Quotes:
"'Sex work' is a phrase created in the last 30 years to refer to sexual commerce of all kinds. Prostitution has varying definitions in different contexts. Some of these are based on the definition of prostitution in law, or what is illegal. Legal definitions change over time and place, leading to great confusion if one relies on one definition from the criminal code or one from the civil code, as they do not travel well. Despite the difficulty of terminology, prostitution as a sexual exchange for money or other valuables is the general definition of prostitution for this work. In that sense, the term 'sex work' is appropriate in its inclusivity.
'Sex work' was conceived as a nonstigmatizing term, without the taint of the words 'whore' and 'prostitute.' The point of the term was to convey the professionalism of the sex worker rather than her lack of worth as seen by much of society."
2006 - Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work
"The whole subject of prostitution is full of ambiguities and hypocrisies. Even to define the word is not so easy as it might seem. We generally think of the transfer of money as the element that makes prostitution a crime (although money plays a subtle part in all sorts of sexual relationships). Yet in a number of states, as well as in Webster's newest dictionary, the definition of prostitution includes not only the exchange of money but also the rather vague concept of promiscuity... for example, forbid[ding] both getting paid for sex and 'the offering of the body for indiscriminate sexual intercourse without hire.' But what is 'indiscriminate'? St. Jerome decried women who had known 'many men,' and monks argued over the number that would warrant condemnation; one said 40, another 23,000."
Aug. 23, 1971 - Time Magazine
"We define prostitution as systematic sexual violence and oppression against women and girls. This system is institutionalized in the sex industry: stripshows, nude juice bars, massage parlors and saunas, brothels, adult book and video stores, peep shows, live sex shows, sex rings, escort services, mail order brides, streetwalking, and pornography. Each of these forms of prostitution provides men with unlimited sexual access to women and girls based solely on their ability to pay."
Apr. 20, 2007 - Breaking Free, Inc.
MY opinion:
Okay, well there's many ways to look at this subject. Personaly I have no opinion on if the act should or should not be legalized. I believe that if it is going to be legalized that each woman or man in this part of the work force should have health checks and a license that deems tham fit and able for the job. It should be treated as any job in teh work force should be treated. The 'workers' of this sect should be payed for time and effort. Also, because some people are forced aganist their will and or illegaly made to do this form of work, people in with this job should have a back ground check done as well and medical history. Brothels should also be legalized if you want to keep people from 'street crawling'.
In one 'rant' about this subject that I've read, taht was on the pro side they stated that no law has or shall ever stop this from happening. So, why not make it legal and give it rules, to please both sides of the argument. From the lower-middle class up, people who have jobs and homes and a education, prostitution is viewed as a sin. For the poor, uneducated, unhoused, and often abused woman or man it's simply a way of life. If you are not taught that it's wrong, if you are given no other opition, if you have no other way to live . . . Prostitution is NOT a sin, it is not wrong! If you can make a life through it, you also have to deal with the social stratfication that will follow it. People who are already in this sect of working are dealing with this. People will not defend a person in this line of work in court, no one wants to stand for the people who are 'wrong'.
How logical is it to shun your own child because they know what sex is and want to learn about it, it is a natrual part of life. It's also proven to be healthy for a adult to have sex at least once to twice a week. Prostitution should be legal but there should also be a age limite. Kids should not be able to acess this. . . . Prostitution is simmilar to Porn. People shun porn but it's accepted in almost the whole of the USA, do you hear people saying that Porn should be illegal for a single thirty to fourty year old adult? I didn't think so . . . . .
More info:
PRO (yes)
The Prostitutes' Education Network wrote in its "Prostitution Act of 1996" provided on its website (accessed Jan. 16, 2009):
"No person's human or civil rights should be violated on the basis of their trade, occupation, work, calling or profession.
No law has ever succeeded in stopping prostitution.
Prostitution is the provision of sexual services for negotiated payment between consenting adults. So defined, prostitution is a service industry like any other in which people exchange skills for money or other reward...
Non-consenting adults and all children forced into sexual activity (commercial or otherwise) deserve the full protection of the law and perpetrators deserve full punishment by the law.
Workers in the sex industry deserve the same rights as workers in any other trade, including the right to legal protection from crimes such as sexual harassment, sexual abuse and rape...
There are some unscrupulous people in all walks of life -government, law, journalism, banking, law enforcement, the stock exchange, medicine, the clergy, prostitution, etc. If every profession were criminalised when some of its members broke the law, there would be few legally sanctioned professions. Unscrupulous people should be summarily dealt with by the law, regardless of which profession they corrupt."
Jan. 16, 2009 - Prostitutes' Education Network
CON (no)
Cecilia Hoffman, Secretary of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), wrote in the Aug. 1997 paper "SEX: From Human Intimacy to 'Sexual Labor' or Is Prostitution a Human Right?" published on the CATW-AP website:
"Prostitution violates the right to physical and moral integrity by the alienation of women’s sexuality that is appropriated, debased and reduced to a commodity to be bought and sold.
It violates the prohibition of torture and of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment because clients’ acts and practices of sexual 'entertainment' and pornography are acts of power and violence over the female body.
It violates the right to liberty and security, and the prohibition of slavery, of forced labor and of trafficking in persons because millions of women and girls all over the world are held in sexual slavery to meet the demand of even more millions of male buyers of sex, and to generate profits for the capitalists of sex.
It violates the right to enjoy the highest standard of physical and mental health because violence, disease, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and AIDS stalk, presenting constant and grave risks for women and girls in prostitution, and militating against a healthy sense of and relationship with their own bodies."
Aug. 1997 - Cecilia Hoffman
ME:
So, we can clearly see that this subject has two sides to it, the side that says 'Yes' and the side taht says 'No'. From my own point of view, I think taht with laws, restrictions, and a close knit form of control over it, Prostitution can and maybe should eb legalized. . . . . You can draw your own opinion.
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Submission Name: What is Prostitution: Rant/Opinion
