Current Events > what are your thoughts on legalizing prostitution?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Enclave posted...

It's a hell of a lot easier to stop the trafficking and stuff if the industry is legal and regulated.

Its probably easier to stop it, yes, but you have to weigh that against the increase in sex trafficking when legalization occurs. And it will occur.

One thing I don't think anyone has really considered to that end is how many active prostitutes in the US today would even be able to legally be prostitutes if it were allowed. It's not a lot. Once it becomes legal, the qualifications to become a prostitute will be set high.

What does that mean? The scores of prostitutes with even innoccupus STDs will not be able to practice their trade legally, which will create an illegal contempory to the legal sex work industry that insidious criminals will exploit.

Should be legal to be a prostitute, but purchasing their services should be illegal.

codey posted...

Its probably easier to stop it, yes, but you have to weigh that against the increase in sex trafficking when legalization occurs. And it will occur.

One thing I don't think anyone has really considered to that end is how many active prostitutes in the US today would even be able to legally be prostitutes if it were allowed. It's not a lot. Once it becomes legal, the qualifications to become a prostitute will be set high.

What does that mean? The scores of prostitutes with even innoccupus STDs will not be able to practice their trade legally, which will create an illegal contempory to the legal sex work industry that insidious criminals will exploit.

That leaves your answer to the issue being either, "Have a safe market and a black market where we need to adapt to the consequences," or, "Do absolute fuck-all and just let prostitutes be prostitutes, because can't solve the whole problem, so we just shouldn't do anything at all."

Brilliant.

DnDer posted...

That leaves your answer to the issue being either, "Have a safe market and a black market where we need to adapt to the consequences," or, "Do absolute fuck-all and just let prostitutes be prostitutes, because can't solve the whole problem, so we just shouldn't do anything at all."

Brilliant.

So whats your solution to the interim issue of higher human trafficking once its legalised?

DnDer posted...

That leaves your answer to the issue being either, "Have a safe market and a black market where we need to adapt to the consequences," or, "Do absolute fuck-all and just let prostitutes be prostitutes, because can't solve the whole problem, so we just shouldn't do anything at all."

Brilliant.

Where did I present an answer or options in that post?

I'm pro-legalization, by the way, but before we legalize anything this is absolutely a consideration you have to make. If the illegal sex work market outgrows our current illegal sex work market, then the legalization plan has failed and you need to go back to the drawing board.

You're the one that presented it as a black and white binary yes or no thing in your post, not me. All I said is that we have to weigh our options, which we do, and there's not just two of them.

Okay, I try to provide another example.

France.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/france

Authorities noted an increase in French girls as sex trafficking victims, as well as a general increase in child victims since 2016; NGOs estimate that between 10,000 and 15,000 French teenagers are victims of child sex traffickinga significant increase compared with previous estimates of between 6,000 and 8,000.

Guess what changed in 2016:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_France

Prostitution in France (the exchange of sexual acts for money) was legal until April 2016, but several surrounding activities were illegal, like operating a brothel, living off the avails (pimping), and paying for sex with someone under the age of 18 (the age of consent for sex is 15).[1]

Or how the situation in France changed:

https://amp.dw.com/en/france-ban-prostitution-sex-workers-threat/a-57198238

Five years on, however, sex workers say they are in more danger than before.

Karovorak posted...

France

Again, that's supply/demand at work. In 2016, France gutted the (legal) supply, while demand remained unchanged.

Legalize, regulate, mandatory testing of both parties that would participate. Contraceptives and medical necessities offered low cost or free (BC/condoms). Have a database where participants in the system can report trouble people (pro and john). Have an organization/authority force that actually is funded to address these issues. Strict background checks on everyone.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Again, that's supply/demand at work. In 2016, France gutted the (legal) supply, while demand remained unchanged.

With that logic, banning prostitution is keeping the demand the same, but gutts the supply, leading to more trafficking, and at the same time legalizing prostitution increases the demand, leading to more trafficking too.

The first part is not true, the article especially says that demand goes down, but only the "bad apples" who don't give fuck about the law take their services.

The 2nd part may be true in the short term, looking at the figures from Germany:
Because the legal supply could not fit the increase in demand, there was a spike in trafficking, but after 2 years the numbers went below the figures from before the legalization.

Karovorak posted...

With that logic, banning prostitution is keeping the demand the same, but gutts the supply, leading to more trafficking, and at the same time legalizing prostitution increases the demand, leading to more trafficking too.

It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

The 2nd part may be true in the short term, looking at the figures from Germany:
Because the legal supply could not fit the increase in demand, there was a spike in trafficking, but after 2 years the numbers went below the figures from before the legalization.

This is the correct answer.

I don't think that you should expect any one legal policy will be the end all be all fix for a problem as complex as this. The Nordic model is, in itself, a pretty vague category where the main thing is that prostitution is considered as a sort of sexual assault, where the prostitute is the victim and the john is the abuser. The practical effect of introducing a piece of legislation will unavoidably depend on a lot of factors, societal norms, stigmas, enforcement practices, and so on, etc, etc.

tl;dr I don't think it's realistic to expect legislation alone to solve the issue in any which way.