Would legalizing prostitution prevent rape? (statistics, money, female, pay)

[mjohnson4381]

I don't even know if this is an appropriate topic, but I'm curious. I've always been strongly opposed to legal prostitution because men who pay for sex are treating women like objects. I hate that. I wouldn't want any of my friends or family members to get involved in it. And I definitely wouldn't associate with a guy that was into it (if I was aware of the fact that he was into it).

Anyway, I also have a friend who does probation/parole work. Long story short, there are apparently a lot more rapists out there then I would have originally guessed. Do you think if these rapists could pay someone to have consensual sex with them, this could be prevented? Or would it just make everything worse? I've casually looked around on the internet and it seems like there's a lot of opinions out there for both sides.

[Drover]

So if men who pay for sex treat women like objects, what are the women who take their money treating men like? And what are they treating themselves like? Interesting little one-way judgment there.

[cgadams]

Also, don't be so quick to assume that all prostitutes are female. I did a research paper on prostitution last semester and you would be surprised at how many prostitutes are males. ; )

I don't really know what effects the legalization of prostitution would have on rape statistics. I would think that most rapists have more of a mental problem. Legalizing prostitution won't have much of an effect on people who are just crazy.

[MICoastieMom]

Rape and prostitution are two different issues. Prostitution is about objectifying women, rape is about degrading women and about power.

[moonshadow]

Prostitution is legal here, we still have rape.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by MICoastieMom

Rape and prostitution are two different issues. Prostitution is about objectifying women, rape is about degrading women and about power.

There it is again: "prostitution is about objectifying women." Really? Why isn't it about objectifying men? Or do you suppose a prostitute feels a deep emotional connection with each one of her tricks?

Originally Posted by moonshadow

Prostitution is legal here, we still have rape.

But do you know whether or not it has reduced the incidence of rape?

[Violett]

Originally Posted by Drover

There it is again: "prostitution is about objectifying women." Really? Why isn't it about objectifying men? Or do you suppose a prostitute feels a deep emotional connection with each one of her tricks?

If an object is something that can be bought, the woman who is selling herself is the object.

[moonshadow]

Originally Posted by Drover

But do you know whether or not it has reduced the incidence of rape?

As far as I'm aware it hasn't, not that I expected that it would, and the last time I saw stats on rape for this country we were right up there.

[Violett]

Originally Posted by Drover

But do you know whether or not it has reduced the incidence of rape?

Do you have any idea how hard that would be to prove? Correlation doesn't prove causation. The amount of reported rape could go up or down for any number of reasons. How could you prove significantly that it was the legalization of prostitution that was the cause?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Violett

If an object is something that can be bought, the woman who is selling herself is the object.

She's not selling herself any more than an auto mechanic is selling himself when he fixes a car for money. What they're selling is a service. So why is a man objectifying a woman any more than he objectifies his mechanic? Or does every service transaction necessarily involve the objectification of the person performing the service? And I ask again, why does that objectification only go one way? Is it not objectification to view men as ATMs that dispense money?