legalizing prostitution essay conclusion

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Conclusion chapter: LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION

Related Papers

Melissa Farley

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Teela Sanders

Fordham International Law Journal

Ronald Weitzer

The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Aimee Wodda

This entry provides a thorough overview of the various types of act that fall under the umbrella term “prostitution”; it describes various forms of solicitation and the individuals engaged in these exchanges; and it offers descriptive statistics. The criminal justice response to prostitution is examined, with a focus on the strengths and weaknesses of arguments surrounding criminalization, decriminalization, and legalization. The summary concludes with a review of the global context of sex trafficking.

The chapter begins with a description of key features of four branches of the sex industry: pornography, prostitution, commercial stripping, and commercial webcamming. The second half of the chapter presents four paradigms, each of which purports to identify the essential features of sex work. The author argues that one of these models, the polymorphous paradigm, best captures the reality of sex work structurally and experientially.

Sexualities

Stigma is ubiquitous in sex work and is well documented in studies of sex workers. But rarely have scholars examined the vital question of whether, and if so how, stigma can be reduced or eliminated from any type of sex work (commercial stripping, pornography, prostitution, etc.). After a brief review of the issues related to stigma, this Commentary proposes a set of preconditions for the reduction and, ultimately, elimination of stigma from sex work.

SEXUALITIES

Sharon Oselin

Views on female prostitution are diverse and often hotly contested, both inside and outside academic circles. Some contend that prostitutes are universally exploited, while others argue that they are workers and should be recognized as such. Yet there is little analysis of the role that service-providing organizations play in this larger debate. This article examines programs that offer direct services to prostitutes–which we call prostitute-serving organizations (PSOs)–in order to document both the kinds of services they provide and to assess whether they engage in efforts to change larger social or legal arrangements that impact their constituents. The article draws on data from multiple sources, including the website content of 37 PSOs, 21 in-depth interviews with PSO staff members, and published secondary sources. The organizations are categorized in terms of their core perspective on sex work, which we link to one of the three main theoretical paradigms in the sex work literature. We distinguish the different types of organizations, describe how their ideological stance impacts their goals, identify their main actions as service and/or advocacy, and suggest factors that account for these practices.

Urban Forum

Ronnie Donaldson

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Culture and Organization

Stephen Linstead

Journal of Contemporary African Studies

Femke van Casteren

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Should Sex Work Be Decriminalized? Some Activists Say It's Time

Jasmine Garsd

LGBTQ, immigrant rights and criminal justice reform groups, launched a coalition, Decrim NY, in February to decriminalize the sex trade in New York. Erik McGregor/Getty Images hide caption

LGBTQ, immigrant rights and criminal justice reform groups, launched a coalition, Decrim NY, in February to decriminalize the sex trade in New York.

Sex work is illegal in much of the United States, but the debate over whether it should be decriminalized is heating up.

Former California Attorney General and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris recently came out in favor of decriminalizing it , as long as it's between two consenting adults.

The debate is hardly new — and it's fraught with emotions. Opponents of decriminalization say it's an exploitative industry that preys on the weak. But many activists and academics say decriminalization would help protect sex workers, and would even be a public health benefit.

The Two-Way

Queen honors activist who fought to decriminalize prostitution.

RJ Thompson wants to push back against the idea that sex work is inherently victimizing. He says for him it was liberating: Thompson had recently graduated from law school and started working at a nonprofit when the recession hit. In 2008, he got laid off with no warning and no severance, and he had massive student loan debt.

Thompson became an escort. "I made exponentially more money than I ever could have in my legal profession," he says.

He says the possibility of arrest was often on his mind. And he says for many sex workers, it's a constant fear. "Many street-based workers are migrants or transgender people who have limited options in the formal economies," he says. "And so they do sex work for survival. And it puts them in a very vulnerable position — the fact that it's criminalized."

Thompson is now a human rights lawyer and the managing director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center. It's among several organizations that are advocating bills to decriminalize sex work in New York City and New York state. They already have the support of various state lawmakers .

TED Radio Hour

Juno mac: how does stigma compromise the safety of sex workers.

Due to its clandestine nature in America, it's extremely hard to find reliable numbers about the sex trade. But one thing is for sure: It's a multi-billion-dollar industry. In 2007, a government-sponsored report looked at several major U.S. cities and found that sex work brings in around $290 million a year in Atlanta alone.

Economist Allison Schrager says the Internet has increased demand and supply. "Women who pre-Internet (or men) who wouldn't walk the streets or sign with a madam or an agency now can sell sex work, sometimes even on the side to supplement other sources of income," she says.

So what happens when you take this massive underground economy and decriminalize it? Nevada might offer a clue. Brothels are legal there, in certain counties.

In Shrager's book, An Economist Walks Into A Brothel , she investigated the financial workings of the Nevada brothel industry. She found that on average it's 300 percent more expensive to hire a sex worker in a Nevada brothel than in an illegal setting. Shrager thinks it's because workers and customers prefer to pay for the safety and health checks of a brothel.

"Sex work is risky for everyone," she says. "You take on a lot of risk as a customer too. And when you're working in a brothel you are assured complete anonymity. They've been fully screened for diseases."

Goats and Soda

Legalizing prostitution would protect sex workers from hiv.

But many activists and academics say decriminalization would help protect sex workers and could also have public health benefits.

Take the case of Rhode Island . A loophole made sex work, practiced behind closed doors, legal there between 2003 and 2009.

Baylor University economist Scott Cunningham and his colleagues found that during those years the sex trade grew. But Cunningham points to some other important findings : During that time period the number of rapes reported to police in the state declined by over a third. And gonorrhea among all women declined by 39 percent. Of course, changes in prostitution laws might not be the only cause, but Cunningham says, "the trade-off is if you make it safer to some degree, you grow the industry."

Rhode Island made sex work illegal again in 2009, in part under pressure from some anti-trafficking advocates. That's the thing: The debate about sex work always gets linked to trafficking — people who get forced into it against their will.

Economist Axel Dreher from the University of Heidelberg in Germany teamed up with the London School of Economics to analyze the link between trafficking and prostitution laws in 150 countries. "If prostitution is legal, there is more human trafficking simply because the market is larger," he says.

It's a controversial study: Even Dreher admits that reliable data on sex trafficking is really hard to find.

Human rights organizations including Amnesty International support decriminalization. Victims of trafficking might be able to ask for help more easily if they aren't afraid of having committed a crime, the groups say.

Cecilia Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC, an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York. Erik McGregor/Getty Images hide caption

Cecilia Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC, an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York.

Former sex worker Cecilia Gentili says she might have been able to break free much sooner had it not been for fear of legal consequences. She left her native Argentina because she was being brutally harassed by police in her small town. She thought she'd be better off when she moved to New York, but as a transgender, undocumented immigrant, she says she had few options.

"Let's be realistic," Gentili says, "for people like me, sex work is not 'one' job option. It's the only option."

Gentili says that when police busted the drug house in Brooklyn where she was being held, she debated whether to ask for help. She figured she was in a very vulnerable position, as a trans, undocumented person. She stayed quiet.

These days Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC , an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York. She's advocating for New York City and state to decriminalize sex work.

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York. Jasmine Garsd/NPR hide caption

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York.

But many believe the sex industry is just fundamentally vicious and decriminalizing it will make it worse. Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services , a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York. She says there's nothing that will equalize the power unbalances in the sex industry.

"The commercial sex industry is inherently [exploitative]," she says. "The folks who end up in the commercial sex industry are the folks who are the most vulnerable and the most desperate."

When she was a teenager, Lloyd sold sex in Germany, where it's legal. But she says that didn't make it any less brutal for her.

The Surprising Wishes Of India's Sex Workers

"Those power dynamics of exploitation were still there," she says. "When ... legal johns came in, they were the ones with the money."

Lloyd says she doesn't want sex workers to be persecuted or punished. But she doesn't think men should be allowed to buy sex legally. She says that would be condoning the same industry that brutalized her and the women she works with today.

But decriminalization activists say that sex work has and always will exist. And they say bringing it out of the shadows can only help.

Read more stories from NPR Business.

• prostitution
• sex trafficking

To Protect Women, Legalize Prostitution

by | Oct 1, 2019 | Amicus , Criminal Justice , Labor and Employment , Sex Equality |

Prostitution is a sensitive subject in the United States. Frequently, arguments against prostitution center around concern for the health and safety of women, and those concerns are not unfounded. Prostitution is an incredibly dangerous profession for the (mostly) women involved; sexual assault, forced drug addiction, physical abuse, and death are common in the industry. For the women who work in this field, it is often very difficult to get help or get out. Many sex workers were sold into sex trafficking at a very young age and have no resources with which to escape their forced prostitution, or started out as sex workers by choice only to fall victim to sex trafficking later on. Moreover, since prostitution is illegal in most places in the United States, there are few legal protections in place for prostitutes; many fear that seeking help will only lead to arrest, and many who do seek help are arrested and then have to battle the stigma of a criminal record while they try to reintegrate into society.

So why is the response to such a dangerous industry to drive it further underground, away from societal resources and legal protections?

When people argue prostitution should be illegal, in many cases their concern comes from a place of morality , presented as concern for the health and safety of women. People believe that legalizing prostitution will only lead to the abuse of more women, will make it harder for prostitutes to get out of the industry, or will teach young women that their bodies exist for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation by men.

However, legalizing prostitution has had positive benefits for sex workers across Europe . The most well-known country to have legalized prostitution is the Netherlands , where sex work has been legal for almost twenty years. Bringing the industry out of the black market and imposing strict regulations has improved the safety of sex workers. Brothels are required to obtain and renew safety and hygiene licenses in order to operate, and street prostitution is legal and heavily regulated in places like the Red Light District . Not only does sex work become safer when it is regulated, but legalization also works to weed out the black market that exists for prostitution, thereby making women safer overall. Also, sex workers are not branded as criminals, so they have better access to the legal system and are encouraged to report behaviors that are a danger to themselves and other women in the industry. Finally, legalizing sex work will provide many other positive externalities , including tax revenue, reduction in sexually transmitted diseases, and reallocation of law enforcement resources.

It’s true that current efforts by various European countries to legalize prostitution have been far from perfect. In the Netherlands, certain components of the legislation , such as requiring sex workers to register and setting the minimum age for prostitution at 21, could drive more sex workers to illegal markets. Not only that, but studies indicate that legalizing prostitution can increase human trafficking.  However, even those who are critical about legalizing prostitution can recognize the benefits that legislation can have on working conditions for sex workers. If countries with legislation in place spend more time listening to current sex workers, the results of decriminalizing prostitution include bringing safety, security, and respect to a demographic that has traditionally been denied such things.

The underlying reason that people are uncomfortable listening to sex workers about legalizing prostitution has nothing to do with concern for the health and safety of women. If that were the genuine concern, prostitution would be legal in the United States by now. The underlying reason people disagree with legalizing prostitution is that prostitution is viewed as amoral because it involves (mostly) women selling their bodies for financial gain. However, telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies does not come from a place of morality: that comes from a place of control.

People, especially women, sell their bodies for financial gain in legalized fashions on a daily basis. Pornography is legal, and so is exotic dancing. It’s common for people to have sexual relationships with richer partners so as to benefit from their wealth, whether this is through seeking out wealthy life partners or through the less formal but increasingly prevalent phenomenon known as sugar-dating . It’s also common for people to remain in unhappy relationships because they do not want to lose financial stability or spend money on a divorce.

So, what’s the difference? Why are these examples socially acceptable, even encouraged, but prostitution is seen as so appalling?

The difference is that in all of these other situations, it is easy for people to pretend that the women involved are not actually selling their bodies directly. It’s easy to pretend that the pornography actors are just people having consensual sex that the viewing public just happens to be privy to observing . It’s easy to pretend that exotic dancers are not actually selling their bodies because they are not directly engaging in the act of sex. It’s easy to pretend that people who enter into or remain in sexual relationships with wealthy partners could be there for reasons other than financial gain or security.

Prostitution does not allow the general public to have the benefit of these pretenses. Rather, the industry is honest about how sex and money are directly related. And for many individuals, this is an uncomfortable notion. It is even more uncomfortable for some people to believe that women should be allowed to have the control over their bodies that would permit them to engage in prostitution voluntarily; they cannot allow themselves to believe that women would choose such a profession. Yet rather than recognize this reality, those who oppose the legalization of prostitution march forth with arguments about concern for the safety of women. They fail to realize that criminalizing prostitution does not help sex workers, and their arguments lead to legislation that harms women while operating under the morally-driven guise of wanting to protect them.

Instead of forcing sex workers to conduct their business in unregulated black markets where their lives are in danger, all for a mislabeled purpose of “saving” women, take actual action to save women. Legalize prostitution, impose strict regulations, and construct comprehensive support systems that allow sex workers to do their jobs safely.

The desire to protect women from sexual abuse will always be valid, and if anything is a desire that should be more widespread in the United States. What is disingenuous is opposing legalized sex work for reasons that purport to be women’s safety, but that are actually coming from a place of discomfort over women openly engaging in sexual interactions for financial gain. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of women having sex for money, then you should also have a problem with pornography, exotic dancing, and people dating for money. If you do not have a problem with all of these socially accepted practices but have a problem with prostitution because it is “morally questionable,” then you have lost your right to any forum where decisions about the safety and rights of women are being made.

Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Prostitution — My Arguments For The Legalization Of Prostitution

My Arguments for The Legalization of Prostitution

• Categories: Prostitution Sexual Health Society

About this sample

Words: 1038 |

Published: Sep 1, 2020

Words: 1038 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Works Cited

• Dalla, R. L. (2006). Legalizing prostitution: From illicit vice to lawful business. New York University Press.
• Farley, M., & Barkan, H. (Eds.). (2013). Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress. Routledge.
• Jeffreys, S. (2009). The industrial vagina: The political economy of the global sex trade. Routledge.
• Klinger, A., & Brunovskis, A. (Eds.). (2015). Human trafficking and exploitation: Lessons from history. Springer.
• Levine, P., & Walcott, S. (2011). Prostitution, harm, and gender inequality : Theory, research and policy. Routledge.
• Maher, L., & Daly, G. (Eds.). (2011). Trafficking and prostitution reconsidered: New perspectives on migration, sex work, and human rights. Paradigm Publishers.
• O'Connell Davidson, J. (Ed.). (2008). Sex, tourism and the postcolonial encounter: Landscapes of longing in Egypt. Berghahn Books.
• Outshoorn, J. (2012). The politics of prostitution: Women's movements, democratic states, and the globalisation of sex commerce. Cambridge University Press.
• Sanders, T. (2016). Paying for pleasure: Men who buy sex. Routledge.
• Weitzer, R. (2009). Sociology of sex work. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 213-234.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Law, Crime & Punishment Nursing & Health Sociology

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 1647 words

4 pages / 1624 words

3 pages / 1247 words

2 pages / 972 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Prostitution

Prostitution is often glamorized in popular culture, depicted as a profession that offers quick and easy money. However, the reality is far from glamorous. The negative effects of prostitution are numerous and far-reaching, [...]

Over the years, Canada has had many different views of prostitution in relation to the law. Prostitution is the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual services in exchange for money, and can take the form of many varieties [...]

Prositution, or sex work, can be defined as the practice or occupation of engaging in consensual sexual activity with someone in exchange of payment, in the form of money, favors, goods, or any other benefit agreed upon by the [...]

It is often asserted that money is the driving force behind the world's activities, capable of resolving any issue or purchasing any desire. This notion applies to various aspects of life. Money can be employed to rescue [...]

Prostitution is known as the oldest profession in the world. It generally involves performance of sexual acts for payment. Debates on its morality are heated and the extent to which the law is justified in impeding on one’s [...]

We have a ‘duty to imagine a world without prostitution as we do a world without slavery, without apartheid, without gender-based violence, female infanticide and genital mutilation’. This statement revolves around a worldwide [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Legalization of Prostitution in the United States Term Paper

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Challenges related to the legalization of prostitution, effect of the current legal system, fixing the problem, works cited.

Over the years, prostitution has been a major topic of discussion within legal circles in the United States of America. Although there are no existing federal laws that define the legality of the occupation, most state governments have laws that criminalize the activities of people who engage in sexual intercourse for money (Farley 12). According to reports by various economic firms, prostitution spreads widely across the country in a lucrative industry that operates with minimal regulations. It is important to note that the federal government is not enumerated to regulate prostitution by the constitution (Raphael 30). This mandate is relegated to the state governments under the tenth amendment.

Although there have been numerous campaigns geared towards the regulation of commercial sex, not all state governments have made the necessary efforts towards achieving the feat. Various arguments have been developed with regard to the advantages and disadvantages of legalizing prostitution in the United States (Kyle 42). One of the main factors behind this course has been numerous studies, which have established that commercial sex can be safe and profitable as long as the necessary regulatory measures are in place. These measures include regular testing of sex workers for sexually transmitted diseases and infections in order to keep their clients safe. Currently, the state of Nevada is the only one in the country where the occupation has been legalized up to the county levels (Farley 22). This gives a clear indication that the industry is highly unregulated, thus showing the huge gap that the relevant authorities have to fill.

Studies have established that prostitution is a highly lucrative occupation that attracts even the educated people who have limited opportunities for income generation. Over the years, many people have believed that this industry is only suited to people with little education and of low social class. Another interesting element about prostitution in the United States is the fact that it is based on family ties and close friendships (Morehouse 100). The huge client base for commercial sex workers is the white population, closely followed by Latinos and the African Americans.

The structure of the legal system in the country is one of the elements that have influenced the growth and expansion of the occupation over the years. According to the country’s laws, prostitution identifies as a public order crime because the authorities believe it highly contributes to disruption of community order (Kyle 52). The root cause of discrimination against prostitution in the country was the allegations of white slavery that started in 1908. At the time, the federal government carried out a survey among prostitutes in a bid to establish the way they got into the business. A number of the prostitutes claimed that they got into the commercial sex as victims of white slavery that entailed kidnappings (Morehouse 109). The findings of the report led to the creation of the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 in a bid to end the transportation of females across states for commercial sex and other immoral purposes.

The Supreme Court is highly involved in the process of discriminating prostitution in the country. Its first major involvement was during the ruling on the Mann Act, where it expounded on the definition of immoral purposes involving women to include polygamy, adultery, and consensual debauchery (Kyle 66). Another major legal provision that sought to discriminate prostitution in the country is the Chamberlain-Khan Act of 1918. This legislation mandated the government to quarantine a woman with suspicions of having a sexually transmitted disease, where if a medical examination showed its presence them one would be charged on a count of engaging in prostitution (Raphael 67).

The act was mainly created to caution the soldiers fighting in World War I against venereal diseases. However, the fortunes of prostitutes have improved over time due to the nature of the country’s legal system, which allows everyone a chance to be heard. In Mortensen vs. United States , a lawsuit filed in 1944, the Supreme Court gave commercial sex workers the right to travel across states as long as their movements were not geared towards engaging in prostitution (Raymond 33). New York City probably made the biggest move geared towards legalizing prostitution, when they removed the need for massage parlors to have licenses. This easily turned most of the parlors into brothels. Many states followed this example and allowed for brothels as they sought to create more avenues for revenue generation (Carroll 206).

Reports indicate that the working conditions of sex workers and the involvement of courts are two major elements that have changed a lot over the years, especially after the turn of the century. The first element has been greatly influenced by technological advancements through increased use of cell phones and the internet. Unlike in the past where prostitutes were only accessible in brothels and along the streets, technology has created a new category of prostitutes called call girls (Morehouse 128). This means that all that a contemporary prostitute needs to have is a functioning cell phone and an active social media account to access as many clients as possible off the streets. With regard to the involvement of the courts, the decision by the Supreme Court to approve the use of contraceptive pills in 1960 made it better for prostitutes because they managed to prevent unwanted pregnancies (Raymond 41). Over the years, a number of prostitute rights groups have been formed with an aim to garner more respect for the occupation and fight against harsh punishments against prostitutes from the legal structure (Morehouse 133). Many prominent and powerful people have fallen from glory over the years for allegedly admitting or being caught soliciting for the services of sexual workers.

Over the years, there have been a number of arguments opposed to a proposal by various lobby groups to legalize prostitution. These arguments develop based on cultural believes and religion. One of the major cons of legalizing prostitution is the fact that it encourages immorality, thus discrediting the institution of marriage. Most cultures and religions believe that sex is a preserve for marriage, although the existence of commercial sex workers has continually created inconsistencies in its application (Carroll 221). People who are involved in prostitution, either as workers or as clients also tend to degrade themselves in terms of socialization and respect.

Another major challenge associated with the legalization of prostitution is the fact that it provides a true reflection of the few opportunities for income generation. Studies have established that most sex workers do not engage in the occupation out of will, but are rather forced by economic reasons. This also connects with human trafficking, which also identifies as a major challenge of legalizing prostitution (Raymond 49). Courts in the United States handle numerous cases of human trafficking, where innocent women are forced into prostitution under the pretense of getting better jobs. Cases of sex slavery are also a common element of prostitution that the country’s legal system has struggled to address over the years (Carroll 223).

Opponents of the proposal to legalize prostitution also identify violence as one of the main challenges faced by commercial sex workers. According to a report by the federal government, the rate of violence in the prostitution industry is very high compared to other occupations regardless of its legality (Weitzer 111). The current legal structure applied in the country applies to the disadvantage of commercial sex workers because they are not existing clauses that offer them protection or compensation in case they suffer different forms of abuse in the line of duty. Commercial sex rights activists argue that the American legal structure has neglected them and failed to legally recognize their industry, despite the fact that it’s a key pillar of the economy.

Another disadvantage of legalizing prostitution is the increased probability of spreading sexually transmitted diseases and infections (Weitzer 119). Reports indicate that a number of people that seek the services of prostitutes do not use protection, thus predisposing themselves to the danger of contracting various deadly diseases. The country’s legal structure has made numerous efforts to increase the awareness about the importance of practicing safe sex across all age groups. Another challenge associated with legalizing prostitution is the increased threat of social instability (Farley 109). This phenomenon is characterized by a high number of men without families. In addition, cases of infidelity also tend to increase because men have easier access to women for extramarital affairs.

The current legal system has been highly criticized for its failure to adequately, address the legality of the commercial sex industry. Although the occupation is regarded as highly immoral across various societies, a number of countries that have legalized it and reaped numerous benefits from doing so (Flowers 79). One of the main reasons behind the huge criticism towards the current system is its inability to protect women from the abuse and violence they suffer from engaging in commercial sex. In most cases, abused prostitutes tend to suffer in silence because they cannot report their violators. Such situations discourage women from seeking help because they fear being arrested and charged for engaging in illegal business. One of the best ways of mitigating this challenge is recognizing the legality of the commercial sex industry and allowing prostitutes to form organizations through which they can fight for their rights (Albert 9).

The current legal structure is very oppressive of sex workers, thus undermining their plights for better treatment. The biggest beneficiaries of the current legal system are the people who seek the services of prostitutes, as well as pimps. According to federal reports, pimps often procure customers for commercial sex workers and in the process make a lot of income that goes untaxed. The report also establishes the income projections that the federal government is losing from the commercial sex industry, simply because there are existing legal frameworks for regulating and monitoring its activities (Albert 11). The people who enjoy the services of prostitutes are also big beneficiaries of the current legal structure because they can easily get away with cases of abuse and violence towards women. In addition, they also have the benefit of negotiating for the price they pay to receive any service because there are no operational frameworks necessary in determining the prices (Weitzer 128).

One of the most important things to consider in any attempts to address the disadvantages associated with legalizing prostitution is the need to come up with the necessary legislation. This includes acts that will legalize the activities of commercial sex workers and tax their income. This will play a huge role in making the industry players feel more appreciated because their occupation has a direct impact on the growth of the economy (Flowers 86). The most effective legislation that I would write to address this challenge would integrate the importance of creating more avenues for income generation for the people with the need for relevant authorities to streamline the crucial sectors of the economy. It is important to ensure that the input of the legal team applies effectively, because all citizens ought to be treated equally regardless of their occupation, age, gender, race or religion (Albert 20). Another strategy that would effectively address this challenge is creating a government agency, whose mandate would be to streamline the industry by identifying the main avenues for revenue creation and regulating the category of people involved in the business. There ought to be an age limit for the people that can be allowed to visit brothels. However, the huge challenge would be limiting the activities of call girls who are easily accessible through websites and cell phones.

The government should reduce the requirements for registration of brothels as a way of encouraging commercial sex workers off the streets and being part of the legalized system (Flowers 100). It is also important to ensure that prostitutes are not allowed to operate in the streets. This will play a crucial role in making the industry gain some reputation and prevent exposing young people to the existence of the occupation. The federal government should also take more responsibility in regulating the industry by coming up with legislation that requires all state governments to register brothels within their jurisdiction (Barkan 161). Legalizing prostitution will also go a long way in reducing the disgrace associated with the occupation because commercial sex workers will have a legal identity.

Studies have established that prostitution is widely spread than many people or the authorities choose to believe. Over the years, the commercial sex industry has developed into a lucrative sector of the economy that supports millions of families across the world. Although the occupation has been marred with a lot of stigma and social disgrace, it is the high time for the relevant authorities recognize its existence and come up with effective legislation to regulate its activities. The benefits of legalizing prostitution outweigh its disadvantages. However, this does not mean that the cons should be ignored because they will definitely affect part of the population. The commercial sex industry is a sector that can easily affect the social order in any community if the right regulatory measures are not put in place. On the other hand, legalizing and regulating the industry in an effective manner would provide the government with more avenues for revenue creation and ensuring a healthier nation.

Albert, Alexa. Brothels of Nevada: Candid Views of America’s Legal Sex Industry . Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.

Barkan, Steven. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice . Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2013.

Carroll, Janell. Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity . Cengage Learning, 2012.

Farley, Melissa. Prostitution, Trafficking and Traumatic Stress . Psychology Press, 2003.

Flowers, Ronald. The Prostitution of Women and Girls . McFarland, 2010.

Kyle, David. Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives . JHU Press, 2013.

Morehouse, Christal. Combating Human Trafficking: Policy Gaps and Hidden Political Agendas in the USA and Germany . Springer Science & Business Media, 2009.

Raphael, Jody. Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty, and Prostitution . UPNE, 2004.

Raymond, Janice. Not a Choice, not a Job: Exposing the Myths about Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade . Potomac Books, 2013.

Weitzer, Ronald. Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business . NYU Press, 2012.

• Cyber Law and Information Assurance
• American and European Legal Histories and Marxism
• The Act of Prostitution in the United States
• 7 Reasons Why America Should Legalize Prostitution
• Piety Aside, Legalizing Prostitution Is the Way to Go
• Civil, Common, Customary, and Religious Law
• Fair Housing Act: A Suit by the Miami City
• Property Rights in English, Islamic, and Saudi Law
• Moore and Another vs. Sheriff and South African Law
• Transfer of Immovable Property in South Africa
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, October 14). Legalization of Prostitution in the United States. https://ivypanda.com/essays/legalization-of-prostitution-in-the-united-states/

"Legalization of Prostitution in the United States." IvyPanda , 14 Oct. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/legalization-of-prostitution-in-the-united-states/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Legalization of Prostitution in the United States'. 14 October.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Legalization of Prostitution in the United States." October 14, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/legalization-of-prostitution-in-the-united-states/.

1. IvyPanda . "Legalization of Prostitution in the United States." October 14, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/legalization-of-prostitution-in-the-united-states/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Legalization of Prostitution in the United States." October 14, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/legalization-of-prostitution-in-the-united-states/.

• Recent Posts
• Publications

Palak Sharma

December 10th, 2019, legalising sex work: both sides of the debate.

7 comments | 115 shares

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Sex workers are on the periphery of social and economic life in many countries. Increasingly, even governments look down upon sex workers as subjects unworthy of benefits or legal protection. There are 3 million commercial sex workers in India alone, of whom an estimated 40% are children, according to a study conducted by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development. There have been no further official statistics released on this section of population since, and both acceptance and acknowledgement are a distant prospect in developing countries.

Some jurisdictions have decriminalised prostitution-related activities, including New Zealand, parts of Australia, Germany, Netherlands, and parts of the USA. Yet although India has legalised sex work, issues remain.

How far can we go in legalising sex work?

The limited scope of sex education in schools makes clear that sex is considered a taboo in countries like India. And, in a social and cultural context that makes sex a taboo, legalising sex work is almost blasphemous. That taboo thrives on lingering homophobia and transphobia. For instance, Section 377, which decriminalised homosexuality in India, has still not been fully enacted. Despite India’s rich historical legacy of emancipation and female empowerment, extending as far back as ancient and medieval Buddhist literature that celebrated prostitutes who rose up to be monks (Amrapali), the inherent notion underlying sex work inspires widespread disgust and abhorrence.

The legalisation of sex work itself remains a conundrum. For example, one option for legalised sex work could make use of urban zoning centres where prostitution is permitted (although this strategy reported bleak results in Britain ). Alternatively, sex workers could be licensed, but this could promote discrimination and bias on the basis of identity ( e.g. , caste) and infringe on the sex workers’ privacy.

Legalisation is therefore contentious. But legalisation’s only alternative may be exploitation.

How do international laws restrict legalisation of sex work?

International laws and conventions such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) endanger sex workers. Article 6 of the CEDAW requires states to take “all appropriate measures to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.” Such measures threaten counterproductive laws to suppress trafficking that could seriously harm sex workers.

Furthermore, international aid programmes such as the US Leadership Against HIV/AIDS , Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act condition funding on a pledge of opposition to prostitution. This conditioning restrains the ability of aid recipients to chart their own courses of legalisation.

Is the grass really greener on the other side of legalisation?

In the face of growing support for the legalisation of sex work, critics worry about ignorance of legalisation’s true consequences. Studies show that most female sex workers enter into prostitution out of necessity, not personal choice. We might wonder whether continued criminalisation that keep workers trapped is justifiable, when we could instead focus on helping sex workers escape prostitution. Licensing or some other certification of sex work that adds to their résumé would be conventionally considered a possible blot on their record.

A second concern focuses on the risk that legalisation might increase human trafficking. Greater legitimacy for sex work could lead fuel that sector’s economy, yet sex workers would likely not benefit from such growth. Most sex trafficking networks operate in a shadow economy, and the profits are concentrated beyond the sex workers’ reach. We should be mindful that legalisation alone would not in itself transfer profit to lower reaches.

Lastly, sex work is still a fairly unorganised sector with many women operating from their homes. Legalisation would push many workers outdoors, and further stigma would soon follow. Some neighbours may forbid sex workers from living nearby. Those sex workers too reticent to come forward would also be excluded from the protections of labour law under a legalisation scheme.

It is important to listen to voices coming from within this community, in the form of unions like Organización de Trabajadoras Sexuales (OTRAS) from Spain or the DecrimNow campaign in Britain. Sex work legalisation is more than mere legal debate and affects sex worker health. At this time, legalisation perhaps requires the emergence of a consensus in the community more than a governmental diktat.

Note:  This article gives the views of the authors, and not the position of the Social Policy Blog, nor of the London School of Economics.

About the author

Palak Sharma is a student of MSc International Social and Public Policy (Development) in the Department of Social Policy since September 2019.She is also the co-founder of the think tank Green Governance Initiative in India.

Palak I appreciate you that you have courage to write on this topic as most of the bloggers have not because they think this is a wrong topic. They have to consider that this is the topic we need to pull out to help those who have stuck in this industry without their wishes.

This is really a very amazing blog. I like very much these types of blog please keep it up

Thanks for the wonderful share. Your article has proved your hard work and experience you have got in this field. Brilliant. I love it reading.

I love to visit your website here is good information for us thanks for us.

• Pingback: LEGALITY OF PROSTITUTION IN INDIA - Socio Legal Corp

Thanks a lot very helpful and interesting content…it’s article very nice… thanks you

great post keep posting thank you!!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Related Posts

The Greta Generation: The rise of youth activism for climate change

October 28th, 2019.

Reproductive Health and Rights: What’s Social Policy got to do with it?

August 30th, 2019.

• Share full article

Should Prostitution Be a Crime?

A growing movement of sex workers and activists is making the decriminalization of sex work a feminist issue.

Credit... Holly Andres for The New York Times

Supported by

By Emily Bazelon

• May 5, 2016

L ast November, Meg Muñoz went to Los Angeles to speak at the annual West Coast conference of Amnesty International. She was nervous. Three months earlier, at a meeting attended by about 500 delegates from 80 countries, Amnesty voted to adopt a proposal in favor of the “ full decriminalization of consensual sex work ,” sparking a storm of controversy. Members of the human rights group in Norway and Sweden resigned en masse, saying the organization’s goal should be to end demand for prostitution, not condone it. Around the world, on social media and in the press, opponents blasted Amnesty. In Los Angeles, protesters ringed the lobby of the Sheraton where the conference was being held, and as Muñoz tried to enter, a woman confronted her and became upset as Muñoz explained that, as a former sex worker , she supported Amnesty’s position. “She agreed to respect my time at the microphone,” Muñoz told me. “That didn’t exactly happen” — the woman and other critics yelled out during her panel — “but I understand why it was so hard for her.”

Muñoz was in the middle of a pitched battle over the terms, and even the meaning, of sex work. In the United States and around the globe, many sex workers (the term activists prefer to “prostitute”) are trying to change how they are perceived and policed. They are fighting the legal status quo, social mores and also mainstream feminism, which has typically focused on saving women from the sex trade rather than supporting sex workers who demand greater rights. But in the last decade, sex-worker activists have gained new allies. If Amnesty’s international board approves a final policy in favor of decriminalization in the next month, it will join forces with public-health organizations that have successfully worked for years with groups of sex workers to halt the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS, especially in developing countries. “The urgency of the H.I.V. epidemic really exploded a lot of taboos,” says Catherine Murphy, an Amnesty policy adviser.

Onstage , wearing a white blouse with lace, her face framed by glasses and straight brown hair, Muñoz, who is 43, looked calm and determined as she leaned into the microphone to tell her story. She started escorting at 18, after she graduated from high school in Los Angeles County, picking up men at a dance club a couple of times a week and striking deals to have sex for $100 or so, at a hotel or their apartments. She had a part-time job as a restaurant hostess, but she liked feeling desired and making money on the side to spend on clothes and entertainment. “I really, really did love the work,” she told her Amnesty audience of more than 100. “I was a little reckless.” The same recklessness led her to methamphetamine. When her parents found out she was using, they sent her to rehab. She stopped escorting and using drugs and found a serious boyfriend. When she was 24, the relationship ended, and around that time her parents sold their house. Muñoz started living on her own for the first time. With rent and car insurance to pay, and a plan to save for college, escorting became her livelihood. “I was moving toward a goal, and sex work helped me do that,” Muñoz told the crowd.

A few years later, however, another ex-boyfriend, with whom she was still close, started to take advantage of the underground nature of Muñoz’s work. At first, she told me, he asked her to pay to get his car back after it was towed. Then he started demanding more money and dictating when she worked and which clients she saw. Muñoz didn’t exactly seem like a trafficking victim; she was driving her own car, going to school and paying her expenses. But looking back, she says that’s the way she sees herself. “Because the work I was doing was illegal, he started to hold it over my head. He blackmailed me by threatening to tell everyone, including my family.”

The man was violent, and Muñoz extricated herself with the help of a friend, whom she later married. Haunted by the control her ex-boyfriend had exerted over her, she founded in 2009 a small faith-based group called Abeni near her home in Orange County, to help other women escape from prostitution, as she had. A couple of years later, Muñoz, who now has four children, started letting herself remember the period earlier in her life when escorting served her well, as a source of income and even stability. Struggling internally, she had a “crisis of conscience,” she says, and came to regret her assumptions about what was necessarily best for Abeni’s clients. She stopped taking on new ones, and then turned Abeni into one of the few groups in the country that helps people either leave sex work or continue doing it safely.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Advertisement