the longer we wait, the more blood is on our hands
Imagine raising a child for 12 years only to find out they've been kidnapped and given up to prostitution. Imagine trying to sleep knowing your own blood is being raped, tortured, and must suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally because of the population's consensus to otherize prostitution. Imagine waking up with bags under your eyes and lumps in your throat because of the danger your child has been in from the time you went to sleep, because an occupation based off mankind's natural instincts lacks basic protection. If the government and the world would begin to see prostitution less as a taboo and shameful thing and instead legalized it and offered security by implementing stronger regulations, no family would have to go through this again. Whether they've lost a 12-year-old or a 25-year-old, the pain is the same. The legalization of prostitution would be able to decrease human trafficking, violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental illnesses that result from prostitution when it's prohibited. Human traffickers and actual dangerous criminals, unlike sex workers, are able to flourish in their manipulation and violence against those in the industry, because in the United States' government eyes, both jobs are illegal, and both should be punished. Pimps continue to have the upperhand against the prostitutes, because they know the police will scout common areas for sex work and take in the workers rather than continue to search for the pimps and hold them liable. Now we tell you this, "The estimated age of entry into child prostitution is 12 years old, while girls as young as 9 years old have been known to be recruited for prostitution" (Prostitution Facts). So are you going to close your laptop and neglect this problem, or are you going to do something? Are you going to promote the stereotypes that sex work is disgusting and should stay criminalized, or are you going to do something? Are you going to let human beings of all ages suffer because they can't do the one job that's keeping them financially stable or are you going to do something?
Sources:
"Prostitution and Trafficking - Quick Facts." Prostiution Research, 21 December 2012, http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/Prostitution%20Quick%20Facts%2012-21-12.pdf. Accessed 29 November 2016.
"Prostitution Facts." RapeIs, http://www.rapeis.org/activism/prostitution/prostitutionfacts.html. Accessed 29 November 2016.
"Prostitution and Trafficking - Quick Facts." Prostiution Research, 21 December 2012, http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/Prostitution%20Quick%20Facts%2012-21-12.pdf. Accessed 29 November 2016.
"Prostitution Facts." RapeIs, http://www.rapeis.org/activism/prostitution/prostitutionfacts.html. Accessed 29 November 2016.
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Bailey