Prostitution should be legal

View on prostitutes Opponents of legalization often depict prostitutes as helpless victims forced into prostitution at a young age. This view is exemplified by the column [5] that my opponent cites. I cite from that same article: “Prostitution turns women into lumps of meat that are bought and sold for the sexual gratification of men.” The author is disgusted by prostitution, and sees prostitutes as helpless, pathetic “lumps of meat”. Needless to say, that this is not how prostitutes would like to be seen. Most prostitutes chose their profession. The job usually earns them more money than any other job they can do. They often need money to pay for household expenses, or to pay for education etc. Making prostitution takes away their livelihood. To get an idea who these prostitutes are it is insightful to read the following survey of prostitutes in New Zealand. http://www.otago.ac.nz... 772 sex workers were interviewed. Some highlights: 73% of the prostitutes entered the profession for financial reasons. 82% of them were at least 18 when they entered the profession (contradicting the claim of my opponent that most of them entered the profession between 14 and 16), 3% has been raped by a client. 77.8% reported always using a condom. Prostitution is legal in New Zealand after the Prostitution Reform Act. Prostitutes have legal rights in NZ and they are well aware of it. The German experiment My opponent used his citation [8] for his argument that legalization in Germany did not work. This citation starts with: “Das Prostitutionsgesetz läuft weitgehend ins Leere, besagt die erste offizielle Studie über seine Wirkung. Schuld sei vor allem die Halbherzigkeit des Gesetzes.” My translation (the link for the Google translation did not work for me): “The prostitution law does not work, says the first official study about its effect. The primary reason is that the law is half-hearted.” So although the article says (in 2007, 5 years after the introduction of the law) that the law had not yet worked, it says that the main reason is that the law does not go far enough! The goal of the law was to recognize prostitution. 85.5% of the prostitutes welcomed the law as a first step towards recognition. Although prostitutes would like to work legally, they often decide not to do so, because local law officials stop them from doing so using local zoning laws. “Die Autorinnen empfehlen deshalb, die Entkriminalisierung der Prostitution weiter voranzutreiben. Sie raten vor allem, das Gewerbe mit einer Art Lizenz auszustatten. Diese sollten Betriebe und Huren erhalten, die gute Arbeitsbedingungen bieten und legal arbeiten.” My translation: The authors [of the study] recommend a continuation of the decriminalization of prostitution. In particular, they recommend the creation of some kind of license for the profession. These licenses will be given to brothels and hookers who work legally and have good working conditions. Risks of prostitution Prostitution, like some other professions such as law enforcement, fire fighter, is not without risks. But these risks easily can be exaggerated. My opponent goes on at length on the “risks of promiscuity”. The risk of STD’s can be reduced to a minimum by using condoms. Most prostitutes (77.8%) always use condoms, and the remaining prostitutes probably use them most of the time. Prostitutes (like fire fighters) should wear their protective gear to be safe at their jobs. The idea of legalization is to give licenses only to prostitutes who do their work safely. Prostitution and sex trafficking There is no convincing evidence that legalization of prostitution leads to an increase of sex trafficking. Illegal immigrants cannot practice prostitution legally, even after legalization of prostitution. The study [10] that my opponent cites is not very convincing. It is based on many assumptions and poor empirical data. They write: “As pointed out already, this means we cannot control for unobserved country heterogeneity. Also, while we have established that the legalized status of prostitution is associated with a higher incidence of trafficking inflows, a cross-sectional analysis cannot provide a conclusion as to whether legalizing prostitution would result in increased trafficking after legalization.” A lot of studies on the effect of legalization on sex trafficking has been done in countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark. These countries have legalized prostitution (although in these countries, prostitution was already decriminalized to an extend before complete legalization). These studies are in the early 2000s. However, it seems to me that these studies ignore major changes with regards to borders. Since the fall of the USSR, human trafficking has increased. Many countries in the European Union joined the Schengen agreement in the 2000s. This means, that many borders between European countries have been eliminated. It is not hard to imagine, that this is having a huge impact on trafficking. It is therefore not surprising to see, that there has been an influx of sex workers from Eastern European countries into the Netherlands and Germany. I think that the war in former Yugoslavia may also be a factor. There is no convincing evidence that the legalization of prostitution leads to more rapes, human trafficking, or child prostitution. Prostitution and crime If prostitution is illegal, then prostitution is crime. To decouple prostitution form criminal elements, we must legalize it. Also, both in countries with legalized and not legalized prostitution, prostitutes are often forced to do their work in bad neighborhoods with high crime rates. Prostitutes should be allowed to do their profession everywhere they want (indoors). Prostitution and drugs Although there may be a correlation between drug use and prostitution, there is no convincing evidence that prostitution causes drug use. Sometimes, people enter prostitution because of drug or alcohol use. According to the NZ survey, this was 21.4%. This is not a problem of prostitution, but of drug use. With regard to drug users going into prostitution there are two options: 1)Either, we believe they are unable to make good choices for themselves. In that case they should be locked up in a rehab institution until they are no longer a danger to themselves. 2)Or, we believe that they are able to make choices for themselves. In that case, we should not take away their livelihood.