The Debate on the Legalization of Prostitution

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Recommended: Advantages and disadvantages of legalising prostitution

The Debate on the Legalization of Prostitution: “Prostitute” vs. “Sex Worker”

CCJS 330: Contemporary Issues in Criminology

What is sex, or rather what should sex be? Is it a physical and emotional intimacy and private expression of love between two people? Should it only be allowed in marriage? Is it something casual that happens in every romantic relationship? Should it be private or publicly exposed in liberal societies? Should businesses and advertising companies such as clothing lines, the alcohol industry, fragrances and others use sex in order to help sell their product? As the saying goes, “sex sells.” But should sex sell? Should sex be sold? Or maybe the better question is, should selling sex be legal? That is the very question that has been most prominently debated since the 1970’s when selling sex became legalized within the state of Nevada; still the only state to have legalized prostitution in the U.S.. The goal throughout my research and discussion is not to state any ultimate solution to this debate or to the profession of prostitution itself. Neither is it to force any person(s) to accept any stance presented. Rather it is to give you, the reader, a greater understanding of the context that surrounds this issue, the motives that drive parties for or against its legalization and their tactics and solutions, and hopefully to allow you to make a more conscious decision of your own stance and to hopefully understand mine. Should prostitution be legalized? Are the people within this profession prostitutes or are they sex workers?

It’s your first year of college, studying the dream of your careers, and the best part is you’re at Duke University! Not only do you get to study your passion but you’ll receive a degree fr...

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...Kathryn Hausbeck. The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex, and Sin in the New American Heartland. New York: Routledge. 2010. Print.

Chapkis, Wendy. Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor. New York: Routledge, 1997. Print.

CastingCouch-X.com. Porn Star Belle Knox Interviewed in Her First Adult Film. DailyMail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2598821/Duke-porn-star-lands-gig-reality-Belle-Knox-host-Web-based-competition-The-Sex-Factor.html#v-3300952741001

Ditmore, Melissa H. Prostitution and Sex Work. San Francisco: ABC-CLIO, LLC. 2011. Print.

The View. "DUKE University "PORN STAR" Belle Knox Goes On "The VIEW" To DEFEND Her Career Choice. YouTube, LLC, 17 March 2014.

TuneInRadio. 1-800-358-6329, Little Rock, Arkansas. 19 May 2014. Radio.

Weitzer, Ronald. Legalization of Prostitution: From Illicit to Vice to . New York: NYU Press, 2011, Print.

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