Legalizing Prostitution

[chad sexington]

Count me in favor of this becoming the norm nationwide. Maybe I'll even be optimistic and allow myself to believe that it would curtail human trafficking demands.

...a guy can hope.

It can probably curtail some but not all. Keep in mind that human trafficking can still target markets interested in illegal activities, such as pedophiles and similar things.

As much as I like the idea of legalizing brothels, I would also like to point out that it's not as simple as just legalizing it. When you legalize something like that, you also need to put into place guidelines for a system that's never really existed before up until that point.

To be fair, there's a depressing amount of trafficking and exploitation in legitimate occupations, as well

[Sylvana]

I wonder if this would perhaps make things worse for illegal prostitution.
We pretty much know that legalizing prostitution will not get rid of the problem with the human trafficking and the exploitation. However with a legal industry, a large number of customers would prefer to visit the legal and safe brothels. The problem comes in when one regulates and taxes something the price increases, probably not so much of an issue, but in effect that will mean that the only way for illegal places to compete would be to offer a much cheaper and much riskier service.

For the poor women trapped in prostitution this would be disastrous. I wouldn't be surprised if their life expectancy dropped by half at least. The up side is that hopefully the lower income and decreased demand for illegal services will lower the rates of human trafficking abductions and other horrible crimes that supply them.

I think legalizing prostitution is the best course of action, but with that in mind give a thought for the "suck for a buck" women.

[ironbite]

Ahh but that price increase wouldn't actually be on the legal side of things but on the illegal side of things.  With legalized prostitution, you'd have a price cap to contend with while illegal prostitution would be going with extremes both high and low to even compete.

Ironbite-but I'm no economics guy so...

[chitoryu12]

I wonder if this would perhaps make things worse for illegal prostitution.
We pretty much know that legalizing prostitution will not get rid of the problem with the human trafficking and the exploitation. However with a legal industry, a large number of customers would prefer to visit the legal and safe brothels. The problem comes in when one regulates and taxes something the price increases, probably not so much of an issue, but in effect that will mean that the only way for illegal places to compete would be to offer a much cheaper and much riskier service.

For the poor women trapped in prostitution this would be disastrous. I wouldn't be surprised if their life expectancy dropped by half at least. The up side is that hopefully the lower income and decreased demand for illegal services will lower the rates of human trafficking abductions and other horrible crimes that supply them.

I think legalizing prostitution is the best course of action, but with that in mind give a thought for the "suck for a buck" women.

On the other hand, there would likely be less women trapped by their pimps if they lived in an area where it was legalized. One of the biggest reasons women have difficulty escaping abusive pimps and clients is because not only is prostitution viewed with disdain at best by society, but they'd effectively be admitting to a crime if they revealed any of the abusive behavior to the authorities. If prostitution was legalized, they'd actually be able to find legal recourse to stop abusive activity without being jailed themselves.

[Meshakhad]

I wonder if this would perhaps make things worse for illegal prostitution.
We pretty much know that legalizing prostitution will not get rid of the problem with the human trafficking and the exploitation. However with a legal industry, a large number of customers would prefer to visit the legal and safe brothels. The problem comes in when one regulates and taxes something the price increases, probably not so much of an issue, but in effect that will mean that the only way for illegal places to compete would be to offer a much cheaper and much riskier service.

For the poor women trapped in prostitution this would be disastrous. I wouldn't be surprised if their life expectancy dropped by half at least. The up side is that hopefully the lower income and decreased demand for illegal services will lower the rates of human trafficking abductions and other horrible crimes that supply them.

I think legalizing prostitution is the best course of action, but with that in mind give a thought for the "suck for a buck" women.

On the other hand, there would likely be less women trapped by their pimps if they lived in an area where it was legalized. One of the biggest reasons women have difficulty escaping abusive pimps and clients is because not only is prostitution viewed with disdain at best by society, but they'd effectively be admitting to a crime if they revealed any of the abusive behavior to the authorities. If prostitution was legalized, they'd actually be able to find legal recourse to stop abusive activity without being jailed themselves.

And in the case of the brothels being unionized, I'd imagine they'd make a big show out of supporting shelters for abused women.

[Old Viking]

The advertising would be great!

[Askold]

Count me in favor of this becoming the norm nationwide. Maybe I'll even be optimistic and allow myself to believe that it would curtail human trafficking demands.

...a guy can hope.

It can probably curtail some but not all. Keep in mind that human trafficking can still target markets interested in illegal activities, such as pedophiles and similar things.

As much as I like the idea of legalizing brothels, I would also like to point out that it's not as simple as just legalizing it. When you legalize something like that, you also need to put into place guidelines for a system that's never really existed before up until that point.

That's an important point. Definitely regulation and good health services to prevent the spread of STDs (which also protects the employees. I think HIV is a pretty big health hazard to have your daily job.)

[JohnE]

The advertising would be great!

Might inject some life back into the printing industry. I'm picturing flyers, catalogs, direct mailing campaigns...

[Ironchew]

The amount of support this has in the comments surprises me.  The sexist comments throughout do not.

Yeah, some of us notice that laws designed to suppress basic human urges don't work. They only create underground industries that are far less safe for everyone involved.

[Sleepy]

Count me in favor of this becoming the norm nationwide. Maybe I'll even be optimistic and allow myself to believe that it would curtail human trafficking demands.

...a guy can hope.

It can probably curtail some but not all. Keep in mind that human trafficking can still target markets interested in illegal activities, such as pedophiles and similar things.

As much as I like the idea of legalizing brothels, I would also like to point out that it's not as simple as just legalizing it. When you legalize something like that, you also need to put into place guidelines for a system that's never really existed before up until that point.

Obviously it's not as simple as just legalizing it, but Nevada has an effective set of regulations that, at the very least, serve as a starting point for us.