Prostitution should be illegal.

Prostitution should be illegal for three reasons: (1) prostitution causes irreparable physical and psychological harms, (2) legalizing prostitution will not eliminate violence in prostitution, and (3) prostitution increases human trafficking.Prostitution causes irreparable physical and psychological harms.The average life span for prostitutes is four years. No other population of women has a higher death rate. [1] Many prostitutes are murdered. Those that aren’t experience an extensive catalog of violence. Their hair is pulled, faces ejaculated on; they are slapped, pinched, verbally abused, threatened, beaten, cut with knives, burned with cigarettes, and gang raped. [1] Victims of torture describe similar acts. [2] And like victims of torture, prostitutes report injuries like bruises, mouth and teeth injuries, vaginal bleeding, internal injuries, head injuries, and broken bones. [3]Prostitution also has psychological consequences. For example, prostitutes are at a heightened risk of depression, mania, suicidal thoughts, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders and chemical dependence. [1] Prostitutes report a sense of "splitting," of "leaving my body" or going "someplace else mentally." The result is a higher incidence of dissociative disorders. [5] Prostitution also leads to a higher incidence of PTSD.The psychological damage stems from the act itself. Even women who choose to prostitute cannot avoid the trauma associated with constant sexual degradation, and with having one's body sold as a commodity. Indeed, the psychological damage is often unconscious and manifests after-the-fact. Thus, no amount of "improvement" to the conditions of prostitution can eliminate its psychological consequences.These results are not limited to illegal prostitution. Even prostitutes working in countries where prostitution is legal, in brothels with so-called “safety policies,” experience this extensive catalog of physical and psychological violence. [4]Legalizing prostitution will not eliminate violence in prostitution.Violence against prostitutes remains extremely high even in countries that legalize prostitution. [6] For example, in European countries where prostitution has been legalized -- or had elements of prostitution legalized -- the number of prostitutes has more than doubled after legalization. Yet violence towards these prostitutes has not decreased. [7] That highlights one of the major problems with legalization: it causes more women to prostitute, which in turn causes overall violence against women to increase. Studies have also shown that violence against women has actually increased in many “legal” brothels with “safety policies.” [1] [4]Legalizing prostitution will increase human trafficking.Human trafficking is bad. It poses serious health issues for women and girls worldwide, weakens the rule of law, and may even compromise international security.Studies have found that legalizing prostitution increases human trafficking. A 2012 study published by World Development found that countries with legalized prostitution have higher human trafficking inflows than countries where prostitution is prohibited. [8] The International Organization of Migration attributed the rise in trafficking to the rise of prostitution in Europe. [9] And the U.S. Department of State recognized that legalized prostitution makes anti-trafficking work more difficult. [9]Everyone agrees that trafficking is a violation of basic human rights. But trafficking would not exist without prostitution. The two go hand-in-hand. All empirical data suggests that legalizing prostitution increases trafficking.References:[1] Melissa Farley, "Prostitution in Five Countries: Violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder," http://fap.sagepub.com...;[2] "Nigerian women tortured by prostitution ring in Greece," Associated Press, http://www.highbeam.com...[3] A Comparative Study of Women Trafficked in the Migration Process: Patterns, Profiles and Health Consequences of Sexual Exploitation in Five Countries, http://www.oas.org...[4] Patricia Hynes and Janice Raymond, "Put in Harms Way: The Neglected Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking in the United States.” [5] C.A. Ross, M. Farley, and H.L. Schwartz, "Dissociation Among Women in Prostitution."[6] I. Vanwesenbeeck et al, "Professional HIV risk taking, levels of victimization, and well-being in female prostitutes in the Netherlands," http://business.highbeam.com...[7] Joan Smith, "Why British men are rapists," http://www.newstatesman.com...[8] http://papers.ssrn.com...[9] J. Raymond, "Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution and a Legal Response to the Demand for Prostitution,” http://www.catwinternational.org...