How to Handle Prostitution

[PatrickHenry]

Narrowly defined, prostitution is sex acts for cash.

Let's don't off-track about sex after a dinner and some entertainment. That's a date.

And sex and household chores for shelter and food is not prostitution either, in spite of some cynical opinions.

I am wondering where a largely liberal forum like ours stands on this issue.

It's not going to go away. But our societies don't seem to be sending a very coherent message either.

There are other threads where we have discussed the options, but this one is a poll I devised. Please opine...

Some of the other threads: Why Prostitution Should Be Made Legal
More Taxation an Acceptable Side Effect of Legalized Prostitution and Drugs?
Should we Legalize Prostitution?
prostitution

[Fleamo]

Either of the first two choices are good with me. As long as it's relatively safe, legalize it. Make sure the girls aren't underage, and then it's just sex between two consenting adults. Then tax it so the government makes some money off it, so it can pay for the regulations-enforcers.

[Milton Bradley]

I had to go with option one.


In a field where disease can be spread so readily, I think it wise to inspect, and verify that the prostitutes are not spreading things around.


Seems the only logical conclusion that allows people to do as they desire, and yet retain some amount of public safety.

[The Bacon Guy]

Option one for me also. 3, 4 and 5 are unacceptable to me, since it shouldn't be illegal to sell something it is legal to give away. Two is a problem for me because it would actually be favouring the prostitution industry by not imposing taxation or regulation of any sort. With option one, prostitution is legally the same as any other business and legalising it will actually have some financial advantage.

[Autolykos]

I chose option two, in accordance with my anti-state principles.

- Rob

[Aeris]

I'm for option one.

Mainly because through state certification, taxation, etc. we can make sure health hazards stay out of the business. Kinda like the porno industry - they have lists with who was infected with what at what date.

But protection should be the prostitute's responsibility. The state shouldn't have to pay for any abortions, birth control pills, condoms or treatments. People need to realize the risks of the field they're entering and take their own safety into their hands. If they want to risk unprotected sex because the client will pay more, its their call. But when they can't get another job or their license is taken its their own damn fault.

[underbear1]

my body is my body
my body is my business
nobody's business but my own

The Life broadway show

[Fonceai]

Option #1.

It's already set up like this in Europe, Canada, and Las Vegas.

Licensed, inspected prostitutes with great health coverage and care, paying a "house fee" each night they work and getting to keep whatever is left over.

It's a good thing.

---

By the way, I love when people choose an option based on a specific principle to which they want to adhere. Nothing like puppets of a belief system not thinking for themselves.

[G. Adams]

Quote by: Fonceai By the way, I love when people choose an option based on a specific principle to which they want to adhere. Nothing like puppets of a belief system not thinking for themselves.

Yeah, nothing like having principles. Chumps.

I'm going with option 1. It's ridiculous for porn to be legal but prostitution not, the only difference being the placement of a camera. A prostitute should just stick a camera in the room and claim the client is the producer and actor. Ta da, it's now legal. Or do what happens in the UK, have escort services, where all payment covers simply the escorts time, anything that happens between the escort and customer is voluntary and not to do with the business.

[Fonceai]

@G. Adams

Nothing wrong with principles. What I'm talking about are having over-ruling dominating principles that form the reasoning for a decision, instead of actually looking at the facts.

As George Carlin says...

"Selling is legal. F**king is legal. Why isn't selling f**king legal?"

[ladyphoenix]

Option one. If I can sell my body to every employer I've ever had in one way or another, how is this any different?

My fience says he doesn't think that prostitution should be legal because of the emotional implications that are involved in prostitution. If I lived a life much like a prostitute, with the exception of money, why should I not at least be able to make a profit? I don't feel as though having lived that life would have made me any more morally base than before I started that. In fact, I would think that it would make a girl/guy less likely to get into a relationship with someone SIMPLY FOR SEX, which might affect the rate of divorce.

Tax it, regulate it, require exams ones a month or something (planned parenthood would make good money in that situation). It's said that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. I believe it. If it's been around since the dawn of man, and obviously hasn't gone away in that time, why not make it safer?

[Autolykos]

Quote by: Fonceai Option #1. It's already set up like this in Europe, Canada, and Las Vegas. Licensed, inspected prostitutes with great health coverage and care, paying a "house fee" each night they work and getting to keep whatever is left over. It's a good thing. --- By the way, I love when people choose an option based on a specific principle to which they want to adhere. Nothing like puppets of a belief system not thinking for themselves.

I'm sorry, but how am I not thinking for myself? Don't I choose my own principles? :rolleyes:

Why should licensing and taxation go along with legality? As far as I can see, the only winning party would be the state, as it could steal even more money than it does now.

- Rob

[Autolykos]

Quote by: Fonceai @G. Adams Nothing wrong with principles. What I'm talking about are having over-ruling dominating principles that form the reasoning for a decision, instead of actually looking at the facts.

How am I not looking at the facts? Please elaborate, if you can.

- Rob

[lsbskins1]

Ok, so some of you hate taxes and regulation. I get that. But can we at least agree that the reason people consented to government regulation in the first place was that it was discovered that left to their own devices, big business and "the market" do NOT adequately protect the consumer. So, short of some sort of government regulation, how do those of you who don't want it (regulation) propose we keep the clients and the emplyees safe from the DEADLY and life altering and dibilitating diseases that are sexually transmitted? It is too late for 100's or perhaps 1000's, maybe even millions of people once one of those bugs get hold of them. Does it really serve them to say, "Well, the market will take care of those who infect their customers. Their business will dry up."?

What recourse, short of enforceable regulation, does one have?

[CoffeeSaint]

I wonder how legalizing it, with or without regulation, would affect the industry. Would it become more popular, without the risk of arrest for the, um, patrons? Or would it lose interest without that thrill of nastiness and illegality? I know it is legalized in many places, but I wonder how it would hit the U.S. as a whole -- Vegas is another country, if you ask me.
I am of the mind that prostitution, because it is a high-risk industry, should be regulated, and therefore it should be taxed to pay for the enforcement of those regulations. But then, I've already admitted I'm a Commie. :)

[Aeris]

lsbskins-

It also doesn't protect the employee. I have a pretty stong belief that if the prostituion business is left to run unchecked, prostitution rings are going to get worse. Sex slaves are uncool.

Coffesaint-

I think that it would be a fad for awhile and then return to either normal or a little less than normal. Some clients are just there for the thrill of doing something illegal and dangerous. Once it loses that, the business will lose them.

[GHook93]

Legalize it and regulate it.

1) Pimps and ho's need to pay taxes
2) Require only safe sex
3) Require bi-monthly STD tests
4) Require proof of age and citizenship for each prostitute

[Fonceai]

@Autolykos

See lsbskins post #14.

RIGHT NOW there is no government regulation of prostitution in the U.S. It's buyer beware.

Where there is government regulation, that means medical clearances and licensing, protection for owners, prostitutes, and clients.

Yes, you'll still have dirty places.

But you'll also have some very nice, clean places that will open up and be completely legal.

Hell, hotels could add prostitutes to the room service menu. Imagine 5-star prostitutes.

This is already legal in some European countries and the nice places do it well.

It's legal the second your cross over Niagara Falls into Canada. You can literally hop the border, go to the right strip club, and pay $60 for a blowjob or $100 for sex. If the girl likes you, it's cheaper. You do it in a private area of the strip club. The girls pay the club for giving them a protected place to practice their trade. The girls pocket the extra money.

You're too busy with your rant about the government being bad and how they shouldn't regulate anything.

This isn't about the government, this is about legalizing prostitution.

You're not looking at facts because you're looking in the wrong direction.

@CoffeeSaint & Aeris

Consider also that what stops someone from getting a prostitute now is the same thing that will stop them if it is legal; relationships.

If it's legal, I doubt my wife would let me get a prostitute.

Many people don't because they have moral problems with the act of paying for sex. That's their business. Legalizing it might make some of them relax a bit, but the rest will still think it's wrong.

Though it might make for interesting birthday presents if the wife rents a prostitute for a night for a three-way...

@GHook

Proof of age is another big one.

You can request to see her license and see the date of her last medical evaluation.

Good stuff.

[Aeris]

One would think that would stop them from going to strip clubs too, but it doesn't.

Hey, what about homosexual prostitutes? I mean, its still illegal to have anal or oral sex in Minnesota. What if someone wants some company from the same team? Would we change those laws?

[lsbskins1]

Quote by: Aeris One would think that would stop them from going to strip clubs too, but it doesn't. Hey, what about homosexual prostitutes? I mean, its still illegal to have anal or oral sex in Minnesota. What if someone wants some company from the same team? Would we change those laws?

Well, if we ever get to the point where we can get prostitution legalized, the people running things will probably be enlightened enough to be done with the stupidity of sodomy laws as well.