The Legalization Of Prostitution

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Prostitution is defined as the exchange of sex acts for anything of value-money, drugs, alcohol-to name a few. The term prostitution is used synonymously with sex labor. There has been a long debate about legalizing and decriminalizing prostitution despite its damaging effects and other related criminal activities, even if there is an economic benefit from its activity. Prostitution should not be legalized for this reason. While some people in society view prostitution as consensual between two persons, they believe it is not against the law. “At this given moment, there are 40 million prostitutes at work. It is completely legal and regulated within countries”. (Dye). The Netherlands is one country where prostitution is legal. Prostitution …show more content…

Prostitution leads to under age sex due to teenagers who runaway from home to get away from dysfunctional situations. “Ninety percent of teen prostitutes are under the age of eighteen, and more than half of all teenage prostitutes start out as runaways.” (Tattersall, 8). Proponents of the legalization of prostitution argue that regulation and licensing for such activity is an untapped source of revenue for both the local and national economy. The argument is that jails and court systems will not be bogged down with offenses related to the sex trade and that more pressing issues can be addressed. Other countries have adopted such systems and clearly the journey to legalization was not without complications. Evidence of prostitution was documented by the Sumerian’s, one of the first educated and organized civilizations known to historians. Throughout the ages other countries legalized “consensual sex acts for pay”. In 600 BC China allowed commercial brothels as a means for increasing the state’s income.(ProCon). In Ancient Greece you could see state sponsored brothels, whom imposed taxes on all of it’s workers. Roman empires imposed specific sanctions on worker as well as taxes. Applicants would register by giving their name, age, birth place and the alias under which she would work …show more content…

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity’s website stated: “even if a prostitute is being tested every week for HIV she still runs the risk of infecting up to 630 clients” while waiting for the results. The study also assumed that the worker would stop practicing as soon as he or she became aware of their positive status, which is unlikely. The article stated that in order to “slow the global spread of HIV and AIDs we should focus our efforts on abolishing prostitution.” (ProCon) There is a clear connection to prostitution and disease. If legalization allowed for access to services would the workers take advantage of it? Would the risk of disease go down? Would the revenue generated truly be enough to benefit the economy or would it fail to cover the cost of the program and cause more budget

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