Prostitution
Mar. 14th, 2008 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolven7By now, unless you are specifically not paying attention to American news (and some of you may be doing that, and that's fine), you have heard about the troubles of soon-to-be-former New York State Governor, Eliot Spitzer. Now, I would like to put aside the supposed immorality of cheating on his wife. I can get behind saying that was wrong. And, if he did, in fact, use state monies to hire the prostitutes, then that, too, is inappropriate, and something for which he should be punished. But why, in the 21st century, in a country that champions the freedom to engage in vice, in so many ways, is there still an over-all illegality of prostitution in 48 out of 50 states?
Nevada and Rhode Island have legalized prostitution, and the requirements in place in both of those states take great steps toward assuring the safety and health of both clientele and worker. Monthly health checks, certifications of being free of STI's, security, and codes of client behaviour. All of these things lower the risk to the patron and to the worker. The arguments against prostitution are wide ranging.
Prostitution is degrading to the prostitute. It encourages slave-based sex trafficking. It is an affront to human dignity. It's unhealthy. It's unsafe. It's wrong.
Many people today work exploitative jobs for menial wages. House cleaners, road workers, plumbers, and so on. I'm sure you can think of more. Sex workers get paid well.
Many vices and extravagances fund or otherwise contribute to horrible things. Diamonds and genocide. Alcohol and car crashes. Cigarettes and slow painful death. We not only allow these things, but we tax them, and turn a governmental profit on them.
Prostitution has been around for thousands of years and I'm fairly certain that it'll be around for thousands more. In the days of the worship of the goddess Ishtar, temple priestesses would choose their patron. If a man was not chosen, he was considered less of a man, and looked down upon, by his peers. But there was nothing he could do about it. If he tried to harm a temple priestess, he would be killed.
Jesus cared for Mary Magdalene, a known prostitute, and taught others to do the same.
People will pay for sex. People want to pay for sex. If we legalize, regulate, and tax it, we can make it safer, cleaner, and less likely to harm people, in the long run. And we can also tax it, to fund other government programs. Everyone wins.
None of the arguments I've heard against the legalization of prostitution hold any water, when closely scrutinized. They either boil down to "because we don't like it," or are directly comparable to other, legal situations.
I'm sorry if this is a bit rambly, or incoherent, but this is a thing that has bothered me since I was younger, and makes no sense to me, to this day.
Nevada and Rhode Island have legalized prostitution, and the requirements in place in both of those states take great steps toward assuring the safety and health of both clientele and worker. Monthly health checks, certifications of being free of STI's, security, and codes of client behaviour. All of these things lower the risk to the patron and to the worker. The arguments against prostitution are wide ranging.
Prostitution is degrading to the prostitute. It encourages slave-based sex trafficking. It is an affront to human dignity. It's unhealthy. It's unsafe. It's wrong.
Many people today work exploitative jobs for menial wages. House cleaners, road workers, plumbers, and so on. I'm sure you can think of more. Sex workers get paid well.
Many vices and extravagances fund or otherwise contribute to horrible things. Diamonds and genocide. Alcohol and car crashes. Cigarettes and slow painful death. We not only allow these things, but we tax them, and turn a governmental profit on them.
Prostitution has been around for thousands of years and I'm fairly certain that it'll be around for thousands more. In the days of the worship of the goddess Ishtar, temple priestesses would choose their patron. If a man was not chosen, he was considered less of a man, and looked down upon, by his peers. But there was nothing he could do about it. If he tried to harm a temple priestess, he would be killed.
Jesus cared for Mary Magdalene, a known prostitute, and taught others to do the same.
People will pay for sex. People want to pay for sex. If we legalize, regulate, and tax it, we can make it safer, cleaner, and less likely to harm people, in the long run. And we can also tax it, to fund other government programs. Everyone wins.
None of the arguments I've heard against the legalization of prostitution hold any water, when closely scrutinized. They either boil down to "because we don't like it," or are directly comparable to other, legal situations.
I'm sorry if this is a bit rambly, or incoherent, but this is a thing that has bothered me since I was younger, and makes no sense to me, to this day.
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Date: 2008-03-14 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-14 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-14 10:08 pm (UTC)sounds pretty bad to me...
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Date: 2008-03-14 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 12:16 pm (UTC)but I let to others to prove to you the opposite
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Date: 2008-03-14 08:46 pm (UTC)Like I said - I think we all pay for sex no matter what currency we're using.. Hell, I'm a married man and I still feel I pay for sex. If I don't do my half of the chores around the house, my wife gets too stressy, I don't get as much booty... Ala? I work harder to pay for that sex... lol
Additionally - I don't find it degrading if it's something the girl sincerely wants to do and doesn't feel it a "last resort" / "HAS" to do...
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Date: 2008-03-14 08:54 pm (UTC)And yeah, if it's the person's Choice, and they aren't hurting themselves or others, in the process-- minimized external harm, and all that-- then what the hell is the problem?
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Date: 2008-03-14 08:57 pm (UTC)I just never want to hear anyone try to convince me, "I've never paid for sex!!!"
Yeah right.
We're ritualistic. What do you call dates? Yes, emotional bonding is involved in dating, but then again isn't that involved in sex as well? I believe I first bought Sara a pricey lunch, some starbucks, a pack of cloves, and then cooked her an extravagant 30 course dinner in exchange for "the sex"...
I'd love to say it's gotten cheaper over the years, but no - our tastes have gotten more expensive. lol
no subject
Date: 2008-03-14 10:05 pm (UTC)