Legalization of prostitution in contemporary society

Man has evolved, from times immemorial, because of certain instinctual traits. Each of these is to ensure the survival and spread of the species. The need to eat and find shelter is instinctual. That is necessary for survival. The need to procreate is also equally important. Without procreation, mankind cannot survive. As a higher species, man has also evolved the needs that stem from sexual urges to the satisfaction that arises from the pleasures of sex that is different from other lower species. The female of the species does not go into estrus once in a breeding season, merely for procreation. Humans can participate and enjoy sex at will, and not necessarily for the purpose of procreation.

Man's higher faculties have also allowed the species to develop a system of economics. This system also ensures survival of the species. One can even go on to state that this means for survival is instinctual. Human beings will barter and use other modes of exchange (which, in modern times, is represented by paper money) in order to get the materiel necessary to complete any deficits an individual or a group of individuals might experience. Some of these exchanges come from services that a person uses his professional skills to obtain. Consider the notion then, that "prostitution is the world's oldest profession." Women (and in a smaller number of cases, men) have used sex, which (for the most part) is already in the possession of an individual, without additional effort or training), as a commodity to acquire materiel that they did not possess.

Over the years then, prostitution has evolved alongside the family structure; the latter was used to ensure that women and children were well cared for. It also ensured that children would be raised to become contributing members of society, a microcosm of how civilizations developed. Despite all this, prostitution flourished, and became the epitome, of, if not criminal, but certainly amoral behavior. Eventually, depending on the moral nature of society of the times, vis-a-vis, the Victorian Era, the prevailing mores of the times resulted in the criminalization and marginalization of prostitution and those that plied this trade.

This essay will argue that legalization of prostitution is necessary in today's society. There is a significant difference between the legalization, regulation and decriminalization of prostitution -- this will be discussed. The beneficent consequences of such an action are manifold. It preserves the right of prostitutes; it provides a safe and healthy environments to ply their trade; it ensures that they do not become victims of abuse; it will ensure that human trafficking, especially of minors for sexual purposes will be reduced, if not completely stopped; it will prevent the spread of deadly diseases; it will result in significant economic benefits to counties, municipalities, cities and even the state.

This essay will also present, to the reader, the arguments put forth by opponents. It will also assess why these opinions are premature. This is not because they do not make strong points and back it up with relevant data; but because they do not offer preferable alternatives to legalizations. Then there are other entrenched lobbies in today's society who seek to define prostitution in terms other than purely economic. Prostitution shows us that sex has and will always be traded, just like any other commodity. The market forces of supply and demand work in every aspect of prostitution. Simply put, remove the demand; the supply will go away. Alternatively, if a commodity is not available, it is not very clear how demands will be met. Some believe that instances of rape will increase; also, that the physically disabled or people who are unattractive for one or another reason will not be able to obtain sexual recompense. These lobbies however, tend to portray prostitution as solely a woman's issue. That is, they believe that prostitution can be seen only as abuse of women by men, and that women have no control whatsoever in any aspect of prostitution.

Indeed, Sweden, for a while, espoused this view for they believed that the selling of sex was legal, but the purchasing of it was not. (Bazelon, 2008) to be fair, this law indicated that selling was legal even if the seller was a man. But one can imagine how such a notion would unfairly prosecute men. These and other such issues are responsible for confounding any statistics that seek to show how legalization or at least decriminalization can be useful. One has to recognize however, that prostitution has always been there and will continue to remain, and will decidedly outlast all other societal institutions no matter how deeply rooted they are. And this is because of the instinctual nature of sex and its use as a commodity. The best way to deal with it is to come to accept it.

Definitions and Descriptions of Key Terms

What is a Prostitute

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Prostitution as, "the act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations, especially for money." It is perhaps the most complete definition but quite lacking in specifics. The American Heritage dictionary on the other hand defines prostitution as "a performance of sex acts for hire." While from a conceptual standpoint, the average person on the street will have a good idea of what a prostitute is, in trying to succinctly encapsulate the notion of prostitution those that try to, unambiguously, define it fall short.

Consider the definition from Merriam-Webster. One cannot be sure what constitutes promiscuity. Women and men can be promiscuous, but not exchange sex for money. While prostitutes might, in large part, be promiscuous, so are perhaps the many couples that engage in open marriages or the process of swinging. These acts are not mainstream, but they exist and those engaged in swinging in large part lead very normal lives with the couples having good careers, stable homes and rearing children. (Cauthen, 1999)

Indeed, a Middle Age definition of prostitution from Johannes Teutonicus argues that a woman can be termed a prostitute if she had sex with 23,000 men, though a smaller number such as approximately 50 would also suffice. (Noer, 2006) the definition of prostitution has been revised by some as "is the act of rendering, from the client's point-of-view, non-reproductive sex against payment." Some of the confounders for this issue are then people who work in strip clubs -- where direct-contact sexual favors might not be available, or massage parlors, where erotic stimulation is does not involve penetration, or even those that provide other services such domination, where the perception of sexual satisfaction comes from being humiliated and physically and emotionally abused, and does not involve specific sex acts.

In was mentioned in the previous section that some entrenched lobbies often confound the issue of prostitution because of a biased and very narrow definition. A feminist organization based in Minnesota, Breaking Free Inc., defines prostitution by squarely placing the blame on customers, whom they consider abusers, while giving women the benefit of the doubt that they consider as the abused and unwitting victims of a patriarchal society. (BreakingFreeInc, 2008) This group defines prostitution as the "systematic sexual violence and oppression against women and girls." And this so called violence is directed not against prostitutes who engage in sex for money but also extends it to saunas, strippers, pornography and mail order brides, something most people wouldn't ascribe to prostitution. Clearly, one can see that this group has an overt agenda, which most prostitutes, no matter what their reason for engaging in prostitution, would not espouse -- unless they very specifically met the strict definition put forth by this organization. This would include minors who had been forced into prostitution to escape abuse and had no recourse for a livelihood; this might also include sex workers who are transferred from one location to a culturally and geographically foreign one for the purpose of sex, most often, under the guise of legitimate employment.

The very term prostitution has metamorphosed in recent times into "sex worker." (Ditmore, 2006) This is to remove the stigma associated with prostitution or whores or harlotry as an amoral act. Calling it a sex worker then categorizes the act of prostitution as any other form of employments that raises revenue and ensures a livelihood. Within the framework of this broader definition then, the concept of a sex worker has to be redefined as sexual favors for remuneration that do not involve an intervention of a third party. These sexual favors have to be available from a specific location; and like all economic services, the negotiation of the sex act should reflect the laws of supply and demand.

Within this framework then, three tiers of prostitutions are possible. (Van Mechenel, 1992) the acts are the same, but the setting and the amount of money exchanged is different. At the upper tier are the call girls, who are affluent, well educated and often serve as escorts. They are available also for longer term services. Their services are also very expensive. These women make outcalls, where they visit the home of the client; or in-calls, where the clients visit their homes. At the second tier are women who work at established locations such as strip clubs, sex juice bars, brothels and massage parlors, where erotic services are also included following or during, what is an often a therapeutic massage. The third and lowest tier of prostitutes are the streetwalkers who roam certain areas, are picked up by customers and the sex acts are performed in motels that cater to this service, or cars or in back alleys. For each encounter, the prostitutes who belong to this third tier often charge only a few tens of dollars for their services. These lower tiers also include drug addicts who perform these acts in drug dens or at truck stops catering to long haul truck drivers.

Prostitution in the United States -- as a legal profession

This scope of this essay is not comprehensive enough to detail the history of prostitution in the United States. Since we have already discussed the prostitution as an instinctual issue, there is little doubt that prostitution was part of America, from the early settlers, and despite their puritanical leanings, to modern times. This discussion is about landmark rulings that involved prostitution. The first related to migrant Chinese workers who were brought to the American west to build railroads. Since most of these were men; the ratios were unacceptable for proper living and so brothels flourished. To fight this, Chinese men were allowed to bring only their wives. And the ruling of 1875 ensured that imposed strong penalties on men who engaged in prostitution. This included fines of up to $5,000 or five years imprisonment for harboring prostitutes.

The next ruling that included prostitution came about as part of the law that sought to provide a comprehensive census of immigrants. This included categorization of immigrants in terms of physical appearance, land of origin, educational levels, etc., just as one would a census. Children were accounted for in this law.

The third ruling that involved prostitutes came about in Hawaii. Men who fought on the Pacific front would often stationed in Hawaii as a way-station or used for furloughs. Having not had female companionship for several years, the flesh trade flourished in Hawaii where brothels were so busy that soldiers stood in long lines outside these "hotels" and prostitutes easily charged one dollar for a minute for service. To put a curb on this, the government sought to regulate prostitution and imposed taxes on those who ran the brothel. The prostitutes could not open bank accounts, could not send money to their families and could not be seen in the company of soldiers and officers outside the brothels. But in a classic case of supply meets demand, brothel madams paid the sometimes more than a hundred thousand dollars fines without much problem. To oppose these punitive measures brothels went on strike for more than two weeks and the repercussions were uproarious. Eventually, the then governor of Hawaii closed down these motels.

The last land mark ruling of 1971 proposed that brothels could only operate in townships that housed more than 400,000 residents. This followed the usual upheavals following the Korean and Vietnam wars and the internal wrangling associated with the communist infiltration into the U.S. government. Today, prostitution is only legal in the state of Nevada and only in establishments and brothel. Streetwalking is still illegal. Prostitution of any kind is illegal in other states. This illegality both for the prostitute and the customer when caught, either in the sexual act or negotiating the financial terms of the service never rise above the level of a misdemeanor to a felony, other than if felonious crimes are committed. (Powell, 2005)

This is a significant departure from prostitution in other country. In India, cities have red light districts, and the law enforcement is complicit. There is another form of institutionalized prostitution. These are called devdasis. (DecriminalizePN, 2000)

The Case for Legalization -- Decriminalization of Prostitution (Liberator, 2005)

Relevant Analogies to Prohibition (of alcohol) and Abortion Rights

We have discussed, previously in this essay, the deleterious role that regulation or criminalization of prostitution can have on society. There are very important things to consider making prostitution legal. Often, to make the case for legalization of prostitution an analogy is used -- that of Prohibition during the early twenties. Groups for abstinence such as the Temperance Society and others who wanted puritan behavior outlawed alcohol throughout the United States. What every aspect of governmental regulation and interference issue fails to recognize is that the individual freedom will always triumph this interference. Consider, for example, the evolution of alcohol. It evolved independently in societies all over the world. Virtually, every source of sugar, which can be fermented by yeast in the presence of water and special bacteria, can be converted to alcohol and man, no matter what the country and its flora, took advantage of this. Prohibition resulted in a huge criminal underground that provided alcohol -- which made Mafiosi such as Al Capone prosperous. It resulted in an exponential increase in crime and homicides. Death occurred by poisoning from illicit bathtub gin products. Tax dollars were significantly reduced. And not one of the benefits of prohibition was realized. The consumption of alcohol neither slowed down nor stopped. Hedonism in any form is a common and natural human trait and can never be abolished completely, no matter who tries to and how they attempt to do it.

Since most prostitutes are women, people often use the analogy of abortion rights organizations. While there are moral and emotional oppositions to abortion, abortion rights resulted in the mainstreaming (from back streets) of abortion such that death to women were significantly reduced.

Redirecting of Law Enforcement Services

At least at a superficial level, and in the short-term, prostitution is a victimless crime. And therefore, its decriminalization would result in significant financial savings to the counties, state and local municipalities. That is because large amounts of money are dedicated to setting up sting operations and entrapment -- where female officers act as prostitutes to nab unsuspecting clients. Consider the case of the Hollywood Madam, Heidi Fleiss, who ran a prostitution right that had as its clients, famous celebrities, industrialists and politicians. Police officers had to rent a pent house in an expensive hotel, spend many weeks to surveill the apartment of Miss Fleiss. (Copeland, 1997) While she was arrested, in accordance with the law, the only effects were embarrassment to some of the clientele, which was fodder for yellow journalism, but had no impact on any other aspects of society. Money for law enforcement came from the tax payers. Many believe that this money would be dedicated more to crimes and felonies that have victims. The more liberal commentators believe that, some of these finances might be dedicated to social services such as education and job training.

Safety of Sex Workers

Proponents of legalization of prostitution also believe that it will result in the safety for prostitutes. This is because they will not be beholden to the whims and fancies of pimps and violent customers. And since prostitution is in itself a criminal act, prostitutes are not easily disposed to filing charges of assault. This is additionally considered a women's abuse issue. Proponents of safety believe that with legalization, prostitutes will be left with some measure of control over their finances and also safe from abuse. Indeed, over the last few decades, serial killers have chosen prostitutes, streetwalkers and those who work at truck stops. These are easy victims, because they have no legal recourse, they are not considered part of civilized society, and there are many among us who believe in the law of consequences who deride these women for having made the life choices that put themselves in these dangerous situations in the first place.

Protection for Minors forced into Prostitution

Evidence suggests that anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of minors are currently in the sex trade in the United States. (Walker, 2002) and like in every other instance, one does not suppose that minors are able to make the decision of being employed as sex workers, unlike adults, who might go into the trade of their own volition -- though not always. By regulating prostitution through legalization and regulation, where prostitutes would have to register themselves, it is very conceivable that incidences of teenage prostitution can be significantly reduced. And for those teenagers who are contemplating going into prostitution as the only recourse, alternatives might be offered such as half way houses for safe housing and education so that they might be dissuaded from pursuing a path that is fraught with danger.

Legalization seeks to raise prostitution from the underground, making it a legitimate activity and removing some of the itinerant dangers, while at the same time, giving prostitutes a voice and a place in society.

Health of the Prostitute and the Customer

The issue of health of those who suffer from and transmit sexually transmitted disease is made more important because of the relatively recent scourge of the incurable HIV and AIDS. By legalizing prostitution, it is possible to regulate the industry by insisting that prostitutes and other sex workers get regular health checkups and be quarantined if there is evidence of an illness. These health measures could also be preventive. These would involve educating sex workers in the dangers of STDs, how to assess the symptoms of these disease by self-monitoring, and the proper use of prophylactics. Aggressive health education measures following legalization of prostitution has resulted in significant declines in incidences of sexually transmitted diseases in countries in Africa. (Steen, 2001)

The reduction of human trafficking

Human trafficking involves the transporting of women and young girls from one place to the other specifically for the purpose of serving as prostitutes. This transporting is done under the guise of providing legitimate means of employment, where a pimp or tout works through an agent who target women from families that are desperate to earn a livelihood because of extreme poverty, lack of education to obtain employment, or lack of opportunities where they live. These women are brought to a new place, do not have legal status to be in the new country and encounter a new culture, to which they cannot relate. The pimps then take advantage of this; and, through cruel measures, force the women into prostitution. With minors, the situation becomes even more desperate, because they are kidnapped and brought to new places to satisfy the urges of pedophiles and ephebophiles.

The United Nations has decriminalized prostitution. Fifty countries around the world signed on. The United States was one of the countries that did not sign this treaty. The United Nations defines human trafficking; "Trafficking in persons' shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;" (ProstitutionProCon, 2008) With prostitution being legalized, and being removed from the underground, those that take advantage of the underground nature of this will not be able to promote these nefarious deeds.

Role of Government in legalization of prostitution

Deciding what the role of government should be in this issue is a tendentious one. This is not about the role of what government should do but how tax payers' money might be diverted, when law enforcement facilities are not required for criminal pursuit of prostitution. The results are of course driven by the political-philosophical perspective of different people. But people of every political-philosophical stripe can easily support the legalization of prostitution. Liberals and democrats might want the money redistribute the taxed income for other social engineering projects, some that might be for the education or rehabilitation of prostitutes. The conservative-libertarian thought on this issue might have to do with taxing people less, letting the money remain in their own hands, to do what they please with it. And as for decriminalizing prostitution, sex workers could self-regulate every issue associated with their trade.

Arguments against Legalization of Prostitution

Interestingly enough, the arguments against the legalization of the sex industry are exactly the same as those for the legalization of prostitution, except, the word "not" is used. An example is taken for the issue of human trafficking. By using Amsterdam as an example, researchers have shown that while a decade ago, more than 90% of the prostitutes were Dutch; today, that number is less than five percent. (Raymond, 2003) the legalization of prostitutes in the Netherlands resulted in a massive influx of prostitutes from all over the world. Opponents of legalization also show that it does not hamper the effects of pimps, nor does it prevent abuse; it does not reduce instances of prostitutions (an abolitionist's view point) but certainly increases it many fold. They believe that legalization does not protect women or improve their health. They decry the notion that it is a women's rights issue by showing that women still do not have rights. They also believe that women do not want legalization, perhaps because of the fear of the deleterious effects of regulation.

Conclusions

The effective way to conclude this essay is to refute the above thusly: what the opponents do not provide is an alternative suggestion to improve the lot for prostitutes and bring them into the main stream away from the criminal underground. They take no proactive steps, no reactive steps to combat the ill effects around prostitution. Their attitude is merely to retain the status quo. A thorough reading of research does show enough evidence of various instances where legalization provided the opposite effect of what was desired. Which brings one to the crux of the issue of prostitution: it is not easy to assess because there are many emotional, physical, psychological, physical, clinical issues. Then there are moral issues. No matter how one tries to escape it, is a natural part of the human condition -- perhaps we are culturally conditioned to think that way. But the consequences of a moral construct in society have in large part preserved civilization as we have known it. These rules have also helped us make important advances, technologically and otherwise. And these moral, economic and other ambiguities cloud the situation, providing counter-indicative results wherever legalization is attempted. But the salubrious effects are too many to not attempt legalization-decriminalization of prostitution.