Prostitution legal or illegal?

[bwallard]

Of course it shouldn't be illegal. It should be covered by health insurance, for crying out loud. Although that might take some of the fun out of it, there could be special brothels you have to totally pay for. The publicly-funded ones could have a faint scent of disinfectant perhaps, and functional furniture. And of course insurance wouldn't cover anal or any kinky stuff beyond lingerie and maybe foot fetishes.

There should be a media campaign to promote brothels for women - sistels - where independent-minded women could be guaranteed a thorough fucking without taking her chances among the unreliable and potentially disruptive charlatans she usually has to pick from.

It would certainly straighten a lot of shit out if people just paid for sex with people valued for the art of their sex. Think of the marriages that could be saved. Well - to be honest I don't really care about saving marriages, I just offer that up as a marketing ploy.

Pull the plug on the stupid law. Write to your representitve TODAY!

 

[KLCK]

Of course it shouldn't be illegal. It should be covered by health insurance, for crying out loud. Although that might take some of the fun out of it, there could be special brothels you have to totally pay for. The publicly-funded ones could have a faint scent of disinfectant perhaps, and functional furniture. And of course insurance wouldn't cover anal or any kinky stuff beyond lingerie and maybe foot fetishes.

There should be a media campaign to promote brothels for women - sistels - where independent-minded women could be guaranteed a thorough fucking without taking her chances among the unreliable and potentially disruptive charlatans she usually has to pick from.

It would certainly straighten a lot of shit out if people just paid for sex with people valued for the art of their sex. Think of the marriages that could be saved. Well - to be honest I don't really care about saving marriages, I just offer that up as a marketing ploy.

Pull the plug on the stupid law. Write to your representitve TODAY!

Publicly funded brothels? I agree that prostitution should be legal but I don't think there should be publicly funded brothels...

 

[colddiesel]

Prostitution is legal in all states in Australia except Tasmania(which is a bit more retarded than say West Virginia)

Brothels where allowed are limited by planning laws. They have to be a specified distance from schools churches and the like. Every suburb in Sydney also seems to have its rub 'n' tug shop as well and they advertise in all the local papers. The bigger operations seem to be policed fairly firmly but the smaller suburban ones especially if run by women are given an easier time. Police and immigration officials have become very strong in trying to stamp out body trafficing , usually of Thais and young Chinese girls who have been brought into the country and have been heavily exploited.

Until recently Melbourne had a brothel (The Daily Planet) listed on the stock exchange. It was owned and run , perhaps not surprisingly by a group of lawyers.

 

[keeblercrumb]

Amsterdam Dreams

It must be, they said so. And taught a generation of college freshmen/women that it was so . . . with doubtful success, I suspect.

Of course prostitution should be legalized AND of course it has been used to exploit women but for the record, the two are not remotely related.

What keeps the hypocrisy of this and almost all laws regarding sexuality alive and well in this country lay at the feet of the Conservative Christians....

Just keep electing "conservative" Republicans to office and we will never have any progress on this or any of the other intrusions into our personal lives by the government. In fact, it will just keep getting more and more intrusive.


-KC

 

[Stella_Omega]

oh, arrgh-- double post!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Oh, didn't you know that all prostitution exploits women? And that all heterosexual sex is prostitution of a sort? Just ask the ghost of Andrea Dworkin or her partner in ideology, Katherin McKennon.

Or the thousands and thousands of women who really actually feel that they must put out to some man if they want to keep their marriage, or their safe life, or their children, or a host of other things that some -- NOT ALL -- men can and do hold over a woman's head.

Dworkin didn't make that shit up out of thin air. It might have occurred to her during one of those moments when her husband was beating her in the head with a board, or breaking her arm. Or, maybe, while she was a fugitive, trying to keep hidden from him. Or, perhaps, she started feeling like a prostitute during the time she actually was one, because she didn't dare work at any regular jobs for fear her ex would find her.

Yes, she overstated the case for most of us. But-- she was the first woman to actually state it at all, and for that she gets some props. And what she said has a grain of truth. Not much more than a grain for the lucky most of us, but-- it's there.

As for prostitution, I'm all for legalising it, letting the women form a union, and offering reality show contests offering the most talented contestant an exclusive contract at Miss Kitty's Plush Palace of Pleasure.

 

[KLCK]

Of course prostitution should be legalized AND of course it has been used to exploit women but for the record, the two are not remotely related.

What keeps the hypocrisy of this and almost all laws regarding sexuality alive and well in this country lay at the feet of the Conservative Christians....

Just keep electing "conservative" Republicans to office and we will never have any progress on this or any of the other intrusions into our personal lives by the government. In fact, it will just keep getting more and more intrusive.


-KC

Well we have a democratic majority in congress and we may very possibly get a democrat in the White House. Most of which are a bit liberal.

This is the last, best hope for prostitution. *Babylon 5 reference*

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Well we have a democratic majority in congress and we may very possibly get a democrat in the White House. Most of which are a bit liberal.

This is the last, best hope for prostitution. *Babylon 5 reference*

With an African Methodist Episcopal president? Dream on, people, dream on! All you other white folk don't seem to realize how socially conservative African Americans really. Honestly, my hunting buddies vote to the right of me!

So let's all calm down and see if we can, one step at a time, move the case glacially forward. Let's start with legalizing it in Las Vegas.

 

[desertslave]

It should be made legal with the only regulations being common-sense public health measures and the enforcement of "nuisance laws" that respect neighbor's rights to not have some flagrant, flaunting establishment in their community (as opposed to quiet, unobtrusive ones if that's what the character of the community requires).

The main reason for legalization, other than the fact that it's none of the government's damn business how a free individual choose to earn money or recreate, is to reduce the immense potential for exploitation of women that is implicit in criminalization. Exploitation by both the legal/law enforcement establishment, and by other members of the "industry" - ie. pimps.

Well stated, IMO. I strongly believe prostitution should be legalized. My motivation is mostly for public health, but your other argument makes perfect sense as well.

 

[AvoidingRealWork]

Male prostitution with female clients (Janes?) should always be legal, everywhere.

And not just because I think it's hot.

Well, ok, because I think it's hot.

"Sorry, bitch," said Rhonda as she bounced her hefty form above the helpless Greg. "If you don't come inside me, you don't get your twenty dollars, plain and simple."

I think I feel a story coming on...

 

[Pure]

there is actual debate on the topic

see for example,

http://www.unesco.org/courier/1998_12/uk/ethique/txt1.htm

Should prostitution be legal?

by Amy Otchet
---

a recent slant has popped up in Sweden. the *selling* of sex is not subject to the law. the *buying* of sex is; the 'john', the male, is the one to whom the law pays attention.

it is a weird feature of the usual prostitution laws that they normally try to penalize the *selling* of sex. the buyer is generally NOT subject to arrest. Canada has a 'found ins' law, but it's rarely enforced: In laws against brothels, it's not merely the worker who is subject to arrest, but the client who is 'found in.'

could there be a FAIR law against prostitution? would it target seller and buyer equally? does targetting only the buyer, Swedish style, make sense.?

 

[KLCK]

So let's all calm down and see if we can, one step at a time, move the case glacially forward. Let's start with legalizing it in Las Vegas.

They almost started up a red light district here but the idea never took off. Then again the government here is pretty damn inept. We have a monorail that only goes from the convention center to about three casino's and makes no money whatsoever.

Unless the casino's get involved or we get a new mayor who actually gives a crap, nothing is going to happen.

The brothels outside of the city got hit pretty hard by the slumping economy too so its not looking all that good. Hopefully a new resurgence will come soon or someone will bring up the red light district idea again.

Hmmm....maybe I should write a letter to the mayor....OH YEAH THAT WILL ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING.

 

[Vermilion]

The W.I. are campaigning to legalise prostitution over here (the UK)

Article here

 

[oggbashan]

The W.I. are campaigning to legalise prostitution over here (the UK)

Article here

It is legal in the UK already but soliciting or making money from it is not.

A woman can operate from her own premises (with or without a "maid") but no one else can profit from her work. That can sometimes be taken to include her landlord if the landlord is charging excessive rates for the space e.g. twenty pounds an hour.

One of our local prostitutes joined the Chamber of Commerce. She did it for a joke but actually helped the Chamber understand the distinctions between legal and illegal prostitution. She paid her subscription (in money) regularly. Whether some of the Chamber's members were also her clients? I didn't ask even though I was their VICE-President.

Og

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Prostitution was legal many places a century ago. The newspapers mention the brothels, various writers talk about the brothels in their cities, and the US Census lists them and their inmates.

What happened was many of them became a public nuisance with shootings and killings and robberies.

Brothels work where theyre well managed and scrutinized by the police and health dept. The problem is the media. Reporters like to catch local dignitaries using brothels.

 

[Vermilion]

It is legal in the UK already but soliciting or making money from it is not.

A woman can operate from her own premises (with or without a "maid") but no one else can profit from her work. That can sometimes be taken to include her landlord if the landlord is charging excessive rates for the space e.g. twenty pounds an hour.

One of our local prostitutes joined the Chamber of Commerce. She did it for a joke but actually helped the Chamber understand the distinctions between legal and illegal prostitution. She paid her subscription (in money) regularly. Whether some of the Chamber's members were also her clients? I didn't ask even though I was their VICE-President.

Og

i think the general issue is whether legalised brothels might not be safer cleaner and generally more palatable places to work than a women on her own in a flat with a strange man or soliciting on the streets...

 

[oggbashan]

i think the general issue is whether legalised brothels might not be safer cleaner and generally more palatable places to work than a women on her own in a flat with a strange man or soliciting on the streets...

They would be but legalised brothels wouldn't stop drug addicts undercutting the legal brothels by selling their bodies for cash for their next fix.

My town has at least three "brothels" apparently owned and run by the prostitutes themselves. One of them is raided several times a year by the police because the ladies are usually illegal immigrants working to pay off "debts" to those who brought them into the country.

All that happens is that those illegals are stopped from working and are replaced by another batch.

Og

 

[TheReapersWife]

Should prostitution remain mostly illegal or should it be legalized?

If it is legalized to what extent and under what sort of system?

I personally think that it should be legalized but under certain limits. For starters it should be limited to certain area's of a city/town and that women who ply the trade on streets should still remain outlawed. It should be limited to districts and brothels. There should also probably be a standardized "black list" of women who carry un-treatable sexual diseases. The objective is to eliminate abusive pimps by either directly brining the women into a safe environment or by simply out competing street women.

Either way there will always be women who sell there flesh for money and I think a system should be made that makes it safe.

In my city (Vegas) there was at one time a serious idea to allow for a red light district to be built. There are brothels in other counties but I think it would have been interesting to see if my theories about making it safer would have come true had they gone ahead with the plan.

Thoughts? Criticisms? Idea's?

I agree. When I first clicked on this thread, I was of the opinion to say, "Illegal! AIDS isn't going away by itself, people!" But then I have to admit, you're right. There will always be those who sell sex for money, because there will always be those who will buy sex. We might as well make the situation the best we can.

 

[gauchecritic]

It is legal in the UK already but soliciting or making money from it is not.

Og

Glad I re-read that.

Prostitution in itself, being paid for sex, is not illegal. Because this would mean that selling any skill or muscle or work would also be prostitution. Just because sex isn't involved doesn't mean your not selling your body.

As Ogg said, it's all about the organisation of selling sex that is illegal or immoral. Soliciting, pimping etc.

 

[Varian P]

Or the thousands and thousands of women who really actually feel that they must put out to some man if they want to keep their marriage, or their safe life, or their children, or a host of other things that some -- NOT ALL -- men can and do hold over a woman's head.

Dworkin didn't make that shit up out of thin air. It might have occurred to her during one of those moments when her husband was beating her in the head with a board, or breaking her arm. Or, maybe, while she was a fugitive, trying to keep hidden from him. Or, perhaps, she started feeling like a prostitute during the time she actually was one, because she didn't dare work at any regular jobs for fear her ex would find her.

Yes, she overstated the case for most of us. But-- she was the first woman to actually state it at all, and for that she gets some props. And what she said has a grain of truth. Not much more than a grain for the lucky most of us, but-- it's there.

My problem with Dworkin isn't that she raised the issue of women being abused and coerced by their husbands, or even that she made explicit the implicit trade of sex/childbearing in exchange for food and shelter that marriage often was/is, or the inherent and inescapable power disparity between a woman and any male partner, as long as women are not of equal social power in society.

What irked me was her repeated claim that all sex between men and women is rape, which on the one hand, demeans the real love that of course exists between plenty of f/m couples, and which on the other hand totally erodes the actual meaning of rape. I'd imagine most actual rape victims wouldn't much appreciate having their experience of being violently assaulted equated with a night in the average marriage bed.

 

[rgraham666]

A former AHer writing about Dworkin and The Failure of Rage.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

A former AHer writing about Dworkin and The Failure of Rage.

An excellent article, Rob. We can be proud of our alumnus.

 

[FFOTS4Life]

I am a little leery of getting into this debate...we had it in one of my classes at school and I was the only woman on the side of legalization (haha I got some nasty looks.)

Aside from the age old argument that it is the person's body and they should be able to do with it as they please....I think there are some other good arguments for legalization.

For me one major reason in safety. Many women and men put themselves in situations that compromise their own personal safety while acting as prostitutes(not meaning too obviously). If it was legalized there would be more regulation which might better ensure the safety of those working as prostitutes.

There is also the health aspect of it all...regulating it might also cut down on some of the sexually transmitted diseases that seem to be rampant in this profession.

 

[Liar]

could there be a FAIR law against prostitution? would it target seller and buyer equally? does targetting only the buyer, Swedish style, make sense.?

If you're against prostitution because it victimize many women, then it's not a bad idea. There are many cases of both small scale pimping and major trafficking, and if prostitution was illegal, the women tangled up in that wouldn't dare to seek help from the police.

It has some bizarre consequences though. The most notable is a union of public and very outspoken whores (the term they prefer, in a let's-be-frank kind of way), who are planning on suing the state for violating their rights to run a perfectly legal business.

 

[KLCK]

Guess you could call this a bump?

I was walking around campus earlier this week and I heard of a few tents setup in the hotel management building (yes, my university has a college of hotel management that is just as big as the college of Engineering) that were looking for students to take up internships at the Wynn casino.

I couldn't help but think what it would be like to see mega-brothels hosting job information tents when it came to low level management positions at a brothel. The managers would not be like pimps or anything, more like restaurant managers. Waiting tables is somewhat similar to waiting on clients in a whorehouse (don't you dare take that out of context!) I mean they share tips a certain way and are probably paid a wage no matter what.

I am also curios as to what age requirements should be in place for a brothel. Should the women have to be 21 or older or should they be allowed to join at 18? Big money could be made by offering a young 18 year old virgin with no experience to a man but then there is also room for abuse by having surgeries done to "re-virginize" young women and offer them up a couple times.