beyer-georgina-prostitution-reform-bill-procedure)** > > Hansard editors report what politicians say in the House of Representatives. Here you can read our near-verbatim reports on all debates, including oral questions and proposed laws (bills). (reprinted in full in compliance with the NZ copyright act regarding transcripts from parliament) People in the sex industry can sue for sexual harassment here: and [win](http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9777879/Sex-worker-gets-25-000-over-harassment). Police and sex workers collaborate to fight [sexual assault](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/109401349/police-and-sex-workers-collaborate-on-guide-for-assault-survivors). It makes all the difference in the world if you are a sex worker. You don’t have to worry about being arrested. You don’t have to worry about police intimidation, or worry that the police will plant secret cameras at your place of work, record you having sex, and threaten to release that tape under the guise of [“the public record.”](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/21/sheriff-expects-robert-kraft-prostitution-video-would-be-released-to-public.html) The question really shouldn’t be “Why would we want to legalize it” but “Why wouldn’t we want to legalize it?” Can you answer that question? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491/66 "2019-05-09T03:50:48Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Further, the customers will want certain things like cheaper prices, more convenience, a better selection to meet their budget, and blow jobs or intercourse without a condom. > > I mean, suppose I am in Vegas and am drunk and horny right now. I’m not going to get a cab for a two hour ride out in the desert and blow most of a paycheck and then a two hour ride back. I am going to look for an illegal hooker, and that is exactly what happens. Vegas is awash in prostitution despite it being legal nearby. > > It seems that you still have the illegal market with all of the issues that come along with that while establishing a legal system where the well to do have access to legal prostitution. Doesn’t sound like a practical solution. You said it right there. A 2 hour ride to a brothel is not nearby. Explains the high price also. If prostitution were legal in Vegas, it would be a lot cheaper. The looks of the women would depend on customer preference and demand. I’m told that not all porn actresses are gorgeous. But continued illegal prostitution would be a big problem, I agree to that. Continued illegal marijuana growing is still a problem in California even after legalization. Not all the current illegal suppliers are going to go legal and agree to be regulated. It would take more law enforcement resources to start, not less. Over time I think customers will consider it crazy to take the risk of using illegal dope and prostitution due to the danger of the supply and the chance of getting busted, even if it is a bit more expensive. It will never go away - neither have counterfeit prescription drugs - the but problem should be diminished. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-prostitution-illegal/833491.md?page=3)