Speaker Geeks! discussion

I find it disgusting that some people HAVE to resort to prostitution to live, and are then shunned and criticised by society for it. But I also find the thought of voluntary prostitution equally, if not more, horrifying.

Yeah.

But I don't think it'll happen...somehow

I thinks it's digusting not on the person who has to do that to survive but on the end of the person who takes advantage of it.

Prostitution. I do not approve of it.

I do believe that you have to try everything decent before resorting to something as low as that. Yes, maybe I am talking like this because I have a family who cares and life's easier for me than for prostitutes, but...I won't hold back to the idea that we are capable of many other things. Prostitution should be illegal and people should try harder.

And, I agree with Maddison!

Its also bad because many get themselves involved with a "pimp" who takes all the profit and keeps them on drugs. That is what is disgusting that they are being further manipulated and there is no chance of them getting out.

Yeah. It's dangerous.

I agree ^

You know why prostitution is a thing? Because the goverment takes all the money and leaves us with nothing. If they helped people then you know what, prostitution wouldnt exist. But they choose to be greedy little rats!

True but women and men would be going around throwing themselves at people. If they wanna accept money from someone who sought them out.

I think Virginie Despentes wrote something about this a few years ago based on her personal experience. According to her prostitution is indeed often harmful, but it should stay legal because prostitution, or similar practices like marrying for money, can never be fully eliminated in a society with sexism & class stratification, so a ban will just drive it underground & only make it even more dangerous & more harmful. Also, such a ban is basically catering for upper & middle class sensibilities by punishing the poorest, most vulnerable members of a society. Personally I think her opinion makes sense but I don't know enough about this issue to decide if I completely agree with it.

I agree. I think the most of the harm caused by sex trade business are suffered by sex workers themselves, so imho the current US laws that punish prostitutes are completely unjust & make no sense because you do not punish people for doing (often unwillingly) things that can only harm themselves. IMHO if people want to stop sex trade business they should do it by criminalizing pocurment while treating sex workers as victims & provide support to them like they do in Sweden, or if not we should legalize and regulate it in order to prevent excessively exploitative practices & minimalize potential harm.

Also, why do ppl think prostitution is so bad that it should be banned but not practices like getting married for money or for clan alliance? All these practices are basically selling sex for material benefits anyway, so why when some poor ppl do it for once they'll be called names and stigmatized yet when some other ppl do it for their whole life it'll be considered normal & acceptable?

That's an interesting view point, I never thought of marrying for money (like child brides and all that) similar to prostitution but I suppose it is basically the same thing except prostitution is with many individuals while marrying for money is only with one.

As for whether or not prostitution should be illegal, I think is should be. It's exploitative and harmful to those involved. If one was to say that 'hey child brides and marrying for money isn't illegal and they're similar so why should prostitution be illegal?' I'd say that I see them BOTH as wrong and seeing as its probably not as easier to stop marriage for money as it is to stop prostitution at least we should contain what we can. Put a stop to the bad that we can.

Idk if I got my point across but there it is :$

It's a job for them more than anything else; one should not diss someone's job. A public toilet janitor didn't born with an ambition of cleaning people's mess. Most prostitutes are born from prostitutes anyways. Fact of the matter is; they make people happy unlike your country's politicians and corrupted public service office workers...So who is better?

Legalizing will impose more tax on them and you can't guarantee their safety. How safe are people if they are poor with so called 'legitimate' jobs anyways? Most pimps are more protective (physically and emotionally) of their 'people'/'assets' than the government (fact!). For starters, If someone wants to do some favor for them, they'd go seek an NGO's collaboration and open a free healthcare clinic at those places.

I think we need to understand that people who are prostitutes, for most of them its not a choice its either that or starve.

We may view as disgusting and yes i do not like the idea. but we should think twice before labelling them as sluts and putting them down

Som wrote: "It's a job for them more than anything else; one should not diss someone's job. A public toilet janitor didn't born with an ambition of cleaning people's mess. Most prostitutes are born from prosti..."

I think there are already some charities & trade unions working on improving & defending the rights of sex workers in the US. Legalizing prostitution will make those NGOs' works easier.

Legalizing prostitution will make those NGOs' works easier.

Yep. But here NGOs are funded through most international development programmes; as funding through decentralized system is a complex, time consuming process. Government exists to impose taxes even on tumbleweeds lol. Legalizing may also make it a trend and a risk free, easy money affair! Some moderation is required.

We may view as disgusting and yes i do not like the idea. but we should think twice before labelling them as sluts and putting them down.

Exactly. At some point, they are also crime controllers. Prostitution prevents rape a great deal; if it weren't for them, the streets would be full of creeps, rapists, murderers. One should be thankful to them, rather than calling them names...Politicians deserve those names.. (:

Kaylee wrote: "Going to the cops if you are harmed/injured by prostitution is practically turning yourself in. And then if you are raped, saying you're prostitute almost guarantees that it will somehow become "your fault" and that "you were tempting the rapist", on top of the prostitution charge."

I agree. I think there was a high-profile case like that in Philadelphia a few years ago. The rapist was not charged despite public outcry, just because his victims were prostitutes. A similar murder case a few months ago in another state also ended up like that. I think legalization may prevent or at least reduce stuff like these.

Som wrote: "Legalizing prostitution will make those NGOs' works easier.

Yep. But here NGOs are funded through most international development programmes; as funding through decentralized system is a complex, t..."

I do agree that legalization in itself is not enough to stop potential abuses in this industry as well as by the government. I think in the end sex workers should organize & unionize themselves, possibly with the help of other NGOs, to make their voices heard & protect themselves in the state & civil society.

I don't think it should be illegal.

In the cases of someone having to turn to that to survive, I think it's terrible but not criminal. And in a case where someone chooses that um, line of work, I think it should be legal.

I think people who are put in a situation that forces them into it should be helped out of their trouble but if someone actually wants to do it, whatever. A natural problem would the potential spread of STDs, though.

H99 wrote: "Some brought up marrying for money here. There's a difference between that and prostitution. When it's being a prostitute, you and your client both know that it's sex and just sex. You get paid, an..."

Which is why I think those marriages are potentially far more degrading, exploitative & harmful than prostitution. They often involve deception & often lead to domestic abuse, & will harm not only the parties involved but also their families & children. While in the case of prostitution at least nominally it's just selling sex & more or less resembles wage labor, & the potential harms on wider society e.g. STDs & unwanted pregnancies can, at least in theory, be controlled via regulations, in the case of those marriages it's more like selling your freedom as in slavery or serfdom, hence it is hypocrisy for those moralists to condemn the former while tacitly approve of the latter.

Kaylee wrote: "I always assumed pimps were protective in the way that you would be protective of property, not of a person. But, then, I wouldn't really know."

Yep, I wouldn't really know either; I was making assumption from random movies; such as 'Taxi Driver'..lol
But government is worse than pimps any day. Human or asset, they are very protective. We're neither a person/property to the politician's eyes; we're just another vote! (:

Adrian wrote: "In the cases of someone having to turn to that to survive, I think it's terrible but not criminal. And in a case where someone chooses that um, line of work, I think it should be legal."

That's a pro of legalization but we'd can't be sure. People are still racists, homophobic etc; even after same sex marriage is legalized; they still call those activities criminal. One simply can't change their mentality, not without a 'clockwork orange' experiment.
It's legal in specific areas though. Not officially on papers, not really. It's just an invisible agreement with the government and cops. If legal on papers; then there'd be no moderation regarding sexual activities and sex crimes; in airports, public parks etc; i.e, inappropriate places. The misinterpretation of the legalization norms may take a bad turn. (:

Xdyj wrote: "Which is why I think those marriages are potentially far more degrading, exploitative & harmful than prostitution."

Well said. (:

Som wrote: "Kaylee wrote: "I always assumed pimps were protective in the way that you would be protective of property, not of a person. But, then, I wouldn't really know."

Yep, I wouldn't really know either; ..."

I think currently there are two approaches to legalize prostitution: in many countries it is legal and unregulated, while in some other countries it is legal but subjects to regulations that protect public interests & sex workers' welfare, e.g. clear rules on where it is allowed or not allowed, or health regulations to prevent the spread of STDs. A major problem with "invisible agreements" is that they are informal and arbitrary in nature hence often lead to corruption in the government & the police, so if there are clear, enforceable legislations on the legal status of prostitution as well as all the regulations/moderations it may subject to, we may be able to reduce such corruption & prevent some abuses of power by the government & the police.

Prostitution is like any job what we are doing . . Nothing bad in it. There is a law in economics "if there is deman there will be supply for it " . Prostitution also proving it. Every prostitut is selling there body . Not their mind and brain . But well educated people just think of them they are selling there body as well as brain to some one for money . In that point of view prostitution is much better job other jobs like software engineers , chattered accounts , or any other reputed job . Job is not important the indent behind the job is more important . . . .

Really, we have it. It's called Pornography. Except there's a camera and not as professional. If the goverment makes sure it's liable and people are being checked for STD's and condoms are included, I find no reason to meddle, It's their choice, I don't agree, but it's not my place to say what you can do with your body.

It's hard to disagree and even harder to agree. It's hard to conclude and say random things because this matter is rather hard to explain, and forcing an opinion is worst.

I think I made some mistakes in my earlier comments. On this issue I'm now in favor of both legalization and destigmatization, because these are the demands of many sex worker activists & I think we should respect the legitimate aspirations of any group of ppl.