Legalizing Prostitution - Research Paper Example

Legalizing prostitution According to Daley (p.48) prostitution may be referred to as the practice of indulging in sexualacts for money. There are some countries, around the world that have legalized prostitution but, some perceive it as an immoral act that should be avoided. There are many reasons for not legalizing prostitution. First of all, several individuals note that prostitution should remain illegal, so as preserve morality within a given community. Many people especially with families do not want their children growing up knowing that prostitution is acceptable and it is a moral practice within the society. Analysts argue that Christians are among the groups of people that look down upon prostitution and perceive it as immoral. The topic of whether prostitution should be legalized or not has become very contentious. This essay will undertake a study of the advantages and disadvantages of prostitution in an attempt to decode the best stand for the society at large. Legalized prostitution has been documented to promote safety in the neighborhoods. The police and the government authorities will not only put restriction measures in the brothels and prostitution institutions but also offer protection services. In situations where prostitutes rob clients, the client will be in a better position to report to the authorities for action and punishment. The prostitutes, on the other hand, will not fear reporting crimes committed to them. The legal measures put in place will deter prostitutes from committing crimes to their clients. Legalization of prostitution will reduce the rates of crime within the society. When a woman is accused of prostitution, she feels intimidated and will not seek for employment due to embarrassment. This makes them get involved in crime, the reason many women are jailed in this contemporary era. Unlike when prostitution is legalized, women will be free to conduct prostitution thus reducing the rate of unemployment and crime rates among women. With legalization most of the crimes committed to the prostitutes and clients will reduce because women will have specific protected areas to do their business. Legalization of prostitution will put law enforcement measures to better use. For instance, instead of the government using the law enforcement resources in curbing prostitution in the society, they can make use of the resource to fight other serious crimes committed against persons or property (Clark p.86). Lots of resources are more often than not put in place to curb prostitution but, all these efforts seem to go to waste because prostitution is still rampant. If prostitution is legalized, then the government would have an easier time dealing with prostitutes in the society. It may be said that the fight against prostitution is doomed to fail, since there are no well established ways of dealing with prostitutes, as well as clients. The authority may harass the prostitutes, but will not stop them from doing what they do best. A study conducted by the Rand Corporation in the city of Los Angeles found that the authorities have done nothing except push the prostitutes across the city's boundaries (Pheterson p.105). This shows that there is a immense predicament within the society in relation to the legalization process. There are those individuals who are not ready accept the process not considering that the vice affects their lives in one way or another. The governments around the world should protect other individual rights, like right to property rather than getting too concerned with issues of prostitution that are difficult to control. Studies indicate that prostitutes go through a very difficult time whilst conducting their day to day activities. Some prostitutes are normally beaten, harassed and with no resources dedicated towards protection of their rights; they end up suffering a great mile. With legalization and free market for prostitution to take place, the prostitutes will have rights to police protection and to legal provision of resources. This means that, with the legalization the government will provide the prostitutes protection just like in any other legalized organizations and businesses within the community. With legalization of prostitution women will be in a better position to make decisions, pimps will no longer control these women (Rijo p.72). Control over women prostitutes occurs when a pimp feels so superior to them. Some end up frustrating these prostitutes either physically or financially. Research has indicated that clients seek for sexual satisfaction from women with no form of appreciation, even the least of it. Majority of these women undergo harassment, sexually, physically and emotionally, with these crimes going unpunished. Unlike when the market is free and fair, the pimps will be punished for the wrong doings and frustrations committed to the female. Thus, the prostitutes will be protected by the laws governing prostitution and will have control of themselves. Legalization of prostitution will reduce teen prostitution. Normally, increase in poverty and unemployment in the developing countries, leads to many teens getting involved in prostitution (Shaver p.405). In a situation, where prostitution is legalized, the society will not be at pains with what their underage children are engaging in. Shaver (p.408) continues to argue, that teen prostitution will be prevented and very few would be involved in the activity. Basically, there are rules and regulations that control the age limit of who can take part in prostitution. Brothels will only require adults to get involved in prostitution business. Legalizing prostitution will, therefore, save the young adults from taking part in the vice, unlike when illegal. Carr (p.29) notes that, when prostitution is legalized, the prostitutes’ health will improve. Prostitutes will be in a position to undergo check ups in medical institutions due to the availability of health contribution funds from their unions. Unlike when prostitution is not legal, prostitutes would fear going for treatment for fear of identification and labeling in the society. If prostitutes form a union where they can meet and find ways of advancing their lives, they would be in a better position to access funds for treatment to avoid continuity of spreading STDs to the rest of society. With this in mind, it is evident that working conditions of the prostitutes will improve thus, reduction of the spread of STDs in the society. Prostitutes are human beings; they have feelings. With the legalization of prostitution, they will not feel abandoned by society but become part and parcel of the society. They will be free to take part in any activity within the community without feeling frustrated or stigmatized. Therefore, legalizing of prostitution will ensure that, these human beings are incorporated in the community and their feelings put into consideration. With the legalization of prostitution, underground prostitution would be prevented. Reports have indicated that there are usually well established areas for this purpose. Similarly, making prostitution legal will make it manageable instead of ignoring this critical condition that affects the members of the society. Therefore, issues like street prostitution and dissident prostitution will be avoided within the community. Legalization of prostitution will improve the standards of living among many stakeholders within the community. It can be proven that, a lot of lives will improve due to the improvement of working environment for prostitutes and clients. Furthermore, this legalization would be a great source of revenue for the government. Just like any other business, the prostitutes will be forced to pay taxes that would be dedicated to improving their lives through elimination of exploitive pimps. Generally, legalization of prostitution will lead to great developments within a given society. Through legalization of prostitution, the community promotes liberty and confidentiality of individuals (Scivelli p.57). For instance, the laws against prostitution violate the prostitutes’ fundamental rights of individual liberty and personal privacy.  This is because, in a society that the community members are poor and that the government does not ensure all citizens get jobs, people are likely to find other means of survival. If the government does not fight against prostitution, members will be free to conduct business with no fear. Legalization will, therefore, create business opportunities for the citizens. On another angle, prostitution should not be legalized. Focusing on immorality, many people around the world feel that with the legalization of prostitution, its effects will affect the society at large. Majority of the married people would commit adultery leading to high divorce rates in the society. Prostitution is a big influence to the married people and can easily pose big blows to marriage unions especially when there are problems between couples. Prostitution is a great health risk to the society. Through prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) easily spread within the society. The major sexually transmitted disease is HIV/AIDS. A high percentage of young people and married individuals contract AIDS after having unprotected sex with prostitutes. It is devastating that some prostitutes do not make efforts to go for check ups after contracting some of these STD’s leading to spread of these infections within the community. Legalizing prostitution would therefore; lead to spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the society. At the event of legalizing prostitution, crime rates will increase within the society. This is from the fact that, most of the time, the prostitutes fear reporting crimes to the authorities for they have also offended their clients in one way or another. From research conducted by Budapest Group (p.43), the crimes normally committed, to the prostitutes include kidnapping, robbery, rape, and homicide. These crimes affect the prostitutes both emotionally and physically. The society also experiences crime rates like the prostitutes drugging clients in pubs and other local entertainment spots, fighting for clients to the extent of killing one another or even stealing from the client. Normally, these crimes committed, by the prostitutes go unreported due to the fear of identification and protection of business (Raymond p.29). Legalizing prostitution would mean that most prostitutes would be subjected to harsh conditions whilst working. Sometimes the prostitutes get pregnant; this becomes a big problem to the government and the prostitutes themselves. They end up living miserable lives, straining not only to take care of themselves but also take care of their children and due to lack of enough resource support; the children might end up in the streets. Prostitution leads to an increase in poverty in the community, a problem that the government has attempted to fight for many years. Some countries like United States of America are against legalizing prostitution for the reason that prostitution contributes to human slave trade and creates favorable grounds for human trafficking. Victims who go working for rich individuals as prostitutes in the developed world and capital cities are as a result of human trafficking or slave trade. Legalizing prostitution would in turn mean that the government is willing to sell its population and watch the nation tear into pieces. Prostitution should, therefore, not be legalized. In some situations, through legalization, it will be obvious confirmation that women are sex objects. This will be justified by the fact that it would be legal to have sex to obtain money, so more men will see women as sex objects and even send their wives and daughters s to work as prostitutes to get money. The prostitutes, on the other hand, will be forced to go to the streets, thus exposing the vice to the society not on their own will, but because the society tends to accept the vice. Similarly, the life of the prostitute could also be in danger, since anything can happen to them while conducting their businesses. Feminists argue that these women may be picked by thieves or even serial killers, consequently endangering their lives. It is evident that it would take long for the notion of women as sex objects to clear from the minds of individuals if prostitution is legalized. If legalized, illegal prostitution would not be eradicated, but continue to thrive. The demand and rush to own brothels or other prostitute institutions will be manifested in the society. Analysts argue that this rush might be very expensive and other ‘business people’ will tend to offer cheaper prizes at the backstreet to fit in the market, thus, encouraging the growth of illegal prostitution. Legalization would, therefore, only occur in the eyes of the public not having any meaning in the grassroots levels. The morals and values of the society would be eradicated if prostitution is legalized. Legalization will lead to an increase in violence against women. Most pimps will make use of this opportunity and violate women’s right; the husbands and fathers will also violate their daughters and wives rights’ by exposing them to prostitution to obtain money from men in the community. Therefore, prostitution would be a source of women violence within the community. Jenness (p.93) states that prostitution contributes to child prostitution and child trafficking within the society. For instance, in developing countries, men traffic children from poor societies to work as sex workers in their brothels rendering very young girls getting into prostitution at a very tender age. This is usually motivated by the demand for young girls in the brothels as a source of income-generating activity. Legalizing prostitution would, therefore, encourage child trafficking by businessmen who are on the rush to get into the prostitution business. In a situation that brothel prostitution is legal; cases of trafficking women increases and unlicensed brothels would operate without any restrictions. Hence, one cannot say that there is evidence that women are safe working under legalization of prostitution. It is justified that women would still face violation and harassment from their clients (Carr p.37). Legalization of prostitution in different societies has been attested to be less fruitful and beneficial to those involved. It was mainly aimed at improving the conditions of women as they work as prostitutes, their health conditions, ensuring that they have rights that protect them from pimps. Legalization process has provided limited support to the prostitutes. It can be said that the process of legalization has only concentrated on protecting profits for the government rather than protecting the prostitutes themselves. To some extent, it would be societal rewarding but, in most cases, it will benefit the pimps. The legalization process will make the institutions that take part in the activity with all the required legal process have problems. This brings to doubt if the women who take part in the activity will accept the terms and conditions required. The problems of prostitution will never end as many people make a living from the practice; the individuals who take part in the activity are not willing to leave the practice at all. Consequently, women working as prostitutes cannot be assisted as long as the pimps, traffickers, and the sex industry as a whole exist above them. Based on the various reviews conducted, prostitution practices are morally and ethically wrong to many different societies. To get involved in the process remains a choice made by two adults. The process of keeping the practice legal leads to very minimal benefits, with prostitution enduring to be associated with diverse negative effects. Though the women who are in the business of prostitution do not want the sex industry legalized (Bureau p.56), it should be made very clear to all individuals that prostitution offers no benefits to the society or individuals. Engelstein (p.83) notes that prostitutes take part in the activity to obtain money for financial support and not for any moral satisfaction. Why should prostitution be legalized on that basis? Works cited Budapest Group. The Relationship Between Crime and Trafficking in Aliens. Austria: International Centre for Migration. 2009. Bureau NRM. Trafficking in Human Beings: First Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur. Journal of Sex Research. The Hague. 2002. Carr, Sade. The health issues affecting women in the sex industry: Amoral and ethical perspective. Sexual and Marital Therapy.2008: 5; 22-86. Clark, Clement. Prostitution: Will the neighborhood crackdown curb the sex trade? Journal of sex Education.2006: 3; 78-99. Daley, Suzanne. New Rights for Dutch Prostitutes; New York Times. Journal of Sex Research 2001: 46-99. Dutting, Giseling. Legalized Prostitution in the Netherlands Recent Debates. New York: Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights.2000. Engelstein, Lager. Gender and the judicial subject. The Journal of Modern History.2003:54-111. Jenness, Val. The prostitutes' rights of movement while on Duty. New York: John Wiley and Sons.2003. Pheterson, Gregory. Issue II: Feminist perspectives on sexuality. Journal of Sex Research. 2005:36, 99-137 Raymond, Janice. Legalization and Prostitution. Journal of Sex Research.2002: 21, 23-73. Rijo, Lamon. The decriminalization or legalization of prostitution. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2002: 55, 67-89 Scivelli, Pterson. Prostitutes Empowerment. Harvard. Harvard University Press.2007. Shaver, Ferdinald. A critical analysis of Prostitution. Journal of Public Policy, 2005: 11, 493-503. Read More