Legalizing prostitution in the United States

I will go Neg ---|>Aff 1.Exacerbation of the Problem My opponent and I agree on one thing, the obvious problems of prostitution. Prostitutes since the commencement of the profession have consistantly suffered from the effects of horrible psychological detriment; not to mention the emotional and physical abuse that usually come with the package. However, what my opponent fails to realize, is that these problems for the most part are not coming from pimps or lack of regulation; they come from the act itself. According to Ruth in 94, "The emotional health consequences of prostitution include severe trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, self-medication through alcohol and drug abuse; and eating disorders…Ultimately, women in prostitution are also at special risk for self-mutilation, suicide and homicide. 46% of the women in a study had attempted suicide, and 19% had tried to harm themselves physically in other ways." http://www.uri.edu... additionally, "When women quit prostitution, they ... suffer from a broad range of physical and emotional disorders," she said. "Women in prostitution suffer from the same combat stress that Vietnam and combat vets do, http://www.lvrj.com... These prostitutes in legal brothels are having sex around 30 sometimes even 40 times a day, http://www.lvrj.com... the psychological and emotional detriment are simply unavoidable, and as described in a Las Vegas Travel Log, these prostitutes aren't exactly going to a room for a hug and a handshake. "[At legal brothels]guests enter into a bar or lounge area and generally all the girls working at the moment are asked to line up and introduce themselves. The guest can choose immediately or he can order a drink from the bar and take his time choosing as some of the girls might do more to convince him of their charms. After the guest and the girl pair up they'll go back to her room and negotiate a price in private for the services requested." http://www.lasvegaslogue.com... A legalization of prostitution would increase the accessibility of prostitution, thus astronomically increasing the service and use as a whole. This assertion stands true because people in most states, with the exception of those living Las Vegas, do not know where to find a prostitute. Legalization would narrow down legitimate locations where people can easily access prostitution. Additionally, the laws of punishment for illicit sexual activities are an incentive for those who fear the punishment to not have sex with a prostitute. Legalization would rid of this incentive, thus increasing the overall use of prostitution. Not only would the legalization of prostutition be completely unethical, All of the negative impacts that my opponent and I speak of concerning prostitution are magnified by the preceding facts conveyed within my case, thus the United States should not legalize prostitution. To the affirmative "*1: Prostitution is not uncommon even though it is currently illegal in most of the United States." A: this point holds no legitimate logical ground. This argument lies upon the notion that because something is popular, we neglect the logical, moral, and reasonable argumentation contending it. This point fails. "STD spread - can be mitigated or even eliminated by lifting anti-prostitution laws from the law books." A: first off my opponent gives no statistical basis, or evidence to back up his analytics. So right off the bat he does not meet the burden of proving this argument because we have no barometer of the actual severity of Prostitutes spreading aids. However, I do not contend the fact that there are prostitutes increasing the legitimacy of the aids virus in the U.S., but a legalization of prostitution would not solve or even mitigate the aids virus. In actuality, it will make it a lot worse. Remember those statistics that I provided in my first contention, that some of these prostitutes are having sex with 30-40 strangers a day? Do you think that the government will seriously check and test these girls after every day, week, or even month for STDS? Legalization fundamentally increases the risk of getting aids because more individuals visit these sites (explained in Contention 1), and the government cannot possibly monitor these sites every time they have sex, nor is it likely that they will every 500 times they have sex. Thus inherently increasing the chance of getting an STD from a male and passing it on to several others. "*3: Prostitutes tend to live in poor conditions (high class ones don't apply to this argument) and have miserable lives" A: Legalization of prostitution would not in any way improve life conditions for these women. Fundamentally, prostitution is in itself physically, psychologically, and emotionally harmful. Legalization would only increase the rates of prostitution, thus increasing the number of prostitutes, thus increasing all of the impacts exemplified throughout both of our cases. Whats more is according to Terri Miller, director of the Anti-Trafficking League Against Slavery, "Nevada is a ripe environment for human trafficking because it is the only state that has legalized prostitution…. A brothel owner is somebody who, when it gets down to the very essence, is nothing more than a slave-owner. These brothel owners are just as bad as the pimps. With legalization, the dehumanizing factors of women who are prostitutes would only increase with time. *4: Legalizing prostitution would decrease human trafficking. Farley in 08 It is not a victimless crime. Those who want to leave prostitution have a difficult time finding help, especially in Nevada, "Most women in prostitution want to escape it," she said. "In prostitution, the conditions that make choice possible are absent. If we really want to say it's a choice, women need a range of options." im out of characters, but attack pt 5 with last used evidence