Victimless Crime?

PRO: "Prostitution should not be a crime. Prostitutes are not committing an inherently harmful act. While the spread of disease and other detriments are possible in the practice of prostitution, criminalization is a sure way of exacerbating rather than addressing such effects. We saw this quite clearly in the time of alcohol prohibition in this country.

What makes prostitution a 'victimless crime' in the sense that no one is necessarily harmed by it is that there are consenting adults involved."

Sherry F. Colb, JD
Judge Frederick Lacey Scholar at Rutgers Law School
E-mail to ProCon.org
Dec. 17, 2006

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CON: "Prostitution creates a setting whereby crimes against men, women, and children become a commercial enterprise. It is an assault when he/she forces a prostitute to engage in sadomasochistic sex scenes. When a pimp compels a prostitute to submit to sexual demands as a condition of employment, it is exploitation, sexual harassment, or rape - acts that are based on the prostitute's compliance rather than her consent. The fact that a pimp or customer gives money to a prostitute for submitting to these acts does not alter the fact that child sexual abuse, rape, and/or battery occurs; it merely redefines these crimes as prostitution."

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Female Juvenile Prostitution: Problem and Response
1992

 

http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000115

Here is how one university is dealing with numerous students turning tricks to pay for education.

http://www.cmu.edu/police/shuttleandescort/escort-service.html.

 

A recent Toronto Star surrvey done by a reporter that paid her tution to jurnalist by dancing, found that almost %80 of Toronto dancers are actually registered in a University. It was complaints from women university studens about foriegn workers taking the all dancer jobs that promted the ban on foreign dancers here.

Huh... well isn't that interesting: keeping the dancers home grown so that they can afford the local tuition.

I never really noticed that out west. When I was younger I waitressed in a few such establishments and had friends who were themselves dancers. But it was never about saving towards anything. The girls that I knew liked the attention, the glamor and the travel. If you're going to be a peeler out west you have to be prepared to get on a plane/bus and do your tour of duty. They work a circuit from the Yukon to BC's coast, Norther Alberta oil fields to the glamours city of Calgary and all through the prairies. Every small town has a strip club, and to bring in a truly exotic dancer (non-western Canadian) was actually a treat.  The luckiest girls actually got to travel a little farther abroad, like to Toronto or California, but they had to put in a LOT of time for those kinds of priviledges.

Personally, I am pro free enterprise. So take the side that it's a vital service and should be both, government supervised AND run by established sex establishments.
I once visited a licensed whore house in Austria and marvelled at the ordinariness of it all. It was almost like buying a loaf of bread. I have since then often thought about that visit. The organization of it and the way the "madam" presented her wares. Clean, sanitary, and without drama. A simple commercial transaction. Even the product was clean with that apparent stamp of approval. You just knew those ladies were healthy.

This one kind of jumped out at me: Prevalence of Rape

PRO: "It is estimated that if prostitution were legalized in the United States, the rape rate would decrease by roughly 25% for a decrease of approximately 25,000 rapes per year...."
Kirby R. Cundiff, PhD
Associate Professor of Finance at Northeastern State University
"Prostitution and Sex Crimes" - Apr. 8, 2004

CON: "Prostitution cannot eliminate rape when it is itself bought rape. The connection between rape and prostitution is that women are turned into objects for men's sexual use; they can be either bought or stolen. A culture in which women can be bought for use is one in which rape flourishes."
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)
"Frequently Asked Questions About Prostitution" on the CATW-Australia Website - Mar. 8, 2007

I don't think either of these points of view are quite right.  Rape incidents will not go down just because a man can pay for sex, there by relieving his urges.  Rape is not about sex.  It's about violating another person.   A man who rapes is going to do so anyway.  I don't believe being able to legally pay for sex is really much of an incentive for a man who takes without asking anyway.

A woman who chooses to sell sex can negotiate the kind of sex she sells: oral sex, vanilla sex, group sex, rough sex... as long as the price and the act is agreed to, it's not rape - it's a service industry.  Yes, a prostitute can get raped and by the nature of her occupation, her risk factor is a bit higher than the average woman... but not by much!  Rapists are opportunist and look for victems, not those who are prepared for a fight.

After reading through a few of those Pros and Cons the impression I get from the Con side of things is that they are a bit confused about the difference between a consensual act and a criminal act.  Every Con seems to point to a crime as a reason for denying legal prostitution.  If prostitution were legal it would be a whole lot easier to prosecute those criminals who do perpetrate their crimes against sex workers.

This post was edited by FanOfChad at September 11, 2013 11:55:11 AM EDT

It appears too many studies are done with the premise that all prostitues are forced into service by pimps? That is not at all true. Pimps are discusting creatures but many women escorts do not have pimps. They are independant workers or work through an agency but not for a pimp as are many of the ladies at the lower level that work the streets. Most independant escorts do enjoy thier jobs and that is something that some people find to unthinkable to believe so choose not to believe it. I know dancers that enjoy their jobs very much and not just for the money. They do like the attention as well. It is not unccomon at many strip clubs for women customers to go on stage with the dancers where allowed.