Legalizing Prostitution Persuasive Essay
English 1A
Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest profession, so it’s safe to say it’s not going away anytime soon. As of right now, Nevada is the only state which has legalized prostitution. In the rest of the United States, however, the social problems experienced under the current laws prohibiting prostitution include transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), excessive amounts spent on prosecuting offenders, and the risks involved for women working alone on the streets. It is my view that legalizing prostitution would not only protect sex workers and their clients, but if properly regulated would provide revenue for both cities and government agencies while empowering women who choose prostitution as their profession as to avoid white slavery. Historically, prostitution has been a gateway from which has sprouted drug abuse, violence, and sexually-transmitted diseases from unprotected sex. Women and underage girls are often drawn into becoming prostitutes by individuals known as pimps, who then control them with drug addiction and physical abuse. The legalization of prostitution with Government regulated brothel’s and regular (STD) testing, would eliminate the street sex trade and the pimps who control it. The State of Nevada currently has eleven counties with regulated legalized …show more content…
prostitution (“U.S. Federal”). According to the State of Nevada Legislature, women who wish to work in the sex trade profession are required to pass both a background check and a physical examination, including blood tests, to rule out any sexually-transmitted diseases. Health cards are then issued, and follow-up exams are given weekly for gonorrhea and chlamydia and monthly for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis. In addition to submitting to regular testing, condoms are required when engaging in any form of sexual intercourse (Nevada State Legislature). According to the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution, the cost to enforce laws associated with illegal prostitution is exceeding $7.6 million annually in San Francisco. Law enforcement accounts for the largest expense to our taxpayers. “Vice Crimes Division personnel costs $815,452.00” (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution). In addition to Vice, San Francisco has another task force on their payroll, the Tenderloin Task Force, which conducts sweeps of downtown areas associated with prostitution; this task force had sixty officers assigned to it in 1996.
Based on an average salary/benefit cost of $54,500 per officer, this Task Force costs approximately $3.2 million annually. The Tenderloin Task Force spends a significant portion of their time and resources on prostitution abatement, so the estimated costs of related activities of this special unit amount to approximately $1.3 million. (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution)
This is a excessive amount of taxpayers’ money to be spending on something that is as unstoppable as prostitution. “Despite the heavy emphasis on enforcement as a solution, the incident of prostitution does not decrease over time”San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution). Prostitution related arrests have more than doubled from 1991 (2,518 arrests) to 1994 (5,269 arrests) (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution). By continuing to make prostitution illegal, the rest of the country is simply throwing money away trying to stop the inevitable. Many people who are opposed to prostitution as a profession claim that we have a moral obligation to society against it. In a similar argument used against same sex marriage, the Bible is a tool used to condemn those who choose this profession. According to S. Michael Houdmann, “Prostitution not only destroys marriages, families and lives, but it destroys the spirit and soul in a way that leads to physical and spiritual death.” The site later goes on to directly quote the Bible saying; “The body is not for sexual immortality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 6.13). This is an old-fashioned and puritanical opinion that clashes with modern views of self and sexuality. People who condemn prostitution simply pick and choose what they’d like to believe from Scripture. When the New Testament was written, objections against shaving (Holy Bible, Leviticus 19.27) and getting a divorce (Holy Bible, Luke 16.18) which were considered to be important at the time were removed or even down played to the point of non-importance. So what is stopping people from modernizing to the point of accepting this profession if they can so easily turn a blind eye to prohibitions against wearing mixed blend fabrics (Holy Bible, Leviticus 19.19) or eating shell fish (Holy Bible, Leviticus 11.10)? According to Sarah Bromberg “Radical feminism opposes prostitution on the grounds that it degrades women and furthers the power politics of the male gender.
Feminists seek to be supportive of sex workers while deploring the work itself as inherently wrong.” Radical feminists do not depict prostitution as a victimless crime, and as a whole feel that prostitution is just one more way for men to make themselves superior and to control women in a sexual and degrading fashion. “They [radical feminists] assert the inherent immorality of prostitution by defining its wrongness in terms of its corrupting influence on the dignity of all women”
(Bromberg). While our current laws label prostitutes as criminals, feminists label them as victims. The concept of legalized prostitution meets most of it opposition on a moral ground: however our government cannot legislate morality. The only way to empower those currently working in the sex industry is to give them freedom of choice and to require them to accept responsibility for the consequences of those choices. To call someone a victim is synonymous with assuming that person did not make choices that led him or her to the situation. With the legalization of prostitution and the sex worker industry, our State and Federal Governments will also reap the benefits of the additional tax revenues it will receive from legitimate brothels, not to mention the millions of dollars saved from prosecuting an unstoppable occupation.
Works Cited
Bromberg, Sarah. “Feminists Issues in Prostitution.” Feministstissues.com N.p. 1997 Web. 21 Nov 2013
The Holy Bible, New International version. New York International Bible Society, 1978 print
Houdmann, S Michael.What does the Bible say about prostitution? Will God forgive a prostitute?” gotquestions.org Got Questions Ministeries 2013. Web. 21 Nov2013
Nevada State Legislature. “Infectious Diseases; Toxic Agents; Prostitution.” Nevada Legislature. Leg.state.nv.us Legislative Counsel Bureau. 2013. Web. 25 Nov 2013 March 1996. Web 25 Nov 2013
San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution. “Final Report 1996.” Bayswan.org Carol Leigh 9 June 1996. Web. 26 Nov 2013
U.S. Federal and State Prostitution Laws and Related Punishments Prostitution Laws in Nevada by County procon.org 2013 Web. 26 Nov 2013
Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest profession, so it’s safe to say it’s not going away anytime soon. As of right now, Nevada is the only state which has legalized prostitution. In the rest of the United States, however, the social problems experienced under the current laws prohibiting prostitution include transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), excessive amounts spent on prosecuting offenders, and the risks involved for women working alone on the streets. It is my view that legalizing prostitution would not only protect sex workers and their clients, but if properly regulated would provide revenue for both cities and government agencies while empowering women who choose prostitution as their profession as to avoid white slavery. Historically, prostitution has been a gateway from which has sprouted drug abuse, violence, and sexually-transmitted diseases from unprotected sex. Women and underage girls are often drawn into becoming prostitutes by individuals known as pimps, who then control them with drug addiction and physical abuse. The legalization of prostitution with Government regulated brothel’s and regular (STD) testing, would eliminate the street sex trade and the pimps who control it. The State of Nevada currently has eleven counties with regulated legalized …show more content…
prostitution (“U.S. Federal”). According to the State of Nevada Legislature, women who wish to work in the sex trade profession are required to pass both a background check and a physical examination, including blood tests, to rule out any sexually-transmitted diseases. Health cards are then issued, and follow-up exams are given weekly for gonorrhea and chlamydia and monthly for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis. In addition to submitting to regular testing, condoms are required when engaging in any form of sexual intercourse (Nevada State Legislature). According to the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution, the cost to enforce laws associated with illegal prostitution is exceeding $7.6 million annually in San Francisco. Law enforcement accounts for the largest expense to our taxpayers. “Vice Crimes Division personnel costs $815,452.00” (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution). In addition to Vice, San Francisco has another task force on their payroll, the Tenderloin Task Force, which conducts sweeps of downtown areas associated with prostitution; this task force had sixty officers assigned to it in 1996.
Based on an average salary/benefit cost of $54,500 per officer, this Task Force costs approximately $3.2 million annually. The Tenderloin Task Force spends a significant portion of their time and resources on prostitution abatement, so the estimated costs of related activities of this special unit amount to approximately $1.3 million. (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution)
This is a excessive amount of taxpayers’ money to be spending on something that is as unstoppable as prostitution. “Despite the heavy emphasis on enforcement as a solution, the incident of prostitution does not decrease over time”San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution). Prostitution related arrests have more than doubled from 1991 (2,518 arrests) to 1994 (5,269 arrests) (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution). By continuing to make prostitution illegal, the rest of the country is simply throwing money away trying to stop the inevitable. Many people who are opposed to prostitution as a profession claim that we have a moral obligation to society against it. In a similar argument used against same sex marriage, the Bible is a tool used to condemn those who choose this profession. According to S. Michael Houdmann, “Prostitution not only destroys marriages, families and lives, but it destroys the spirit and soul in a way that leads to physical and spiritual death.” The site later goes on to directly quote the Bible saying; “The body is not for sexual immortality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 6.13). This is an old-fashioned and puritanical opinion that clashes with modern views of self and sexuality. People who condemn prostitution simply pick and choose what they’d like to believe from Scripture. When the New Testament was written, objections against shaving (Holy Bible, Leviticus 19.27) and getting a divorce (Holy Bible, Luke 16.18) which were considered to be important at the time were removed or even down played to the point of non-importance. So what is stopping people from modernizing to the point of accepting this profession if they can so easily turn a blind eye to prohibitions against wearing mixed blend fabrics (Holy Bible, Leviticus 19.19) or eating shell fish (Holy Bible, Leviticus 11.10)? According to Sarah Bromberg “Radical feminism opposes prostitution on the grounds that it degrades women and furthers the power politics of the male gender.
Feminists seek to be supportive of sex workers while deploring the work itself as inherently wrong.” Radical feminists do not depict prostitution as a victimless crime, and as a whole feel that prostitution is just one more way for men to make themselves superior and to control women in a sexual and degrading fashion. “They [radical feminists] assert the inherent immorality of prostitution by defining its wrongness in terms of its corrupting influence on the dignity of all women”
(Bromberg). While our current laws label prostitutes as criminals, feminists label them as victims. The concept of legalized prostitution meets most of it opposition on a moral ground: however our government cannot legislate morality. The only way to empower those currently working in the sex industry is to give them freedom of choice and to require them to accept responsibility for the consequences of those choices. To call someone a victim is synonymous with assuming that person did not make choices that led him or her to the situation. With the legalization of prostitution and the sex worker industry, our State and Federal Governments will also reap the benefits of the additional tax revenues it will receive from legitimate brothels, not to mention the millions of dollars saved from prosecuting an unstoppable occupation.
Works Cited
Bromberg, Sarah. “Feminists Issues in Prostitution.” Feministstissues.com N.p. 1997 Web. 21 Nov 2013
The Holy Bible, New International version. New York International Bible Society, 1978 print
Houdmann, S Michael.What does the Bible say about prostitution? Will God forgive a prostitute?” gotquestions.org Got Questions Ministeries 2013. Web. 21 Nov2013
Nevada State Legislature. “Infectious Diseases; Toxic Agents; Prostitution.” Nevada Legislature. Leg.state.nv.us Legislative Counsel Bureau. 2013. Web. 25 Nov 2013 March 1996. Web 25 Nov 2013
San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution. “Final Report 1996.” Bayswan.org Carol Leigh 9 June 1996. Web. 26 Nov 2013
U.S. Federal and State Prostitution Laws and Related Punishments Prostitution Laws in Nevada by County procon.org 2013 Web. 26 Nov 2013