Legalizing Prostitution - Reece

            Prostitution-“the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money (dictionary.com). Prostitution is known to many as the world’s oldest profession that has been seen around the world. Whether you’re in a poor area or a high class way of life, prostitution can be found. Sex in today’s world isn’t as taboo as it use to be but if you bring up prostitution most people’s minds will automatically think of the word in disgust and that people who sell themselves for sex are horrid and disgusting people who have diseases or they think that they were all forced to enter the sex industry and their pimps make them do anything. Selling your body for sex and being nothing but an item of sex and risking your life and health from being with strangers. Prostitutes put themselves at high risk of contracting Aids or some kind of harmful sexual disease. Also the high rate of homicide is a constant reminder that you can’t trust strangers, with their line of work their source of income comes from strangers (Prostitution, harm and gender). Places and areas were prostitution is commonly found tend to make the area dirty because it’s littered with used condoms, needles, and basically anything that’s used during encounter. Safety also becomes a main concern for the areas because the people looking for prostitutes can tend to be dangerous people (sex for sale).  Is all prostitution as dirty and harmful as a lot of people say and believe? Prostitution isn’t always found on a street corner in the slummy part of town, with a heroin addicted women doing barley clothed and getting in a car with just any ole person. In reality there are numerous people who sell sex but have requirements like for their patients to be tested for diseases; they come over to their house instead of the client’s location (sex, work now). Is it sinful to charge for sex when being in a world where nothing is free? And should prostitution, something that’s all ready being practiced be illegal and what benefits would come from making legal?  

            Victimless crime is one of the biggest arguments when it comes to prostitution. The spread of disease is inevitable even with people who aren’t in the field of prostitution because you’re not going to always know who your sexual partner has been with. Prostitutes are not committing a harmful act (10 pros and cons). Some prostitutes are exposed to harassment, physical abuse, and rape but everyday people have risks of these things same things in a relationship or just from a random act of violence. Rape rate is less commonly found in brothels or club houses because if someone is going to rape they’re not going to go pay for it and just have it given to them, it’s about power and surprise so going into a brothel were there’s protection for the workers it takes away the whole idea of what they want to do. Some believe that rape would drop by close to 25% if prostitution were legal. But some feel that prostitution is just purchased rape because the women just become an object of sex ( 10 pros and cons). I don’t feel that prostitution is purchased rape because rape is something that no one asks for and if they simulate a rape scene then it’s not rape anymore because the person knows what’s going on. Rape is something that goes beyond prostitution. It’s something that has affected numerous people from all walks of life not just prostitutes (10 pros and cons). So to say that rape is something that can be bought is incentive towards people who have been affected by rape.  People who have sexual encounters but aren’t in the prostitution business still have risks at contracting dieses even though some prostitutes have more than one sexual encounter a day, not all people involved in sex work do. Some people in sex business only have sex certain times of the week or only on the weekend and maybe only one partner on those days (sex for sale). There is many people out in the world that have sex a lot and have it with more than one partner everyday on the weekend and even during the week. Most of the time the person rarely knows the person they have or are about to sleep with sexual past and sometimes don’t even know the person because of numerous reasons like being drunk or just not caring who the person is or what their about. Sexually transmitted dieses are impossible to not hear about and when people think of sexually transmitted dieses they think of dirtiness and when they think of sex and dirtiness their mind thinks of prostitutes (Sex work now).

 A problem with sexually transmitted dieses in prostitution is some of them don’t have or know about some resources where they could get help, like getting checked for dieses. For some prostitutes they cant request a proof of sexual cleanliness because 1. They don’t have the time to ask or request because if their standing on the street corner they basically have to go with the person right then and there or else they lose out on money. 2. They just don’t tend to care about contracting a disease or think that it will not happen to them (Sex work now). If prostitution was legal then there would be requirements. Monthly or weekly testing would be required by law and a license to practice prostitution would probably be required and checked up on like any other job. Also another requirement that some cities already have is that prostitution has to be inside a certain house, building or a area of the city, having these kind of requirements would take a lot people of the streets and into confined buildings or areas. Doing this there would be less littering from the prostitutes which would result in less complaints from local citizens even though there would still be complaints because some people don’t believe in prostitution at all ( sex work now). Another aspect of making prostitution legal would be that the homicide rate would go down because having prostitutes in building where they don’t leave with clients and places that have security would be a lot safer for the workers that work there. These places are commonly known in America as brothels or whore houses but in Europe there referred to as club houses and prostitutes are called curb crawlers (Prostitution, harm and gender inequality). Homicide is a common sight for some prostitutes. The common prostitutes that see this are ones that are by themselves on a street in a not so safe part of town. A lot of the girls and sometimes guys that are selling themselves like that are usually not very well known people in society so some killers of prostitutes see them as an easy target that woulent be noticed that their gone right away. Some killers on the other hand kill prostitutes because of their views on prostitution. They sometimes say that their told in their minds that god tells them to kill prostitutes because they’re a embarrassment and disgust to society (prostitution, Harm, and gender inequality).

 Murders of prostitutes have been around for centuries like one of the most infamous prostitute killers is Jack the Ripper who notoriously brutally murdered innocent street walkers originally being in London and then later coming and reigning tare over New York City in the late 1800’s. SO if prostitutes were to be forced to be in restricted places it would save them from people like Jack the Ripper and the other large amount of serial killers of prostitutes out there (Sex work now).

Who has the deciding choice over what you do with your body? Well a popular answer is nobody except you and I agree with that answer. There are many reasons why people do what they do and when it comes to prostitution the reasons vary greatly. A popular idea of why people enter into sex work is because they were molested or raped. Even though there are some prostitutes who were molested or raped it doesn’t mean that all of them have been (Prostitution, Harm, and gender inequality). Some people simply enter prostitution because they feel that its what their best at, just like not everybody’s cut out to be painter it requires a certain type of person. Many would call people who sell sex as misguided people, nobody, or societies unwanted, but when in actuality their people just like us they go to work every day, some even have families, and have feelings just like everybody else. If somebody chooses to sell their body for sex then that should be their choice and nobody else’s ( Sex for sale). If a person decides that they are going to sell their body for sex they should go about the situation correctly by first making sure their clients have a current exam to make sure they don’t contract a disease and then do it in the comfort of their own home. A person could still attack but its safer than going to the clients car or location. What say does the government have over what you decide to do with your body, just because prostitution isn’t everybody’s first choice doesn’t mean its wrong (men who sell sex).

            Prostitution pays and money pays bills and keeps people from living off the government. Some people wouldn’t even think about selling their body’s for sex but for those who are comfortable with it then that keeps them from being unemployed and there’s more people who sell sex then you can imagine.

            A good majority of people who complain about prostitution being immoral and wrong are women. But a many women go to gigolos for sexual favors. The difference between prostitutes and gigolos is that men looking for sex usually just want that but when women pay gigolos they are looking for company and sex. Gigolos aren’t as commonly heard of because there is hardly has many gigolos out on the street then there is prostitutes. Gigolos in America are usually their own bosses and have a select list of clients (men who sell sex). In Europe there are just as many men in prostitution as there are women. Most gigolos in Europe work in “club Houses” and have a boss. The age range of gigolos is a lot different than prostitutes because most gigolos are from the ages of 16 up and this is because most guys feel more comfortable with selling their bodies for sex and aren’t as afraid to be open about it and in Europe there is a higher dropout rate in boys and this is a common thought for the high amount of young guys in the sex work (men who sell sex). Gigolos are seen to a lot of people as a thing that died out but there are more gigolos no more than ever some people just don’t think it because of for 1. They’re probably not looking for a gigolo 2. They don’t see them on the street or on tv shows so they assume that gigolos aren’t really excitant.

 Some gigolos tend to only prostitute as a part time job because commonly men will make more than women because of the demand they get is that they’re not to just have sex with the client but to spend time with them. So most men seeking women usually want sex right then and there and only stay with the person for half an hour or hour but commonly women seeking men usually want to go to dinner and spend time with the person even have them spend a full day with them so that cost more especially when the going rate in some places is $1000 (men who sell sex). Gigolos are usually contacted threw friends of friends and other clients or gigolos which keeps them from getting arrested for soliciting sex and instead of being unemployed and living off the system they are still able to make money.  

Sex is something that everybody is affected by and prostitution is something that everybody knows about. If somebody wants to sell their bodies for sex then the only person who should have a voice about it should be the person because no one should have the ability to tell someone else what they can and can’t do with their body. Just because prostitution is something that a majority of people agree on doesn’t mean it’s bad (Sex work now). Close to half of the American population feels that prostitution should be legal in America if there are some restrictions such as keeping the prostitution of the streets, having it only in certain areas of the city, or only in a certain building with restrictions for the workers and building. A mandatory weekly or monthly testing would probably be required for the workers ( sex work now).

            Complaints will always be constant factor in the prostitution business because not everybody is always going to be happy with something and some people would never be happy with what happens to prostitution because they want it abolished 100%. A major complaint of prostitution has been that it attracts dangerous, sleazy, and scummy people to the neighborhood but those kind of people don’t just come around because of the prostitution but things like liquor stores and even parts of town that just tend to be ghetto bring people that aren’t exactly your white picket fence suburb kind of people (prostitution, harm, and gender inequality).

            Making prostitution legal would save money for the police task forces by not having to take in prostitutes and cost the jails money for taking them into care. There would still be ones doing it illegally just like anything else but the rate would be a whole lot less than keeping illegal. It would also take people off the streets and into places where they can’t be seen by the public so kids and people who don’t like to see it don’t have to see it (Prostitution, harm and gender inequality).    

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