Should Prostitution be Decriminalized?

Prostitution, considered one of the “oldest professions,” has been around since ancient Greek and Roman society. But yet, selling sex is still considered taboo in modern society. A prostitute, not to be confused with a sex slave, is someone who sells sexual services in exchange for money. Why should this exchange be demeaned immoral and thus criminalized? Sexual desires are as natural as hunger and thirst yet we do not discriminate against selling food and water. Many prostitutes, excluding sex slaves, make a conscious choice to sell their bodies in exchange for money. If a prostitute is a consenting adult, he or she should be allowed to sell their bodies. Considering modern advancements in our thinking and acceptance in society, sex workers are still seen in a negative light. Prostitution needs to be seen from the perspective of prostitute. A woman should not be arrested for choosing to exploit her own body. Instead those who choose to take advantage of her vulnerable, exploitative state should be the targets of arrests. Sex work should be accepted in our society before it can be diminished and eventually eradicated. Unfortunately, legalization and decriminalization are complicated and intricate processes with many risk factors.

Currently in the United States, prostitution is legal in only 11 counties in Nevada. An estimated 90,000 prostitution arrests occur each year throughout the United States with only a small percentage of customer arrests. “Most return to prostitution after their arrests, including many who would like to leave the work, in part because virtually no comprehensive social services exist for prostitutes.”

Currently in Sweden, prostitution is decriminalized. In essence, this means that only the buyers of sex services, and not the prostitutes involved, are punished and criminalized. This might seem like an ironic approach to decrease prostitution but it is one step to ending the demand. With decriminalization, pimps, buyers and procurers are the main targets of arrests. This would allow police efforts to be better spent on problems accompanying prostitution such as assaults and rape. Sweden does not discriminate against prostitutes but instead provides resources available to them such as health clinics, public education and opportunities to escape the business.

Although decriminalization and legalization are complicated processes, what is most important is to first accept its prevalence in society and secondly cut demand to ultimately eradicate it.

Photo Credit

Lead By Example

The United States wants to be the “power house” of the entire world and with that America must lead by example. That dream isn't completely unreal, but the United States needs to start fixing the problems on our own ground. Child prostitution is alive on the streets of America. It’s a problem that should be addressed immediately by our country, because it will only grow larger if it’s not address soon.

The government has attempted to acknowledge the problem, but things haven’t subsided, as they should. In 2000 the Trafficking Victim Protection Act was passed, but there are still people who find ways around the law. In 2010 there were previsions added to the Act to help American citizens and along with the 10^th anniversary of the Act the United States was finally ranked in the Trafficking in Person Report, or TIPS. This report was made to be guidelines for other countries on how to deal with human trafficking. The ironic part of it is America is the country issuing the report, but was not reported upon till 2010.

One change that would help a great deal of the victims of child prostitution would be to have more educated police officers who know what to do when placed in a situation where children have become victims of sex crimes. The government is very busy all the time dealing with anything and everything, so there have been a handful of organizations that have taken matters into their own hands. A few of them are, Children of the Night, GEMs, Courtney’s House, and many others. Lastly, many victims of child prostitution in the United States have found these organizations and completely turned around their life, one of those amazing people being Carissa Phelps.

There are so many people that could use America’s help who actually live in America, our country needs to take strides to helping those here before we go saving the entire world.

Click to watch video.

photography credit:

http://www.thehorrorzine.com/ReviewFolder/Knuckle%20Supper/children%20of%20the%20night%20photo.gif

http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Carissa-Phelps-Attorney-Author-Advocate-Juvenille-Prostitution-Good-Morning-America-Video-Still.jpg

Should Prostitution Be Legal?

When one hears the word prostitution there are often many negative connotations associated with it. There are child prostitutes, STDs, and just a general image of crime and immorality. If prostitution were legalized many of these negative aspects could be eliminated or reduced. There are many pros and cons to prostitution but the benefits outweigh the potential negative aspects. With the legalization and regulation of prostitution sex workers could be tested regularly for STDs which would do a great deal to combat the spread of these diseases. If there was some type of licensing for prostitutes it would be easy to identify sex workers who are not free of STDs or those who are not of age. This would reduce the amount of underage children being trafficked across borders and forced into prostitution. It would also help combat the spread of STDs because sex workers who are not clean can have there license taken away. There are many dangers associated with prostitution but these dangers can be eliminated or greatly reduced through regulation. Prostitution would have to take place in a brothel or some other type of establishment and there will probably need to be some security present. This would help eliminate the violence that prostitutes are often the victims of. Use of condoms would have to be a requirement if prostitution were legalized and would have to be strictly enforced possibly by undercover police posing as "johns". Also instead of victims being illegally trafficked into other countries and taken advantage of they can legally migrate and reap the benefits of their own labor. This would do a great deal to end human trafficking since many victims of human trafficking are trafficked for the purpose of forced prostitution. Prostitution is not going to end so it should at least be regulated to reduce the dangers associated with it and help combat human trafficking.