REASONS for CHANGE
SEX WORKers everywhere suffer because of governmental negligence, we need to legalize it because...
Prostitution is a victimless crime
Prostitution should not be implicated as a crime: These prostitutes are not committing these acts under heinous motives. It is a simple exchange of sexual favors between two parties, and in this case, the male or female counterparts; which consists of willing participants (Montaldo). Meaning that from this definition, picking a prostitute up would be the same as picking someone up from a bar. However, one would argue that via this exchange of sexual favors impute an increased spread in sexually transmitted diseases, but criminalization of prostitution only intensifies these effects since it diverts attention from prostitute in need.
Exercisable rights for free choice
Sex work needs to be something that people can willfully choose when other options don’t fit their needs. When a person finds work, prostitution work needs to be something he or she can freely choose as a best economic option in order to support him or herself (Koopman).
justified morality behind prostitution
The male dominant underpinning of the morality behind prostitution calls out that the work itself promotes a maleficent drive to staying people becoming prostitute due to economic reasons. However, if one we to flout this degrading and orthodox view of prostitution he or she’ll find that only to a certain extent this immorality exist. This means that prostitution can be both a generative and degenerative behavior—one in which the moral argument can fairly subside as it degenerates the person and the other would promote his or her own personal growth. To compare this idea, when one joins a symposium he or she would typically drink wine to a composed and tamed extent and usually also leads to a generative promotion of self-being as opposed to someone who lack an inherent tenacity to resist drinking too much alcohol might act out brashly and degenerative behaviors. Leading back to the point where the legalization of prostitution would only lead to a heightened promotion for more generative behaviors since such laws would regulate the work of a sex worker, as much as how a symposium would regulate how much a person would drink (Bromberg).
Legalizing Prostitution Would Minimize Human Trafficking
The criminalization of the sex industry would create an extreme and unfortunately ideal situation for steadfast exploitation and abuse of these sex workers. It is believed that trafficking, coercion, and exploitation of sex workers can be stopped if the existence of prostitution swiftly recognized and that the legal and social rights for prostitute to work are legalized (Wijers).
Legalization of Prostitution will Prevent HIV and AIDs
AIn order for HIV and AIDS prevention movement to succeed, there needs to be a radical change in the status quo. Each context of the legal, social, and economic aspect of the sex business needs to change and be legalized. This would therefore give sex workers to freedom to visas and work permits, freedom of movement and association of name, and occupational safety as well as health regulations, as means to protect these sex workers and ultimately reduce any health risks.
In a series of studies from the Lancet journals, HIV and sex workers, found out that sex workers in Canada, India, and Kenya would be able to reduce risks of infection by 33-46% if prostitution is legalized. A simple and sensible logic corroborates this statistic. Since these prostitutes fear getting caught by the local law enforcement, they often do not seek help from any health professionals about STD protection; even when they do the stigma that surrounds the sex worker’s name usually puts them under heavy prejudice even from health workers and thus he or she won’t get the care they need. By giving these sex workers more rights, and the tools they need to protect themselves, is a theory that has been proven in practice (Goldberg). In Brazil, where prostitution is legal, sex workers have gone through a noticeably greater effort to protect him or herself against sexually transmitted diseases (HIV And AIDS). Therefore to protect these sex workers from the fear of a legal authority, prostitution needs to be legalized so that he or she may receive the care they need against STDs.
In a series of studies from the Lancet journals, HIV and sex workers, found out that sex workers in Canada, India, and Kenya would be able to reduce risks of infection by 33-46% if prostitution is legalized. A simple and sensible logic corroborates this statistic. Since these prostitutes fear getting caught by the local law enforcement, they often do not seek help from any health professionals about STD protection; even when they do the stigma that surrounds the sex worker’s name usually puts them under heavy prejudice even from health workers and thus he or she won’t get the care they need. By giving these sex workers more rights, and the tools they need to protect themselves, is a theory that has been proven in practice (Goldberg). In Brazil, where prostitution is legal, sex workers have gone through a noticeably greater effort to protect him or herself against sexually transmitted diseases (HIV And AIDS). Therefore to protect these sex workers from the fear of a legal authority, prostitution needs to be legalized so that he or she may receive the care they need against STDs.
Reduction in Rape Cases
In 1980, Rhode Island accidentally erased a clause within a law that would ultimately legalized prostitution. It wasn’t until 2003 that in a court case the police would realize they could not implicate charges against sex workers and thus for the public to realize prostitution is legal. For the next six years until legislators fixed this problem, Rhode Island experienced a miraculous and sharp drop in rape offenses per capita, according to a paper by Cunningham and Shah from the National Bureau of Economic Research, up to 31 percent; there was also a drop of gonorrhea prevalence amongst women by 39% (Cunningham and Shah). This work highlights a distinctive and if not the first statistical proof that the legalization of prostitution does correlate to a shift in rape offenses.
There are also numerous other reasons why the legalization of prostitution would also decrease the frequency of rape offenses. One of the most immediate effect is legal protection over their own body and work. Meaning that if a violent client starts lashing out these sex workers can threaten them to call the body, and thus reduce the risk of physical violence. Under the same medium, if a client pressures a prostitute to not using a condom these sex workers can warn the police for possible allegations of rape against the customer (Ehrenfreund). Therefore one of the best and most immediate efforts that could be made to protect sex workers is by legalizing it and guarantees prostitutes the security he or she deserve.
Establishing Prostitution into a Legitimate Business
Sex work is legitimate work, like any other job someone may get, and problems within the pertinent market are not inherently not in the work itself. It is the vulnerability of the legality of prostitution, not sex workers that victimize these individuals to malicious deities. Sex workers, in the same right as we do, should enjoy the same labor and human rights. Legitimizing prostitution would recognize it as a working industry, and thus the government would have greater regulation over the operation and tax the workers accordingly (Lopes).
WOrks CITED
Bromberg, Sarah. "Moral Issues". Feministissues.com, http://www.feministissues.com/moral_considerations.html. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.
Cunningham, Scott and Manisha Shah. "Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications For Sexual Violence And Public Health". NBER,
July 2014, http://www.nber.org/papers/w20281. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Ehrenfreund, Max. "When Rhode Island Accidentally Legalized Prostitution, Rape Decreased Sharply". Washington Post, 17 July 2014,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/07/17/when-rhode-island-accidentally-legalized-prostitution-rape-and-stis- decreased-sharply/?utm_term=.d1b70cc346d2 Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Goldberg, Eleanor. "Legalizing Prostitution Could Reduce HIV Infections Nearly In Half". The Huffington Post, 30 July 2014,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/legalizing-prostitution-hiv_n_5618887.html. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.
"HIV And AIDS In Brazil | AVERT". Avert.org, http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/latin-america/brazil.
Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Wijers, Marjan, et al. Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, And Redefinition. Edited by Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema, 1st edition
New York: Routledge, 1998. Print.
Koopman, John. "Escort's Hot Tip: It's Not Just About The Sex, It's About The Mind". SFGate, 23 November 2005,
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Escort-s-hot-tip-It-s-not-just-about-the-sex-2593542.php. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.
Lopes, Ana. "Chartist - Stigmatising Sex Workers". Archive.chartist.org.uk,
http://www.archive.chartist.org.uk/articles/econsoc/march06lopes.htm. Accessed 4 Dec. 2016.
Montaldo, Charles. "Is Prostitution A Victimless Crime?". About.com News & Issues, 1 July 2016,
http://crime.about.com/od/prostitution/a/prostitution.htm. Accessed 28 Nov. 2016.
Cunningham, Scott and Manisha Shah. "Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications For Sexual Violence And Public Health". NBER,
July 2014, http://www.nber.org/papers/w20281. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Ehrenfreund, Max. "When Rhode Island Accidentally Legalized Prostitution, Rape Decreased Sharply". Washington Post, 17 July 2014,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/07/17/when-rhode-island-accidentally-legalized-prostitution-rape-and-stis- decreased-sharply/?utm_term=.d1b70cc346d2 Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Goldberg, Eleanor. "Legalizing Prostitution Could Reduce HIV Infections Nearly In Half". The Huffington Post, 30 July 2014,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/legalizing-prostitution-hiv_n_5618887.html. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.
"HIV And AIDS In Brazil | AVERT". Avert.org, http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/latin-america/brazil.
Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.
Wijers, Marjan, et al. Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, And Redefinition. Edited by Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema, 1st edition
New York: Routledge, 1998. Print.
Koopman, John. "Escort's Hot Tip: It's Not Just About The Sex, It's About The Mind". SFGate, 23 November 2005,
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Escort-s-hot-tip-It-s-not-just-about-the-sex-2593542.php. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.
Lopes, Ana. "Chartist - Stigmatising Sex Workers". Archive.chartist.org.uk,
http://www.archive.chartist.org.uk/articles/econsoc/march06lopes.htm. Accessed 4 Dec. 2016.
Montaldo, Charles. "Is Prostitution A Victimless Crime?". About.com News & Issues, 1 July 2016,
http://crime.about.com/od/prostitution/a/prostitution.htm. Accessed 28 Nov. 2016.
PAGE AUTHOR
Long