Legalizing Prostitution

Argument in Favor of Legalizing Prostitution

Prostitution is defined as the engaging in, or agreeing to engage in, sexual conduct for a fee. Women are pushed into entering prostitution for many reasons including lack of education, poverty, and personal choice. Prostitution is currently illegal, but there is much controversy surrounding this issue. There are approximately 1.3 million prostitutes in the United States today. However, there is only an arrest figure of about 100,000 prostitutes in 1995, and the number of arrests has been fairly consistent since then. The General consensus has shown that law enforcement has been generally ineffective in the removal of prostitution from our society. There are many people involved in prostitution,
seventy percent of which are female, twenty percent male, and ten percent customers. Quite a large amount of citizens are actively fighting against prostitution. On the opposed side, many are fighting to legalize it.

Picture in your mind this scenario: Jane is a 26 year old single woman who makes her living working the streets as a prostitute. She is clean, and is tested regularly for diseases. Jane is standing on the street, dressed promiscuously. Within minutes she is picked up by John, a lonely single man looking for a quick fix. She rides with him to a nearby hotel and they engage in sexual activity. When they finish, John hands Jane one hundred dollars and he takes her back to the corner where she had been picked up a few hours earlier. Immoral as some may see it, this was a victimless crime. No one was injured, hurt or put in danger, not until she is walking back to her car and is stopped once again. This time, however, she is stopped by police who arrest her for prostitution, a crime in most areas of the United States.

Jane was simply trying to make money the way she chose. Prostitution is a person's own choice. As many see it wrong because they think women are forced into it and that it gives people with a lack of education a ‘way out' this is not always true. There are many ways to make money taking the easy way out. They could be dealing illegal substances, working at McDonald's, at a strip joint, or anywhere else. This is not in anyway saying that these are a better idea, but only making the point that they have chosen illegal prostitution as opposed to the many other options out there whether they be legal or not. However, this is the path they have chosen. If an individual perceives prostitution as the only way to make a living, then these people are sadly mistaken and the blame should not be put on prostitution, but on the individuals themselves for not finding an alternative.

Now, take that same scenario and let's pretend John is a married man. Prostitutes have been said to be home wreckers. This is one of the main problems society has with them. Now, if John was a married man, whose fault would it be that he was unfaithful to his wife? If John was willing and not raped, it would be John's fault. Calling a prostitute a home wrecker would be an invalid argument in this case.

Illegal prostitution takes away our individual rights to be our own person.
If a woman or a man chooses to sell their own bodies to strangers, who are we to say they cannot do with their body as they wish? Women will continue to be prostitutes, whether it is legal or not. Legalizing it would provide prostitutes with a license. This license would require regular testing and minimize the possibility of transmitting diseases. Licensing also screens out criminals, addicts, the diseased, and the under aged. It would require and provide drug testing, medical checks and health education. Legitimate solicitation would replace pimps and organized crime. In Amsterdam, Holland, this procedure was tested and worked phenomenally. Spreading diseases was reduced and they set up ‘zones' where it was legal, and family oriented people who did not want this occurring in their neighborhood, chose not to live in those designated areas. This tight zoning eliminates insecure and unsafe areas due to the immense
security.

Many others feel that prostitution exploits women and gives them a ‘bad name'.
First of all, there are male prostitutes as well, they just don't make up the majority. There are so many things that give bad names to a variety of people, of course, some will say that it exploits women. Unfortunately, these people are narrow minded. If a person chooses to prostitute, they are not exploiting anyone but themselves.

For those who think that prostituting is immoral, this proves to be the least supported argument. There are so many things considered to be immoral by large numbers of people. Divorce is perceived to be an awful sin to the majority of Christians. Tattoos, pornography and legalizations of guns are just a few things considered immoral by much of society. Why then, if these are legal, should prostitution be any different?

Furthermore, consider the fact that pornography is legal, as is the adult film industry. How can it be that it is perfectly legal to be an ‘adult film actor/actress' and get paid for performing sexual acts and having it videotaped and selling it, but it is illegal to so the same, only excluding the videotape? There is no logic behind that
principle.

All in all, though prostitution is said to exploit women, considered immoral, supposedly encourages adultery, and is regarded as unsafe, it does take away our free rights as Americans to do what we will with our bodies. This is more immoral than any excuse against prostitution. Former Lord Chief Justice Halishman's comment reflecting the freedom of the country best portrays the issue when he once said, "The only freedom which counts is the freedom's to do what some other people think to be wrong.