Legalize prostitution at the state level?

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by Survivor1

Legalizing prostitution only takes away the consequences for Johns and pedophiles who rape women for profit. The brothels in Nevada are some of the worst in the world. The living conditions for the women being prostituted are horrendous. Most of the "panic" buttons don't work, pillows are murder weapons and when these women get STDs they are fired. Legalizing would protect the Johns and pedophiles and rapists, but who protects the women? Jail is a vacation for a survivor not a punishment. The average age of entry into prostitution in America is 12-14 years old. We don't really choose to be raped once we turn the age of consent. If we didn't have sex with you we would be beaten, starved, stabbed, burned. Some of us were killed. Some of us had babies kicked out of our stomachs. A lot of us were drugged, none of us liked it and most of the women that I help rehabilitate from the life feel hopeless, are suicidal, have PTSD, and STD's. Some of the girls come from brothels in NV, where it's legal. So in my opinion and experience, we should not legalize prostitution. We should treat women as victims of sexual exploitation and rape and penalize the buyers who are creating the demand for women and children to be raped and tortured worldwide. Prostitution is modern day slavery. And I'm an abolitionist.

Please, know that I understand the misconception that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. It is the oldest oppression in the world. There are over 100,000 American CHILDREN being prostituted in the United States. These children become adults and then you think it's okay to pay a pimp or brothel owner to have sex with them. We're humans, not a product.

You are so out of touch. Prostitution is alive and well in this country and probably most others. And it almost always involves women who choose to be prostitutes, not children.

There are millions in the business and your efforts to stop it will have no impact.

I am not sure I agree with legalization since that would bring in government intervention and that is always a bad thing. The business is doing fine now without government controls. Anyone anywhere who wants to engage a prostitute can do so.

And you should never connect prostitution with child abuse. They are two unrelated events.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by Survivor1

Legalizing prostitution only takes away the consequences for Johns and pedophiles who rape women for profit. The brothels in Nevada are some of the worst in the world. The living conditions for the women being prostituted are horrendous. Most of the "panic" buttons don't work, pillows are murder weapons and when these women get STDs they are fired. Legalizing would protect the Johns and pedophiles and rapists, but who protects the women? Jail is a vacation for a survivor not a punishment. The average age of entry into prostitution in America is 12-14 years old. We don't really choose to be raped once we turn the age of consent. If we didn't have sex with you we would be beaten, starved, stabbed, burned. Some of us were killed. Some of us had babies kicked out of our stomachs. A lot of us were drugged, none of us liked it and most of the women that I help rehabilitate from the life feel hopeless, are suicidal, have PTSD, and STD's. Some of the girls come from brothels in NV, where it's legal. So in my opinion and experience, we should not legalize prostitution. We should treat women as victims of sexual exploitation and rape and penalize the buyers who are creating the demand for women and children to be raped and tortured worldwide. Prostitution is modern day slavery. And I'm an abolitionist.

Please, know that I understand the misconception that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. It is the oldest oppression in the world. There are over 100,000 American CHILDREN being prostituted in the United States. These children become adults and then you think it's okay to pay a pimp or brothel owner to have sex with them. We're humans, not a product.

You have a very narrow view of the industry. There are millions in the business who do not fit your description.

And anyone who abuses children should be prosecuted. Whether or not prostitution is legal has nothing to do with child abuse. Those are two different topics.

[BDevereaux]

Originally Posted by Survivor1

Legalizing prostitution only takes away the consequences for Johns and pedophiles who rape women for profit. The brothels in Nevada are some of the worst in the world. The living conditions for the women being prostituted are horrendous. Most of the "panic" buttons don't work, pillows are murder weapons and when these women get STDs they are fired. Legalizing would protect the Johns and pedophiles and rapists, but who protects the women? Jail is a vacation for a survivor not a punishment. The average age of entry into prostitution in America is 12-14 years old. We don't really choose to be raped once we turn the age of consent. If we didn't have sex with you we would be beaten, starved, stabbed, burned. Some of us were killed. Some of us had babies kicked out of our stomachs. A lot of us were drugged, none of us liked it and most of the women that I help rehabilitate from the life feel hopeless, are suicidal, have PTSD, and STD's. Some of the girls come from brothels in NV, where it's legal. So in my opinion and experience, we should not legalize prostitution. We should treat women as victims of sexual exploitation and rape and penalize the buyers who are creating the demand for women and children to be raped and tortured worldwide. Prostitution is modern day slavery. And I'm an abolitionist.

Please, know that I understand the misconception that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. It is the oldest oppression in the world. There are over 100,000 American CHILDREN being prostituted in the United States. These children become adults and then you think it's okay to pay a pimp or brothel owner to have sex with them. We're humans, not a product.

Narrow view indeed. The section of the prostitution population you work with is only a small section of the industry as a whole. We are looking at two separate demographics here. For example: the average age of entry into prostitution among young girls who are forced or otherwise coerced into prostitution is 12-14 perhaps. However, an independent study shows that the average age among women in general who CHOOSE of their own free will to enter prostitution is 24. See Numerology « The Honest Courtesan for a study that was done in New Zealand where prostitution is legal/decriminalized.

Yes, the conditions in brothels in Nevada may not be the best. However that is due to the way the brothels are managed and not the industry. There has never been even one case of AIDS or HIV that can be linked back to a legal brothel in Nevada. The instances of assault and murder are nil in these brothels as compared to the illegal street trade. Pimps and traffickers are known to threaten the girls they have with the illegality of prostitution, telling them that they can not report instances of abuse to the police without being arrested themselves. How does keeping prostitution illegal help the women involved? By giving them an arrest record that will prohibit them from finding 'normal' employment in the future?

No one should be FORCED to be a prostitute and those that do want to force women and children into it need to be put away. However, like it or not, there are women who choose this job and LIKE it. Who are not forced by a third person other than their electric company who will turn off the lights if the bill isn't paid. Help those that need help, who are true victims. Do not say that every woman who is a prostitute is a victim because it simply is not true. For every tragic, sad story of a young victim who was forced under physical or mental duress to be raped there are 100 adult voluntary prostitutes who choose of their own free will and who are of legal age to engage in this industry.

[BDevereaux]

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

I am not sure I agree with legalization since that would bring in government intervention and that is always a bad thing. The business is doing fine now without government controls. Anyone anywhere who wants to engage a prostitute can do so.

And you should never connect prostitution with child abuse. They are two unrelated events.

Agree. Many favor simple decriminalization. As in who I choose to have sex with and why I choose to have sex with them is none of the business of the state and should be regulated no more than what my neighbors may be doing in their bedroom.

Actual legalization with government regulation would be ridiculous. Public nuisance problems can be dealt with at a local level such as with zoning and restrictions on times and places and vagrancy laws.

[JohnPaul]

Get married, get divorced, pay alimony for years...Prostitution is already legal.

If you have to pay a random person for sex..I'd say you are very pathetic human being.

[freemkt]

I think Nevada did it right. Don't legalize it statewide, let counties decide.

[pvande55]

As long (no pun intended) as men have d*****, there will be a demand for the service. But since so many don't want it, and the Right Wing saying that unionization destroyed every industry it touched, why not legalize it but require the workers to be unionized?

[BDevereaux]

Originally Posted by JohnPaul

Get married, get divorced, pay alimony for years...Prostitution is already legal.

If you have to pay a random person for sex..I'd say you are very pathetic human being.

Nobody HAS to pay for sex, it's not like food that you have to pay for in order to live. People choose to pay for sex for various and very personal reasons. The business man who works 80 hours a week and doesn't have time to nurture a relationship, the disabled man who doesn't go to bars and works from home, the recently widowed man who craves female companionship but isn't ready for a relationship, the man who was severely scarred in a fire and can't find a woman who can stand to look at him for very long much less make love to him, the man who is ... well I would hope you get the picture by now. I think it is pathetic for a man who is horny to have to go lie to a woman by telling her he wants a relationship just to get a little boom boom.

I also think people who are so quick to judge others when they know nothing of their situation is pathetic.