Final Blog Post: Prostitution Laws

Prostitution, what is often called the world’s oldest profession, has been around since before the beginning of civilization. It refers to the exchange of goods, services, or money for sex. It is illegal in most parts of the United States, except for a few counties in Nevada that allow for licensed and regulated brothels. Federal Law bans interstate transportation of prostitutes and trafficking is outlawed completely. But it is no secret that despite being outlawed, prostitution still occurs. According to a 2008 poll, 9% of the total American population has paid for sex, and about 16% of men (Weitzer, 2012). Roughly 60,000 Americans were arrested in 2009 for violation of prostitution laws. Many different studies also show that the penalties for prostitution are not enough to keep people from repeating the offense again. In fact, most prostitutes are repeat offenders (Weitzer, 2012; Carrasquillo, 2014). There is also a stigma attached to selling sex. A 1983 poll showed that only 7% of the population said there should be no prostitution laws. In 1990, another poll revealed that 22% of the population said prostitution should be left to the individual, 31% say it should be regulated by law, 46% say it should be forbidden by law (Weitzer, 2012).

It is also important to make the distinction between legalization and decriminalization. Legalization would mean that the government would be able to regulate it. Laws would be made to determine who can participate in such acts, where and when these acts can occur, etc. In a legalized sector, participants have to pay taxes and comply with licensing conditions and other forms of regulation (Huisman & Kleemans, 2014). Decriminalization would abolish the laws against prostitution. State governments and law-enforcement officials would be prohibited from intervening in any prostitution-related activities, unless of course, other laws apply, such as laws against trafficking or sex with minors or animals. The purpose of this post is to debate whether or not prostitution should be legal. I will start by explaining the arguments of the side for the legalization and move onto the arguments of those against legalization.

Pro: Legalizing Prostitution
“I don’t understand why prostitution is illegal. Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. Why isn’t selling fucking legal? You know, why should it be illegal to sell something that’s perfectly legal to give away?”
– George Carlin

The laws aimed at prostitution seek to eradicate it completely. People discuss many benefits of eradicating it. Eradication, states claim, would prevent the spread of STDs, prevent women from being exploited, and greatly reduce the instances of other crimes associated with prostitution, like drug use, robbery, or rape. However, as I said earlier, prostitution is still occurring all over the United States. The NYPD, for example, makes 2,700 arrests each year for prostitution. It costs taxpayers a lot of money to keep an inmate in a city jail: about $167,731 a year, or $460 a day per inmate. This number does not include money for lawyer’s fees, cost to the courts, or salaries for police officers (Carrasquillo, 2014). Proponents argue that legalizing prostitution would not only allow current resources to be redirected to solving and preventing more violent crimes, but that state governments could actually make money if it were taxed. However, as prostitution exists now, it is clear that it is costly to the general public.

It is also very costly to sex workers. Criminalizing prostitution has jeopardized the lives of everyone involved. Prostitutes have an extremely high risk of premature death; the rate is about 40 times the national average. The U.S. Justice Department estimates that one-third of the more than 4,000 women killed by serial murderers in 1982 were prostitutes. Sex workers often are the victims of other violent crimes, like rape. 70% of the prostitutes in a study in San Francisco were raped an average of 31 times by their customers, and 65% of the women stated they were beaten by customers with an average of 4.3 times. In a similar study in Oregon, “78% of the prostitutes were raped, 48% by pimps an average of sixteen times per year, 78% by johns an average of thirty-three times per year” (Carrasquillo, 2014). Sex workers are not able to report these crimes to the police because they are afraid of either being arrested themselves or they worry that the crimes will not be taken seriously, and these worries are entirely valid. Police often don’t take these crimes seriously, stating that the sex worker was somehow deserving of the crimes (Weitzer, 2012).

Another argument is the idea that legalizing prostitution and regulating it will slow the spread of STIs. STIs are still rampant in our society as well. The Center for Disease Control states that there are about 20 million new infections in the United States each year, costing the American healthcare system nearly $16 billion in direct medical costs alone. New data suggests that there are more than 110 million total STIs among men and women across the nation (“CDC Fact Sheet: Incidence, Prevalence, and Cost of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States”, 2013). Prostitutes would be more likely to seek medical help if they do not have the fear of conviction preventing them from doing so, and the government would be able to create laws about using effective protection.

Con: Legalizing Prostitution
“The ILO [International Labour Organization] report admits that most women ‘choose’ prostitution for economic reasons. Surely no one can argue that this is free choice any more than the cattle in the squeeze chute choose to go to their death.”
– Diane Post, JD Attorney and Human Rights Activist “Legalizing Prostitution: A Systematic Rebuttal” in the journal off our backs, July 1999

The opponents to legalized prostitution believe that prostitution is associated with many violent crimes like rape or trafficking. As stated in the quote, prostitution is not something that many people freely choose to do, so total bodily autonomy is not always given. Many sex workers feel as if they have no choice, often because they cannot find adequate employment in legal jobs. There are often problems with people who experience a disadvantage because of their race, or immigrants who have trouble establishing themselves in a new country having to turn to prostitution as a means of survival. Forty-percent of streetwalkers are women of color, yet 55% of prostitutes arrested are minorities. Women of color and poor immigrants are being harassed and arrested more so than white sex workers (Carrasquillo, 2014).

Research and Documentation Center of the Ministry of Justice published a large-scale evaluation of the legalization of prostitution in 2007. The study looked at non-legal prostitution, which included unlicensed prostitution, prostitution by minors and people without a residence permit. It was concluded that the regions where prostitution was legalized did not experience any significant difference in these crimes. Proponents of legalizing prostitution argue that it would somehow allow prostitutes to exercise autonomy, but with the way that pimps or owners of the brothels are involved in the prostitute’s sexual activity, it is still very much a ‘employer-employee’ relationship. They still do not have a very good legal standing. 70% of the prostitutes interviewed claimed to not pay taxes. So the fact of the matter is that in the Netherlands, prostitution as an industry still retains the characteristics it did when prostitution was illegal (Huisman & Kleemans, 2014). What is even worse, the study shows that the emotional and mental health of prostitutes in the areas where prostitution is legal has actually worsened. The use of sedatives had increased, and the number of sex workers with pimps had not changed (Huisman & Kleemans, 2014). 65% to 95% of those in prostitution were sexually assaulted as children, and 68% of 854 people in strip club, massage, and street prostitution from 9 different countries met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD (Farley & Butler, 2012). So proponents of legalizing prostitution believe that it will bring certain benefits and help eradicate certain social problems, but we do not see this happening where prostitution is legal.
MY DECISION

I think that the con side had better arguments and evidence. I think that the pro side is too idealistic. In theory, all of the pro arguments are sound. Giving people a legal method of getting sex if they desire it should cut down on forced prostitution, human trafficking, and rape. Allowing the government to regulate the industry (who can be a sex worker, when and where sex can occur, etc.) will supposedly make it harder for people, namely immigrants or children, to be trafficked. It would also make sense for someone to argue that prostitutes who were previously unable to go to the police or even to the doctor out of the fear of being prosecuted would now be able to seek the help they need. However, we do not see any of this happening in places where prostitution is legalized, and the con side provides valuable evidence of that. The fact of the matter is that legalizing prostitution does not provide all of the benefits one might believe.

I think that a lot of the issues that coincide with prostitution (forced prostitution of children or immigrants, human trafficking, spread of STIs, etc.) are a result of much broader social problems. I think that the spread of STIs would be reduced if we had a better sex education system. As for the fact that women of color or poor immigrants are often driven to the sex industry because of poor economic or social standing, these problems are a result of a terrible immigration system and a lack of government aid programs to help those who are economically disadvantaged. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that legalizing prostitution in America would greatly reduce human trafficking. In fact, we would most likely see a slight increase, because prostitution would become more expensive because of taxes and the costs of keeping a brothel up to the government standards.

Speaking of the economy, there is the argument that legalizing prostitution will bring in a lot of revenue for the government. While this may be true, it will not eradicate many of the other problems associated with prostitution. To help you understand why, we can look at the recent legalization of marijuana in states like Colorado. The state’s revenue in the first year of legalization exceeded $53 million, although that was lower than expected originally. Because of the differences in taxes between recreational marijuana and medical marijuana, people are still seeking medical marijuana which is taxed at just 2.9% compared to recreational marijuana which is taxed at 28%. Because the tax rate of 28% is a high price to pay, many people are still relying on black market pot. The fact is that illegal pot is a lot cheaper than legal pot (Lobosco, 2015). I believe that something similar could occur with prostitution. I believe that if prostitution was legalized, and it would most likely be taxed heavily, many would still seek illegal prostitution because it would be a lot cheaper. This would not eradicate all of the problems associated with prostitution as it exists now. It may reduce it, but it’s hard to know the extent to which these problems will be reduced. I doubt that it will have a big effect though.

I think that prostitution should not be legalized, but decriminalized. Prostitutes often receive much harsher punishments than those who actually buy sex from them. Donna M. Hughes, an expert in human trafficking from the University of Rhode Island, has stated that police are harder on men who download child pornography than those who actually pay to have sex with women or girls (Kristof, 2014). The laws themselves are discriminatory- the prostitutes can be arrested for standing on the street corner with the intention to sell, but johns can only be charged if they are caught discussing payments for sex (Ko, 2015). I think that there is definitely the need to reform prostitution laws, but I do not think that prostitution should be completely legal.

The prostitute “is a victim of every bad thing men do to women: physical and sexual abuse, economic oppression, and abandonment.”
(Mick LaSalle, 1995 (December 3), Hollywood is Hooked on Hookers, San Francisco Examiner).

REFERENCES

Carrasquillo, T. (2014). UNDERSTANDING PROSTITUTION AND THE NEED FOR REFORM. Touro Law Review, 30(3), 697-721.

CDC Fact Sheet: Incidence, Prevalence, and Cost of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States. (2013, February 1). Retrieved April 25, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats/sti-estimates-fact-sheet-feb-2013.pdf

Farley, M., & Butler, E. (2012, January 1). Prostitution and Trafficking – Quick Facts. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/Prostitution Quick Facts 12-21-12.pdf

Huisman, W., & Kleemans, E. (2014). The challenges of fighting sex trafficking in the legalized prostitution market of the Netherlands. Crime, Law and Social Change, 215-228.

Ko, L. (2015, January 23). Targeting Sex Buyers, Not Sex Sellers: Arresting Demand for Prostitution. Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/targeting-sex-buyers-not-sex-sellers-arresting-demand-for-prostitution

Kristof, N. (2014, February 26). Targeting the Johns in Sex Trade. Retrieved April 30, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/opinion/kristof-targeting-the-johns-in-sex-trade.html?_r=0

Lobosco, K. (2015, February 12). Recreational pot delivers $53 million in tax revenue to Colorado. Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/12/news/economy/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue/

Weitzer, R. J. (2012). Legalizing prostitution : from illicit vice to lawful business. New York : New York University Press, 2012.

2 thoughts on “Final Blog Post: Prostitution Laws

  1. Two research articles included for Side A 5/5 pts

    Two research articles included for Side B 5/5 pts

    Summary of Side A and Side B 20/20 pts

    Who you agree with and why? 13/15 pts
    (Include strengths and weaknesses)
    Specific strengths and weaknesses of the research

    APA Formatting/ Grammar/ Length 5/5 pts

    Total 48/50 total
    Great job!

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