Is prostitution wrong ?

There are also male prostitutes. I think most of the problems that go along with prostitution is because it’s illegal. I don’t actually see anything wrong with the idea of having sex for money, if that’s what people choose to do.

Depends on what you consider wrong to be, I suppose. I’ve never thought of voluntary sex work as wrong, in any way. I’ve always thought of exploitative sex work or sex trafficking as odious and something to continuously fight against. If it was legal here in NYC, I’d consider becoming a sex worker.

I wouldn’t say it is wrong, it doesn’t do any harm, and most likely some good, but I wouldn’t want my daughter (or son) to be one.

I think it’s like most things. It’s what motivates it. If someone is prostituting themselves to score drugs… yeah, bad. If someone just decides, soberly, with eyes wide open that they are doing that and can cope with the emotional details… fine. Their life, their body. I’d hope that my kids would have more options in life and not have to deal with or resort to that type of profession.

It does harm the psyches of that participants.

In that sense, it’s wrong.

Voluntary prostitution where the woman and man (or man and man, woman and woman, etc.) are both willingly and of their own free accord taking part in a business transaction for an agreed upon price and an agreed upon result = none of my damn business.

Sex slavery = wrong.

I would say NO, If your going to do it you might as well be paid!!!

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard exactly what you said too!!!!

Just a footnote to any prostitutes remember it’s supply and demand!!! When gas prices rise so should the price of BJ’S!!!! I’m just sayin.

As the mayor of New Orleans said in 1917, when they closed down Storyville, “You can make it illegal, but you can’t make it unpopular.”

If they have no other choice it is so wrong, but otherwise it’s debatable.

I think it’s wrong. It’s not the act itself, but the message it sends…to both genders.
Women selling their bodies to strangers – not okay.
Men paying for sex because they can’t find a lady who loves them – not okay.

I see nothing wrong with it when a woman (or man) makes a choice to use her body to earn money under her own terms. How often that actually happens in reality is another story…

@TooBlue What message? Or should I say, why are those two things wrong?

The message that women’s bodies are a financial back-up plan. And the message that men should pay for it and lower themselves to that level, because sex is such a “necessity” for them, it degrades both sexes. That’s one opinion anyway, and god knows there are billions of them…

I agree wholeheartedly with @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard

As much as I would love to believe that everyone has the capability to go out and find a partner to eventually have sex with that is not the case. Why should society tell that person that they cannot go and pay for it?

But besides that I don’t think governments have any right to tell me what I can and can’t do with my body with the small caveat of making sure I’m healthy and not spreading STDs.

I think the following quote sums my opinion up better than my own words could:

“Selling is legal, fucking is legal, so why isn’t selling fucking legal?” – George Carlin

Now, if it is wrong to use prostitution as a backup plan for when you can’t make money any other way then working at fast food joints is also wrong.

Capitalism is “wrong”.

And pure sexual selection is just as wrong as incest.

@mrentropy They’re not technically wrong, but as a matter of personal opinion I think people should have more respect for themselves or maybe I just have very high morals…which I guess most people would consider undesirable and see as prudish. Life is confusing…

There is plenty of sexual activity going on these days that could loosely fit the description of prostitution – people use other people for sex only with illusion or expectation of relationship. Money isn’t changing hands for it.

@BarnacleBill I guess that that boils down to what your definition of “payment” is.

@TooBlue Do you really think that people who don’t sell sex have less respect for themselves?Think about 10 of your friends who aren’t sex workers – can you really think they respect their bodies when they diet, binge, drink,smoke,put meat into it,etc.? What ‘respecting oneself’ means is highly subjective.

“Think about 10 of your friends who aren’t sex workers”

I would do that if I had 10 friends…lol.

“What ‘respecting oneself’ means is highly subjective.”

I agree, so from my point of view – my subjectivity – prostitution is disrespecting yourself much more so than the other things you mention. I don’t want to go into a long description as to why, but sex is a whole different category to me.

“Wrong” doesn’t exactly fit, but I do think that prostitution has an overall dehumanizing effect. It inevitably requires a degree of objectification on the part of both participants. One of them becomes just a body, the other becomes just an ATM.

Now, there are many other ways that we objectify others on a routine basis, just seeing their function or appearance and ignoring their person-hood (workplaces are often hotbeds of objectification). And I think that whenever we do this, even in these less taboo ways, the world becomes a colder, less compassionate place.

But when sex is involved, I would argue that the dehumanization is even more profound. It’s such an intimate act that to engage in it without allowing one’s self to fully respect the humanity of one’s partner requires an extra degree of detachment. Isn’t that why we’re so horrified by rape? That such an intimate act could be used for violence (the ultimate objectification) seems worse than other forms of physical abuse. Prostitution isn’t rape (usually), but it still dehumanizes this very intimate act.

As others have said,I don’t think money needs to change hands for the same dehumanization to occur.

@thorninmud Darn your smart opinion! I want to put my name at the end of that answer.

I see nothing wrong with it as long as both parties dont have a problem with it. Everyone has been raise with different morals, therefore anyone may have a valid opinion on this matter…. Not to change the subject too much, but I consider prostitution to be more of a social issue. An issue that gov’ts shouldn’t have any say in what is right/wrong. Same with abortion, gay marrage, etc. People should have the right to choose how they live thier lives, even if others view their choices as immoral.

@Zyx so people voluntarily using their talents/skills/preferences for personal gain is wrong?

@xyz ‘Capitalism is “wrong”. And pure sexual selection is just as wrong as incest’

Without sexual selection we wouldn’t be here.

I knew keeping this link would come in handy!

I don’t know about you guys but I thought Zyx was being sarcastic.

The only thing considered wrong about prostitution is sex. Naked bodies going at it. Everything else is fine. I pimp my body out five days a week and everyone considers it ‘good’ because I have a ‘job.’ But if I was having sex five days a week and getting paid for it, then there’s a stigma attached. I honestly don’t get it.

Of course, if I was having sex for eight hours a day without paying or getting paid then I’d have a whole bunch of “thumbs up” from people.

@mrentropy Totally agree. Some of us get paid for our minds, some of us get paid for our bodies.

I saw a story about a man in Europe who was profoundly physically disabled. He is of normal intelligence, and relatively mobile, but his sexual options are, obviously, extremely limited. Once a year, he visits a legal brothel, where he is introduced to a woman and pays for time with her to experience some form of sexual relief.

Sex is an important part of life, and some people are disabled in some way that prevents them from having sufficient confidence or physical ability to consumate any sexual act. This inherently distances them from the human experience.

The idea that the prostitute – customer relationship is one that is solely about business all the time, that only allows objectification of self or others, etc., ignores the significant mental and emotional processes associated with sex. The objectification may be prevalent now, but that seems more likely connected with a general puritanical concept of sex, and a traditionalist view of the roles of women in society (as subservient and also as sexual gatekeepers).

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with prostitution. There is, however, something wrong with prostitution today because of certain other political, cultural, social, economic and religious forces.

@iamthemob Great answer!

@thorninmud The only thing that makes prostitution dehumanizing is reactions like yours. Objectification is part of a lot of sexual encounters. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is when objectification extends beyond its appropriate boundaries and controls how we view people in other contexts. I love my girlfriend, but my lust for her includes seeing her as a sexy thing. This isn’t to say that I don’t still think of her as a person while we’re having sex. It’s to say that we can objectify one another as part of our sexual encounters and still respect one another in the morning (as well as while we’re fucking).

A prostitute only becomes “just” a body, and a client only becomes “just” an ATM, when the attitudes of the prostitute and the john make them such. But this is not a necessary fact about the prostitute/client relationship; this is a fact about what we’ve let it become in most cases. Respect could be returned to the relationship, and part of that process involves the reaction of observers. You have let people’s acting as a prostitute lower their status in your eyes, meaning you have dehumanized them. It seems this is partly a result of you having a romanticized notion of what sex is, but I don’t know.

@iamthemob ‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with prostitution.’. You don’t think there’s anything wrong with a young girl who just wants to settle down and be a mother being forced to have sex with old or disabled men? There’s very few prostitutes that are in it for the fun. Forcing a young woman in her prime to steep to that level of degradation and filth is not ok.

@lemming

You’re talking about “forcing.” This isn’t about people forced into anything. Prostitution is simply the provision of some sexual or erotic service to another in exchange for money.

There’s nothing wrong with that, any more that the provision of psychological therapy is wrong.

@iamthemob Provide the world with adequate food and clothing, a safe home and education and then see how many prostitutes there are.

@lemming That’s called a straw man, and it doesn’t make for a good argument. Hell, it’s not even good rhetoric.

This is referring to your earlier comment, not the one you submitted at the same time as this one.

@lemming I bet there would be fewer prostitutes. Great. So what? That doesn’t make prostitution wrong, and it doesn’t mean all prostitutes are forced. I doubt anyone here is defending the shitty parts of prostitution, and it’s disingenuous to pretend otherwise.

Prostitution is wrong because the prostitute is selling her body to a total stranger. She is dehumanizing herself by turning herself into an object that can be bought.

I can find many things potentially wrong with it, but it is not inherently wrong.

@Mikewlf337 Is the same true of bodyguards? They could also be said to sell their bodies to total strangers, going so far as volunteering to die in their client’s place.

My only issues are with the 1) commoditization of humans and their bodies and 2) hierarchies based on exploitation and violence implicit in most of prostitution.

That said, both of those things are true about any wage work. Prostitution is just more honest about it.

@Uberwench

“Objectification is part of a lot of sexual encounters.” Right. I tried to account for that in my comment.

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Right.That’s why I said that “Wrong” doesn’t exactly fit.

The degree of objectification that accompanies sex is a continuum, sure. Sex between people in a committed relationship can very well be toward the dehumanized end of that spectrum. There could very well be some prostitute/client relationships that tend toward the other end of that spectrum, though I’m pretty sure that’s the exception. I’m not claiming that sexual objectification is evil or sinful or needs to be abolished. But it is dehumanizing, as is any other form of objectification. It depersonalizes. It just seems more glaring in the context of sex because few other human activities are so potentially intimate.

@Uberwench No. Bodyguards don’t don’t sell their bodies. They offer protection. A bodyguard is sometimes necessary to protect a person from harm. A bodygaurd’s product is protection, not his/her body. A prostitute is turning his her body into the product. Turning herself into an object for someone to put his dick in or vice versa if the whore is a man.

@Mikewlf337 So an artist’s model is bad, right?

@Mikewlf337 “Prostitution is wrong because the prostitute is selling her body to a total stranger. She is dehumanizing herself by turning herself into an object that can be bought.” – you know, I feel the same way about the military.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I don’t think simply acknowledging that as a great answer is enough. I need some sort of standing ovation.

@incendiary_dan Let’s do that in pm! :)

@mrentropy good point. It is however not the same. A nude model is showing his/her nude body to be immortalized in a work of art. Showing someone your nude body in that type of situation is not the same as prostitution.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir If it werent for a military you wouldn’t be safe. Without them anyone could invade a nation and overtake it and oppress everyone who lives in that nation. The military is necessary.

@Mikewlf337 I wasn’t talking about their necessity. I was talking about my views about them. Those are two different things. Your previous comments simply echoed how I feel about our military’s current actions. Besides, this q isn’t the place for us to discuss whether what our military is doing now is ‘keeping me safe’ and the such.

@iamthemob, for once, I agree with you wholeheartedly. And building on what you said, I think that pimps are the biggest problem with prostitution as it is. Legalizing prostitution would eliminate their market niche.

@Mikewlf337 That doesn’t make any sense at all. And I didn’t even mention being nude.

I see an ad on the bulletin board asking for a model. It’s for an art class and I’ll get $10 for doing so. I show up, plop my butt down on a stool and let a bunch of students sketch me for an hour. I collect my $10 and go my merry way. I don’t care about being immortalized, I wasn’t there so I could go away with a picture of myself, I went there for $10.

I used my body to make money and by your definition what I did was wrong.
Unless you mean that I didn’t have sex, so it was okay. Again, I’m not seeing the point or the sense in that.

@mrentropy My point is that you are not selling your body to a stranger so he/she can have sex with you. I mentioned nude because I was thinking your were talking about a nude model posing in front of an artist to draw him/her.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard trust me…we agree on more than you think. I really think any perceivable disagreement is about style more than substance.

@iamthemob, oh I’m definitely sure you are right. “For once” probably wasn’t the best choice of words, but you catch my drift!

@Mikewlf337 Because… sex is bad? Or because sex has some indefinable characteristic beyond the physical? Lets say it’s the later, because the former is just silly (though, that doesn’t mean it’s not believed. Lookin’ at you, Benedict!).

So, sex has some other aspect. I won’t argue with that, certainly. It has the ability to make relationships grow stronger, and of course the ability to destroy them. But, so does a date. So does going to the movie. Heck, so does grocery shopping. The ability of sex to, perhaps, speed up this process does not make it in any fundamental way different. You’re sharing your body, yes, but as pointed out above that happens all the time. You’re sharing a very specific part of your body in this case, but why does it make it worse? Why does it make it different?

All you’ve said so far is that ‘it’s sex’. It certainly is, but people, from time immemorial, have had sex without strings without imploding. Heck, there’s a reason it’s called “the oldest profession”, after all. I could show you many examples of people who have had casual sex and not suffered mental breakdowns. Have, in fact, enjoyed it * gasp! *. I could show you examples of porn actresses who are quite self motivated and happy and pretty damn sucessful, as far as money is concerned (though that’s incidental in this case).

Why is them using their bodies in this way inherently wrong? What is it about sex that makes it so it can’t be used for profit without it being ‘wrong’, as opposed to the other physical aspects like weapons skill and artistic beauty? Or, hell, your brain, which is still a physical part of you, just not visible? Answer that, and the discussion may move forward.

@Mikewlf337 So, what is the deal with sex?

I know that the whole idea of ‘sex’ is a difficult one. There’s a difference between two people having sex and a couple having sex. There are emotional ties, jealousy, intimacy, and a host of other psychological things that go on. Fair enough.

But when it comes down to Person A paying to have sex with Person B, what is the big deal? The whole argument against prostitution is nothing except for a physical act that humans have been doing since before we were humans. It’s not about psychological effects. It’s not even about disease transmission. It all comes down to touching genitalia.

I could go on, but @BhacSsylan said it pretty well. I could even be sarcastic and say that it must be okay to pay a friend for sex because they aren’t a stranger. But I won’t.

It’s your body, and in the land of the free, it should be up to you to choose what to do with it (as the vendor or customer). If it were made legal, I’d guess it would be alot safer as well!

@mrentropy The cynic in me would guess that it’s hard to ensure that the government is getting their cut of the profits if it were legal . . . but that’s without putting too much thought into it. It could also be one of the few ideals America still maintains from when America was founded in its prude and religious ideals. . .

But I’m with you, what the heck’s the big deal?!

@mrrich724 Almost certainly. It wouldn’t be perfect (as many detractors are quick to say). Our regulation of the oil and financial industries is just awesome [/sarcasm]. But it would almost certainly be better. And most improvements do not happen immediately, or with a single action. They happen over time. Legalize it, and you’ll still have pimps, still have rape of prostitutes, etc. But now those people can be easily found, singled out, and punished. Take ‘The Jungle’. Factory work used to be horrible. Over time, with the help of such things as that book, conditions got better and better. These days it’s highly unlikely you’ll end up falling from a catwalk and potentially getting made into sausage.

And as sarcastic as that ended up sounding, I am serious. Just happen to inject more humor then may be appropriate at times.

And to your last comment, that’s potentially true, but again nothing’s perfect in that regard. and just getting the ball rolling would help a lot, and make it easier to improve those things over time.

What’s wrong with you people? Sex is supposed to be a beautiful thing between 2 people who love each other. Prostitution takes away everything that makes sex special. Takes away the emotional ties between the 2 people.

I’m willing to concede that it’s something rooted in religion (sex is bad, only use it to procreate, and even then only if necessary!), and then government realized they could make a buck on it.

Ok everyone, another question,

Would you allow your daughter to become a prostitute or escort ?

Would you be OK with your sister or mother prostituting ??

Just asking…...........

Or brother, whatever…

Who said that’s ‘supposed’ to be what sex is?

To everyone who said that they think it’s ok, or a choice, would you allow your daughter to be a hooker ?

@Scarlett I wouldn’t be happy. I wouldn’t be happy if they ended up having a life long career as a fry jockey at McDonald’s, either. I wouldn’t disown them over it.

But, if I had grown up with the idea that prostitution was ‘just another job’ or something other than “a dirty job for dirty whores” then, who knows, I might be more open to it.

Even if I didn’t want my kids to be prostitutes, does that make it ‘wrong’? If I wanted my kid to be a doctor and he ended up being a nuclear physicist, does that make being a nuclear physicist wrong?

Since they say that most or a great percentage of porn stars have been sexually abused as children, do you guys think the same about prostitutes ?

@Mikewlf337 No no no. A million times NO. Here’s the problem: there are two things we’re talking about, and you’re refusing to not conflate them. Just because sex can be a beautiful thing between two people who love each other (and no one is saying it’s not) doesn’t mean it must be! Food can be a transcendent experience, when everything is prepared perfectly, with drinks paired properly and everything is fresh and wonderful. Does that mean it’s ‘wrong’ that I just ate a reheated burger? Of course not. Continuum exist, and just because one end is there doesn’t blot out the existence of the other.

And in the same way, just because prostitution exists doesn’t somehow abolish the fact that sex can be a special thing between two people. It doesn’t take it away at all. It is simply a different part of the spectrum. That part is not (or may not) exist between a prostitute and a john. But, in the same way my burger has not somehow murdered the gifts of great chefs, the existence and propogation of sex work does not “Takes away the emotional ties” that exist in sex between two loving people.

@Scarlett Look at what @ragingloli said. It’s excellent, and sums up my (and probably a few other supporter’s) thoughts exactly. And ‘they said’ is meaningless, and almost certainty propaganda from anti-porn lobbies. Show me some evidence and maybe i’ll consider it. Even then, context is important, so if evidence appears we’ll still have other issues to consider.

Oh, and if any of you have the time, here is an excellent, excellent article on the importance of the divide between sex and this weird semi-religious fog it’s got around it: My Sluthood, Myself by Jaclyn Friedman

Oh, and a final note (too.. many.. edits) There is a major difference between them entering into sex work as a job they enjoy (which is possible in the porn industry, but not really prostitution because of illegality), and entering into a job where they’re repeatedly beaten and cheated and raped, etc, which is the current state of the prostitution industry, again largely because of the illegal status. If it were regulated and safe, then sure. Assuming their reasons were good, of course, but that’s the same then if they wanted to be a janitor, or any other job.

I think my first hand experience with this changes my views on prostitution and what not.

For anyone who has seen or followed my questions, I’ve been through a lot these past few months, with a crazy abusive ex boyfriend who got be knocked up.

My ex used to be a pimp in Hollywood, when he was younger, and the woman he cheated on me with – was an escort, who I now know he is pimping..

So for me my view on it comes from my shitty experience.

The pain that I felt when he cheated, and with her, was very hurtful.

So now I feel disgusted, and I feel bad, because it could break up families and break up marriages.

That’s how I feel about it.

Everyone is different and has different values and morals.

Some might not have a problem with it.

@Scarlett I feel for you. My wife cheated on me and it did hurt me, quite a bit. Going by your text you blame pimps and call girls when the true blame lies solely with your ex-boyfriend. I’m pretty sure he would have cheated on you if he was a brick layer or an executive.

For me personally, when I have sex with someone, it’s very precious and intimate. I’m with that person because I love him, and because we are both in a trusting, respectful relationship.

So I might be more frigid when it comes to this topic, but that’s how I feel.

I know people can have sex with many different partners, or whatever, and feel ok about it.

To each their own.

He not only cheated, lied about cheating, and he was pimping her out.

When he was pimping her, I had no idea, and he continued to see me, pretending he was being completely faithful.

Would you guys be ok with your daughters or sisters doing it ?

@Scarlett That sucks, a lot. So please don’t think that my (or any other’s opinions) come from any place where we consider that situation not to suck for you. I also think I’ve seen a few of your other questions on that matter, so I’m very glad to hear he’s an ‘ex’ now. But, you have to understand that the industry is not what did that. Had it not existed, had he not been a pimp, but otherwise the same person, do you think he would not have cheated on you? People have been cheating on other people for, well, ever. Prostitution doesn’t change that. It’s a means to an end, sure, but so would any unscrupulous woman.

And yes, to each their own. If you always have to have an intimate bond, then by no means should you feel any need to have sex with someone without that bond. But that’s you, and if another girl wants to have sex without that bond, who purely enjoys sex physically and wants to do that as a job, then that should be no more looked down upon then the person who wants to be in the military for liking the physical rush of battle, of feeling their mortality and strength in such situations.

@Scarlett Did you know he was a pimp before you dated him?

By the way this question has been asked (similar versions) about twice in the past year, on this site. If anybody wants to post link that might add to the fun.

I have seen documentaries about young prostitutes who were coerced into the lifestyle by pimps who exploited their youth and inexperience. One said she was like 15 or 16 and this guy (who was the pimp but she did not know it) started treating her nicely and telling her that he loved her. Then that grew into “if you love me you will have sex with my friend.” Voila she started having sex with people he brought to her, and she could not get out of that rut.

Now using that example, and using say, the example of someone who just needed some cash and a man who could not socially go find himself a date, so the woman needing cash and the man who was a social misfit get together, he pays her and everyone goes home happy. With those two scenarios, the police would have no way of differentiating between the girl with the pimp vs. the horny guy and the broke lady, so across the board, it’s illegal. So there is no gray area, no “this one is ok but this one is not.” All illegal.

@mrentropy – YES I do blame him, AND this chick, because she KNEW he had a girlfriend, but hey, I guess it’s there job ? They don’t care if they hurt someone, because it’s all for money. So they are both to blame. Not to say every guy is bad, or every hooker is bad.

@jca Er, not currently, sure, but that could change a lot with regulation. Not sure what you’re getting at, precisely.

I would think there would be a very definitive line between child prostitution and adult prostitution without any grey area at all.

@Scarlett oh wait you already answered that. Sorry

@mrentropy: the child prostitute eventually becomes the adult prostitute.

@BhacSsylan: What I am getting at is this: the question was is prostitution wrong? My answer is that there may be some situations where it does not seem wrong (for example the situation I gave about the horny guy and the broke lady) but there cannot be a gray area for enforcement, so it’s just all wrong.

@jca But what is the grey area? One being adult and one a child? Because as @mrentropy says, that’s not grey at all. Are you saying that’s wrong because they started out wrong? Sure, that’s sorta fair, but so is a father forcing their child into his own profession, regardless of the child’s feelings, and that happens. So are a lot of things. That’s why we have a justice system, to sort out grey issues. Very few legal questions are black and white. If they were, politics would be much simpler.

And, if prostitution was made legal and, eventually, respected, then ‘getting out of it’ would be a hell of a lot easier. A lot of the issues surrounding the inability to leave are in many, and probably most, cases enforced or at least increased by the stigma surrounding it.

Oh yeah we must respect whores lol. Whores who will have sex with anyone for the right price. Who needs love when you can go pay someone to get laid. That’s the “change” eveyone is whining for.

@Scarlett It wouldn’t be high on my list for my daughters or sisters to do, no. But neither would be burger flipper or professional ballerina. That doesn’t make those choices inherently wrong though.

@Mikewlf337 Where was it said that prostitution was a replacement for love? Who laid down the law that love was necessary for having sex?

Hey, who cares if a whore gets punched in the throat and can’t go to the police about it because she’ll get arrested? She’s just a filthy whore, right? She brought it on herself by accepting money for sex and not loving the person. And she thinks she’s gonna get out from under my thumb by ‘quitting?’ What a dumb, stupid slut. I’ll keep dragging her into it, and slap her around, because there’s nothing she can do about it. Nobody will be sympathetic to her because she doesn’t deserve respect.

Yeah… that’s not the person I want to be.

Anything involving children is always wrong. I used the girl who started at 15 as an example of being young and stupid and coerced into the lifestyle. My point with my two scenarios is that it’s hard to differentiate between someone who is exploited involuntarily, vs. someone who voluntarily gives herself up due to her own desperate circumstances. Prostitution is a lifestyle that is common among drug addicts, another example of people who willingly let themselves be exploited due to their desperation.

@Mikewlf337 And, no more conversing with you. Sorry, but that’s a horrible and disgusting opinion to have of anyone. And if you can’t see that for yourself, then this discussion is pointless.

@jca And that’s because, at least in large part, of the illegality and stigma! People who are outcasts for one reason (either psychological damage due to child abuse or physical/psychological damage due to drugs) obviously tend to fall into a likewise outcst profession, because they have no where else to go. Now, it can’t be helped, because mistreated or forced prostitutes have no legal recourse. They’re already so mired in shit that even if they went to the police, they’d just get jailed for being a prostitute! Where the hell is the justice in that!? Take away the illegality, take away the stigma, and you an go in and help those trapped there, because the fact that they’re trapped is so much more obvious. Right now, thier only hope is what, exactly? Locked up and beaten by cops, turned away from by society, and looked down on like a piece of shit by idiots like we have above. Of course it attracts those with no other hope.

Oh, and for some degree of proof of this, look at the legal porn profession. The amount of that shit is much, much lower. Practically non-existent. Because the people in those positions can get help. Though, they’re still looked down on by people, it’s much better.

@BhacSsylan : Good points and I gave you a Good Answer. Now this begs the question should prostitution be legalized? Maybe I’ll ask it.

@BhacSsylan Like I care if you converse with me? A whore is a whore. That is all there is to it.

Some people should care about being decent human beings. You know, just in general.

Now, in the interest of my screen not getting punched, I’ll have to leave this question for a bit.

Now I have the theme from Mr Ed running through my head.
“A whore is a whore, of course, of course
And no one should talk to a whore, of course”

Such a sad, sad attitude to have.

Don’t think it’s immoral or wrong. I do think it’s sad and that many women are exploited or even enslaved for the work. That is certainly immoral and wrong. I think that far too many women are in the business because it’s the best opportunity they have. I wish it were otherwise.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Yes, obviously.
@cazzie Indeed, if things were different things would be different, brilliant.
@TooBlue Afraid not.

Sexual selection doesn’t take into account the invisible, so though I’m sure it ADDS something to evolution I don’t think it would suffice on it’s own. Problems similar to the ones you see with incest would occur. Capitalism we all know only cares about money so things like pure sexual selection will drift to the surface in the form of prostitution. Communism is just capitalism without the need for prostitutes, because sexual selection has a natural place in the system.

IMHO that is, but I’ll admit it’s a complicated issue.

@mrentropy Don’t quit your day job for a career is comedy. Thinking a whore is a person to be respected is a sad attitude to have.

@BhacSsylan Oh yeah I am such an idiot LOL!!! You want take away the stigma of a whore who is willing to offer sex for money because she has a drug addiction or gave birth to kids that she couldn’t afford. Maybe she dropped out of high school because she was just couldn’t be bothered to get up in the morning after nights of “partying”. They are the type of woman who has 4 kids each with a different father, Worst thing about it is that these kids may never know their father because “Mommy” doesn’t know who the father is. The have no respect for themselves because they are willing to let a stranger have sex with them. You called me an idiot but I think I will just consider the source and let that slide.

@Mikewlf337: you have a very judgmental attitude. Whore is still a human and until you’ve walked a mile in her shoes, be a little more sympathetic. If you don’t know the circumstances which led to her becoming a whore, don’t be so harsh. I posted saying it’s not right, and I don’t think it’s right, but that does not mean anybody should be so harsh and judgmental.

Oh yeah, I forgot, women are supposed to be obedient property of their husbands and only have sex with them, tightly controlled by their owners to make sure the husband’s kids are really his.
After all, wives serve, sons inherit. And daughters are to be sold into marriage.

If they like their profession, if they enjoy it, then it is perfectly fine. And even if not, it is a service like any other, the sex part having no bearing on that fact.
It takes a lot of self respect to have dominion over your own body and to crap on the negative opinion of society on prostitution, an opinion that is nothing but an echo from the bronze age where misogyny was the norm and women mere breeding machines.

Well, this thread has been killed for me by a troll.
Everybody give a big hand to @Mikewlf337

@Mikewlf337 If I remember right you claim to be a christian, do you forget who Jesus gave his respect to? Shame on you.

@Mikewlf337 Your kind of attitude is what led to many, many women being murdered by Robert Pickton.

Making prostitution illegal makes it nearly impossible for women to report violence against them if they were involved in money for sex contract. Making prostitution illegal doesn’t stop actual prostitution.

These attitudes are the lingering effects of puritanical Victorian principles that also included the horrible belief that women shouldn’t actually enjoy sex. If they do then they too must be whores. Crazy.

Thanks to the Pickton case provinces are thinking about striking down our anti-prostitution laws. What has upheld them to this point has been the argument that the laws didn’t cause any harm. Ontario was the first province to lead the charge but the Federal government swept in with a stay. This will go all the way to the Supreme Court and I am crossing all my fingers and toes in the hopes that the Supreme court upholds this Judge’s decision.

It is time to step out of Victorian times on this issue.

@tranquilsea I never said anything about it being legal or not. I don’t care either way. I said it is wrong. I did not that it should stay illegal. I didn’t say anything against sex. I said something against whores.
@mrentropy Your opinion of me doesn’t mean anything to me.
@liminal Jesus saved Mary Magdalene and she ceased to be a prostitute. Like the others who have a problem with me, I could care less what you think of me. Want to call me a hypocrite go right ahead. I respect people when they act respectable.

And if any of you have a problem with the word whore.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whore

@Mikewlf337 don’t get upset. It’s just that most people don’t enjoy the company of bigots.

I am somewhat conflicted in how I feel. Let me ask a question, and I do not mean for it to be taken sarcastically. Are there prostitutes who feel good about themselves because they are offering a needed service? I found this link: regarding prostitution in Nevada, where it is legal. For those of you who favor prostitution, would you still be in favor of it if the statements made are correct?

[mod says] Flame off, folks. Please remember to disagree without being disagreeable.

@LostInParadise – Prostitution is not legal in Nevada – it is isolated in these desert brothels. And it is still mired in a system where there are indirect pimp controls, a general sense that sex is immoral, and a system that discriminates against women generally.

The fact that it isn’t working out perfectly in Nevada isn’t a surprise. That it’s a source of harm is a leap of logic that we can’t make until we deal with the baseline cultural misogyny.

@LostInParadise In many ways your question depends on context (as most do, come to think of it… anyway). In an area where prostitution is illegal, I’d say that many/most/quite probably all do not enjoy their work. However, in the porn and stripper trade, which is currently legal and regulated, there are many examples, like Jenna Jameson, Jenna Haze, and foremost, Sasha Grey. And that’s not counting the many lower-profile people, a few of whom have good blogs.

Now, of course, in legal prostitution areas, like Nevada, we can see. I read that article, and it seemed to me rather biased. It didn’t help that they didn’t cite sources well. So, after some digging, i found this about your source:

Bewildered, academics pore over sex-trade hysteria. Apparently, the source your linked used was a article, written by a journalist, over a very short period of time. It also is written badly, being done in such a way to induce emotional response, not actual facts. The article mentions a pair of academics doing a similar study, but doing it properly. Thier findings vaired immensely from the journalists, and I tend to trust the academics. They released the paper, which you can read here: What is Wrong with Prostitution? Assessing Dimensions of Exploitation in Legal Brothels

In specific response to your first question, I found this quote: “The women we interviewed seemed to be divided fairly equally on whether they enjoyed their job for the sex or whether they were just doing what they felt they had to do.” So, yes. Half the women surveyed enjoyed the job. And the others may, too, but not necessarily for the sex.

It’s a good paper, by the way. Here’s an excerpt from the abstract: “this paper considers three dimensions of exploitation as related to sex work: 1) the presence of danger and violence; 2) work conditions and control; and 3) sexual freedom. We find that legalized prostitution creates an environment in which working women report both patterns of exploitation and empowerment. The experiences of legal prostitutes vary depending on the size and location of the brothel, and the internal brothel culture in the workplace. Additionally, we find that the patterns of exploitation that emerge are primarily connected to two factors: work conditions and social stigma.”

Which lines up very similarly to what many in this thread have been saying. And just to clear it up, ‘workplace conditions’ refer to things such as the ability of a worker to refuse certain clients and acts. Those given this option invariably felt better. So, increasing regulations, so that they all get this choice, as opposed to just some, could reduce the exploitation to purely stigma. But, that’s just happy speculation on my part.

Now, a direct answer to your second question, if those claims were true I may rethink it, but I would assume better regulations and reduction of stigma would help immensely. However, seeing as they’re not, I see no reason to change my opinion yet.

I can see the case for legalizing prostitution. It should be treated as a business like any other business. There should be protection for both the workers and the clients. Prostitutes should be able to refuse clients and they should be able to determine their own fees. The terms prostitute and brothel should be eliminated. Perhaps sexual therapist could be used. It may be a little pretentious, but I think it is an improvement. I can think of receiving training and certification, not as a requirement but as an option.

@LostInParadise – I would emphasize the optional nature of any certification. Certification can end up being one of those things that ends up still separating a “legitimate” and an “underground” industry.

Social stigmatization of prostitution is wrong.

To be honest, what i see stumbling out of the pubs and clubs nowadays and the way young girls parade themselves all over Face book in semi-naked and provocative pictures (my 16yr shows me his new friends) and the fact porn is so readily available, i don’t think that it will be too long before prostitution becomes a thing of the past. Here in the UK it seems that the industry has shrunk, the girls (prostitutes) are tapping the more wealthy men (becoming high class hookers) and the young girls all wanna work in the sex industry, because they see it as glamorous high paid jobs. So if that’s the path you want to follow, well hey good luck. I don’t think its wrong, sex is what makes this world go round, not money.

I agree with @BeccaBoo. Just think about why most of the prostitutes are females. I guess sex is something that men always need,something they want it so sad that they are willing to buy, which means “SEX” actually weights more than “MONEY”. If you want to stop prostitution, you have to take away men’s testosterone and their prostate glands. Prostitutes just offer men what they are constantly looking for.

@jesienne but primates function(ed) quite well in the wild without getting the chance to pay for sex.

@lemming implying primates other than humans have economies. Implying they don’t just take sex when they want it. Etc.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard actually I think the fact that they don’t have economics is implied…and only the strongest male would get sex, they all couldn’t ‘just take it when they want it’.

I have a lot to say on this subject having been cheated on with prostitutes by someone I loved very much. And yes, I know what some of you are thinking, we did have a great sex life.
I am from the UK but now live in Australia. Due to the government here giving it the thumbs up, here it is considered by men as a right, whether they are single or not. I never really thought about it while living in the UK. It is not acceptable there like it is in Oz and so you never worry when your boyfriend goes away that he’s probably going to rent a women. It just doesn’t cross your mind. Here though, it’s very likely. Since being cheated on with hookers, the debate on legal prostitution, ‘right or wrong’, is something I’ve thought about often.
Legalising prostitution is wrong. Many say say it should be legal because it happens. Yes it does happen but there is a vast difference between knowing something happens and condoning it.
I always thought that hookers were for men who were strange or weird in some way so that it prevented them from getting a women who genuinely wanted them and maybe it did start out that way. Only now it’s for anytime you feel like maybe you want something a bit different from what you have. “I’m with a brunette but today I feel like having a redhead”, or, “Umm, I can’t be bothered to win the charms of a women and I’ve got a little bit of disposable income, I know I’ll rent a vagina!”
Honestly, how can that be right?
If you’re such a strange man or so horribly deformed in some way that the chances of you getting a women who takes you for only the pleasure of your company is diminshed to approximately zero, then fine, find yourself a hooker, there’ll be out there, but legalising it puts it in the minds of men that renting women is for all and sundry.
I suppose I can’t say that buying sex doesn’t have a place at all in the world. There are instances as I’ve mentioned when it seems not okay but understandable. Legalising it though makes it an everyday common practice, even for those who can do better.
As for the women who rent themselves, people say, “Oh well, it’s fine as long as it is her free will”. If you go to the shop and buy a product because it’s been in your face for the last six weeks through advertising, how much of that was your free will? You may not even be conscious of the fact that you have been influenced into buying this product, you make may think it is your free will. My point is, what influences has a women had in her life to ever make her think of prostitution as an option?
Another two point’s I’d like to make are that people sometimes say that if it wasn’t for prosititution, there would be more rape. Total nonense. It is well documented that rape is about power over another person and nothing to do with the need for sex.
Also, it makes me really angry when people call it a profession. A profession by definition is a calling. I don’t there is a child alive who daydreams about giving blow jobs for money when they grow up.

@Clairey I don’t think legalizing prostitution will make much of a difference in how many men use those services. I know my husband, my sons etc. would never avail themselves of the opportunity. Nor, I suspect, would the vast majority of the men I know.

If you are with someone in a loving, committed and monogamous relationship then your partner should cease having sex with anyone including prostitutes. If he is, then the problem lies with him and not the prostitutes.

Of course I agree with you that the problem lies with him and that he should be faithful if he decides to be in a relationship. I feel sorry for the prostitutes and not angry. I don’t agree with you though, that legal prostitution doesn’t effect how many men have sex with prostitutes.
No law ever made and passed ever completely stamps that act out. If it did we wouldn’t need police. There’d be no murder, no theft, no abuse. What a law does do though is send out a message so that a lot of us, maybe even most of us, think twice before we do it.
For instance, a particular piece of road may have a speed limit of 60. We all know that there are times when we break that law for whatever reason, (only old people always stick to the speed limit!), but we know that we’re not supposed to be and we know why. Imagine what would happen though if the law decided, “Hey, we know that you don’t always go at 60 so we’ve decided you can all go as fast as you like”. The thing is that even when you set a speed limit of 60, there will be people who’ll go down there at 100 and not give a toss, but with no law at all, well you can imagine. You’re running late, you’re doing 90 but hey, the law say’s it’s ok.
I have a small Son and he’s a very sweet boy and of course I hope that as a man he will have depth. However, I am under no illusions. I am not suggesting I believe it to be a sure thing that he will, but with attitudes the way they are, it sure as hell ain’t a sure thing that he won’t. The law, the people, the masses will be telling him that it is perfectly acceptable to choose a woman like you choose a movie. Watch it, rate it and then put it back on the shelf. It is not a gift to have a woman, it is a commodity.
A parents love and guidance is a powerful thing but often it is no match against general consensus. You only have to spend time in a playground to know that.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that any two people who have sex have to have recently declared their undying love to each other but don’t we want our men to care that they can be be at least partially safe in the knowledge that our orgasms are real?
I think I speak for most women when I say that while I don’t have to want to marry a man to have sex with him, I do have to fancy him, even if the fancying has been helped along with alcohol! What I find most disturbing about men having sex with prostitutes is they know this. They’re always banging on about how complicated we are and yet they are willing to gratify themselves all the while knowing that this women is acting. And here we are telling them that is fine.
I know that there are men who wouldn’t do it no matter what the law is and I wish they all went around with tags on so you could distinguish between the shallow and the deep but as with my speeding analogy, you take away the lawful consequences and well, the rest is obvious. “and they came”.
We are turning our men into talking monkeys.

This site helps to make it clear what I’m trying to say:
http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/laws/000022.html

From the websire:
The argument that legalization was supposed to take the criminal elements out of sex businesses by strict regulation of the industry has failed. The real growth in prostitution in Australia since legalization took effect has been in the illegal sector. Since the onset of legalization in Victoria, brothels have tripled in number and expanded in size; the vast majority having no licenses but advertising and operating with impunity (Sullivan and Jeffreys: 2001). In New South Wales, brothels were decriminalized in 1995. In 1999, the numbers of brothels in Sydney had increased exponentially to 400–500. The vast majority have no license to operate. To end endemic police corruption, control of illegal prostitution was taken out of the hands of the police and placed in the hands of local councils and planning regulators. The council has neither the money nor the personnel to put investigators into brothels to flush out and prosecute illegal operators.

@Clairey “No law ever made and passed ever completely stamps that act out. If it did we wouldn’t need police. There’d be no murder, no theft, no abuse. What a law does do though is send out a message so that a lot of us, maybe even most of us, think twice before we do it.”

You see I do not equate prostitution with murder, theft nor abuse. I see is it as a consensual act between two adults.

I honestly think you’re being very niave. I also think it strange that you see nothing wrong with it but all the while you assume that your husband, sons and ‘most of the men you know’, wouldn’t have sex with a prostitute. Perhaps you live in a state or country where prostitution is still illegal.
Do not underestimate the weakness of men when it comes to sex.
When it is legalised the only thing they have to worry about is their women finding out. The law is not standing in their way.
Don’t take my word for any of this, look at some facts from around the world.
Some countries in Europe that legalised it are now re-considering that move. Prostitution is rife. Since legalisation demand has gone through the roof. They are overrun with legal and illegal, child and adult, trafficked and citizens alike. Do you suppose because you make prostitution legal that suddenly all the pimps will become little sweetie pies that have enormous respect for women and phone their Mums’ on Sundays? That’s like saying that by making class A drugs legal, suddenly every dealer will beccome fine, upstanding members of society.
Pimps have only ever been in the business for one thing, they don’t give a damn about the women.
Or perhaps you think that because you have made it legal, suddenly every women and girl is happy being a prostitute and has chosen that path even when many others were open to them.
If neither you nor I would like to have sex with 10 to 15 different strangers a day, what makes you think anyone else would.
In some countries the problem is so bad that wifes are now having to except it as part of married life that their men will sleep with hookers. Fact. And it’s not that far from there in Australia.
Hundreds of very young women are being trafficked into Australia from Asia because it’s legal and because they will earn better money here. The men in Australia are loving it. They get to pick any 18 year old poor student they feel like and no one stands in their way.
This is really happening and this is a real problem.
Think outside your home and think outside your town. You and I are lucky because we have been raised with enough choices so that only a matter of life and death would make us have sex with men for money.

If prostitution is legalized then there ought to be associated labor standards, including working conditions, health standards, access to contraceptives, minimum wages and the right to bring suits against abusive customers.

@Clairey What is the problem? If men are having sex they want with prostitutes, and it doesn’t harm their other relationships, how is it a problem? If it does harm other relationships, then how does it do that?

@Clairey LOL on me being naive. If prostitution were legal then it could be regulated just like every other business including the manufacturing of porn.

I’m more interested, though, in keeping the women who choose that profession safe. As it sits right now they are not. Keeping it illegal will maintain the status quo and that is unacceptable to me. Evil things happen in dark places. Let’s not make prostitution a dark place.