Prostitution
is commonly known as the worlds oldest profession. It has been a long debated
topic and is illegal in all parts of America except some parts of Nevada. The
illegality of prostitution in America has stripped citizens of their personal
rights, and failed to regulate the inevitable industry.
Prostitution is not only an ancient profession;
it is also a current one. Today prostitution employs more people in America
than almost any other company. In 2012 the growing number of prostitutes in
America was estimated to be approximately one million people strong (Lubin). To
put this in perspective the two companies that employ the most Americans are
Walmart and Yum! Brands (the company that owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut). In
2013 Walmart employed 2.2 million American people and Yum! Brands employed
523,000 Americans (Hess). This puts illegal prostitution at the second largest
employer in America. Despite this number being so high prostitutes still work
in an extremely dangerous and unregulated environment.
The first question to ask is the following:
Why is prostitution illegal in America? Men and women both have a right to
their own bodies and what they do with them. Thus men and women should be
allowed to exchange sexual services for money if they choose to. Also, the law
is inconsistent with the rest of American law. What else can legally be given
to someone for free, but is illegal to pay for? One might say bribery however,
bribery is defined as, “money or favor given or promised in order to influence
the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust” (Merriam Webster). Prostitution
is an exchange of money for a service. It is not attempting to sway a person in
a position of trust.
Another absurdity about the illegality
of prostitution comes from the legality of porn. Why is it that it is illegal
to pay someone for sex unless it is filmed? There are extra precautions taken in
pornography that are not seen in prostitution, but the precautions that are
taken in pornography are a result of it being legal. Imagine if pornography was
illegal and unregulated. It would either fail to exist or create a dangerous
illegal industry where the men and women having sex on film would be in much
worse conditions. Prostitution is not being stopped by its illegality, so it is
time to regulate it like the pornography industry.
The illegality of prostitution is put in
place in an attempt to prevent and regulate the industry however it has done
neither. Prostitution is still thriving in America and do to its illegality the
industry is unregulated and unsafe for the workers as well as the clients. If
prostitution were to be legalized, a worker’s union could be put in place to
protect their rights. This would result in less people in jails, reduced
molestation, reduced human trafficking, reduced STD’s, and reduced rape. In
2010 according to the The Federal Bureau of Justice there were 62,670 people
arrested for prostitution and commercialized vice in America. 1,040 of these
arrests were minors (bjs.gov). Regulation would keep workers out of jail and
eliminate the minors involved in the industry thus reducing molestation. Human trafficking
would be reduced because there is legal competition. Although it is a different
industry parallels can be drawn with how illegal marijuana distributors were
depleted of their business by legal and regulated marijuana distributors in
Colorado. Lastly, Manisha Shah a UCLA public policy professor studied the effects
of the legalization of prostitution in Rhode Island, where prostitution was legalized
from 2003 through 2009. Shah studied the impacts on the sex market, rape
offenses and STD infections, “we find that decriminalization increased the size
of the indoor market. However, we also find that decriminalization caused both
forcible rape offenses and gonorrhea incidence to decline for the overall
population. Our synthetic control model finds 824 fewer reported rape offenses
(31 percent decrease) and 1,035 fewer cases of female gonorrhea (39 percent
decrease) from 2004 to 2009” (Shah/Cunningham). Also, prostitutes could be
protected by the brothel they work at. This would allow the prostitutes to be
able to have more rights and also be able to contact the police without fear of
getting themselves in trouble. Thus, prostitutes would be better off.
Shah also found that legalization
increases demand. This would lead to a more valuable industry and more taxes
generated from the industry once legalized. A study conducted through the 1980’s
showed that prostitution in the United States was a 14.5 billion-dollar a year business
(Toth). Today, with rates rising and inflation that number could only be larger.
Also the same study showed that cities spent 7.5 million dollars a year on
average for prostitution prevention. A 2012 study conducted by “Mark Johnston,
the acting assistant housing secretary for community planning and development,
estimated that homelessness could be effectively eradicated in the United
States at an annual cost of about $20 billion. The housing department’s budget
for addressing homelessness is currently about $1.9 billion” (Lowrey). This
puts into perspective how much of an impact taxing prostitution could have on
American citizens through taxation.
One of the main reasons that
prostitution is looked down upon and illegal is that many Americans have a
moral issue with it. This can be linked to our countries previously heavy
religious ideals. However, over time those have faded and a strong consensus of
separation of church and state has been brought on. Prostitution is looked down
upon by some in a similar manner as pornography, strippers, or even gay
marriage. However, there are still hundreds of thousands of prostitutes in the
United States; if one does have a moral issue with it than simply don’t be a
part of the industry.
Although legalizing prostitution would
not be able to solve every problem in the sex industry it would be a step in
the right direction and make the work safer for male and female workers and
clients. The industry has proved to be unmanageable and out of control. It is
time that the United States faces the fact that prostitution is inevitable and
begin to apply structure and laws to the industry that protect the workers and
clients.
Works Cited
"Bribe." Merriam-Webster.
Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web.
"Census of Population and Housing,
1990 [United States]: Summary Tape File 2C." ICPSR Data Holdings
(n.d.): n. pag. Bjs.gov. U.S. Department of Justice. Web.
Hess, Alex. "The 10 Largest
Employers in America." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information
Network, 22 Aug. 2013. Web.
Hong, Sharon. "Decriminalizing
Prostitution Linked to Fewer STDs and Rapes." UCLA Newsroom. N.p.,
01 Aug. 2014. Web.
Lowrey, Annie. "Homeless Rates in
U.S. Held Level Amid Recession, Study Says, but Big Gains Are Elusive." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Dec. 2012. Web.
Lubin, Gus. "There Are 42 Million
Prostitutes In The World, And Here's Where They Live." Business Insider.
Business Insider, 17 Jan. 2012. Web.
Shah, Mannish, and Scott Cunningham.
"Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and
Public Health." NBER. N.p., July 2014. Web.
Toth, Cheryl. "Facts." The
Definition And Facts of Prostitution. PSU, n.d. Web.
ReplyDeleteSreden argues that America should legalize prostitution as the, “illegality of prostitution in America has stripped citizens of their personal rights. He believes by legalizing this industry, one of the benefits would be that “prostitutes could be protected by the brothel they work at” as “this would allow the prostitutes to be able to have more rights”. As nice as this idea is, it is not realistic, as it has been proven in countries where prostitution is legal. Some countries in Europe, the Netherlands and Germany all have legalized prostitution and the women do not have more rights, nor are they protected by their places of work. In two different studies, 186 victims of commercial sexual exploitation were interviewed and “women consistently indicated that prostitution establishments did little to protect them, regardless of whether the establishments were legal or illegal” (Raymond). In one study, eighty percent of the victims claimed to have suffered physical violence from pimps and buyers. In a second study, one woman indicated that the closest thing that the brothel provided as ‘protection’ was a driver. She states, “The driver functioned as a bodyguard. You’re supposed to call when you get in, to ascertain that everything was OK. But they are not standing outside the door while you’re in there, so anything could happen” (Raymond et al, 2001, p. 74). As Raymond points out, even in places where prostitution is legalized, brothels are still not providing protection for their workers. Sreden mentions, “the prostitutes would be better off” in a legalized industry, however personal accounts from prostitutes seem to prove otherwise.
I would also like to contest another argument made by Sreden, where he claims “legalization increases demand” and legalizing prostitution would “lead to a more valuable industry and more taxes generated from the industry once legalized”. Looking at if from the point of the prostitutes, this ‘increase in demand’ doesn’t help them, but rather hurts them as they work twice as much for even less pay. Rachel Moran from New York Times shares, “in New Zealand, where prostitution was decriminalized in 2003, young women in brothels have told me that men now demand more than ever for less than ever”. Legalizing prostitution will not monetarily help the female workers trapped in this industry, but will instead “calcify into law men’s entitlement to buy sex” (Moran). Also, it is important to define what you mean by “valuable industry” because something that is valued is appreciated, respected and treasured, and prostitution doesn’t seem to fit that definition. Woman will be exploited by this industry if it is legalized, as the taxes generated will not go towards protecting their rights or physical health, but rather socially sanction and further perpetuate the corrupt practices that have already been created.
Moran, Rachel. "Buying Sex Should Not Be Legal." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
Raymond, Janice G. "Police Regulation Of Prostitution." The British Medical Journal1.218 (1865): 224-25. Embrace Dignity. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
Personally, I agree that legalizing prostitution would be a step forward for women. However there are a few issues that arise from such a monumental cultural shift. First, how would legalization have to yield to conservative concerns about morality? Consider how difficult it is for Planned Parenthood to keep its locations open in our current political situation. Where Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers can't exist, illegal abortion thrives. In order to regulate prostitution safely, it would have to be run from brothels. But in areas where there would be a great deal of resistance to brothels being erected, prostitution would remain an under the table operation. Of course, abortion and prostitution are two different situations. But they both face intense resistance from similar conservative and/or religious groups. Legalization has a fair chance of working in larger cities that tend to be more liberal. But women attempting to work as prostitutes in rural areas would likely still face the same dangers as before.
ReplyDeleteYou mention the economic benefits of legalizing prostitution. However, the profit estimates of illegal prostitution will not translate exactly if it it legalized. Prices could drop drastically once prostitution is a regularly available commodity. Part of the reason why prostitution makes so much money is because the cost reflects the risk involved in the exchange. Also, legalizing it means that many more services will now need to be paid for. Regulatory officials will need to be hired to ensure the safety of prostitutes. Brothels will need funding for maintenance and security. Considering the nature of the job, prostitutes would have to be provided with counseling services much like any other emotionally taxing jobs such as police forces.
Possibly the biggest issue with legalizing prostitution is security. Legalizing and maintaining prostitution is believed to create a safer environment for workers. The “consumer” would likewise be in a safer situation. Rape allegations by prostitutes could be filed more often. However, this could be fruitless if our attitude towards rape does not change. Protection of rapists too often does not fit the crime. Take the Stanford rapist for example. A student received 6 months in jail for a proven rape. With such lax sentences for rapists, criminals will not be prevented from committing such awful crimes against sex workers. One common argument in the defense of rapists is bringing into question the “virtue” of the victim. The more sexually active a woman is, the less likely a court is to give her accusation credibility. How will the justice system be changed in order to provide safety to sex workers?