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[Thad]

That's a good response.  Given the current anti-immigrant climate in the US, it's easy to picture human smugglers trapping illegal immigrants into prostitution, locals who know about it being too afraid to go to law enforcement, and law enforcement failing to investigate the cases that ARE reported.

That said, those things are already happening, and if legalization occurred, it wouldn't be the cause per se; regulatory failure would be.

So the question becomes whether it's actually possible to regulate effectively and, if not, whether it would at least be better than what's happening now.  Those are difficult questions to quantify.

[Pacobird]

So the question becomes whether it's actually possible to regulate effectively and, if not, whether it would at least be better than what's happening now.  Those are difficult questions to quantify.

And whether the result would be worth legalizing prostitution for; if we legalize and don't crack down on human trafficking, we end up like the current situation in the EU (and I have zero problems believing kidnapping/slavery would go down domestically with the kind of inequality we're talking about in the US), but if we DO crack down on human trafficking I am going to give you one guess as to whether or not those crackdowns would be used as an excuse to harass law-abiding citizens trying to make a buck.

Reading that it sounds like I'm making the case for some equivalence between these and that's obviously not the case, but it bears mentioning that if legalization and regulation made it easier to be a prostitute, the Netherlands wouldn't have such a big problem with illegal and unregulated prostitution.

[Brentai]

Basically it sounds like the only sytemic change that would occur from legalization is that governments would be able to earn tax revenue from it.

[Zaratustra]

Again offended, the man stomped off down the street in search of a more equitable shop. His search continued until he finally reached a brothel where the Madame said, "Why yes, this is a union house."

"And if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?" he questioned.

"The girls get $80 and the house gets $20."

"That's more like it!" the man said. He looked around the room and pointed to a stunningly attractive redhead. "I'd like her for the night."

"I'm sure you would, sir," said the Madame while gesturing to a grotesque woman in her seventies in the corner, "But Ethel here has seniority."

[Ziiro]

What the fuck is the point you are even trying to make with that nonsense?

[Bal]

I'm going to nominate that post for Most Elaborate Strawman of the year. Bonus points for working Slippery Slope in there as well.

[Brentai]

I thought he was just tossing in an old jok.

[Misha]

yeah I'm pretty sure it's just a joke about unions

[Pacobird]

Basically it sounds like the only sytemic change that would occur from legalization is that governments would be able to earn tax revenue from it.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say sex work tends to attract (or at the very least end up involving) the economically or psychologically vulnerable.

[patito]

You people have no sense of humor.

[Catloaf]

So under Canadian law it's johns who break the law.

Which is how it should be!  People have the right to bodily autonomy.  This means that they should have every right to have abortions and accept money for sexual favors.  However, culturally, we have to take into account that in the act of prostitution, the prostitute is being objectified (literally) and demeaned.  So where does the burden of immorality fall if the prostitute is exempt due to personal rights/not blaming the victim?  On the buyer, of course.  The immoral part of prostitution takes place in the mind of the John, where the objectification takes place.  So if it's illegal, they should be the ones facing a penalty.

And on the human trafficking argument, it may well be that there would continue to be an illegal market in some places, but I highly doubt that it would happen in America.  Unless there are some shocking statistics about human trafficking in Nevada that I don't know about.

[Disposable Ninja]

Basically it sounds like the only sytemic change that would occur from legalization is that governments would be able to earn tax revenue from it.

Well, theoretically, it should make life better for numerous sex workers (unionization, industry safety standards, patron accountability). Furthermore, prostitutes would be able to at least report rape without fear of being arrested just for being prostitutes.

Legalization or Decriminalization wouldn't be magic spells that solve every problem that prostitution suffers, but for fuck's sake it's better than an all out ban.

[fullmooninu]

there's something about prostitutes that bugs me. Whenever i got hit by one, the time elapsed from the "hi you are so nice" to the "buy me, pay me" is always too damn short.

From a strict comparison to the genetic dominant advantage seeking behavior, dominating human females, i do admire female prostitutes, for their deviance, but i also fear for them.

Still, the part that's always weird and interesting for me is when you say "no" to the pretty ones.

There's an investigative theater play based on interviews going on in town, about this subject. It's called Whores of Lisbon.

Im watchin' it next week with some luck. I haven't been in contact with the ladies for a while, because the russian guy that enjoyed and took me to those places is no longer in portugal.

[Mongrel]

Cross-posting from News From The North:

Ontario Superior Court rules that anti-prostitution laws in Canada are unconstitutional and must be struck down.

Ruling states that as of next year it will be legal in Ontario, though effectively only indoors. Of course I fully expect a Supreme Court challenge on this one and a stay of implementation, but the gauntlet has been thrown. If the Supreme Court does uphold the ruling (I can't see them not taking the case), I expect they will do what they did when the provision against same-sex marriage was struck down: Send it back to the legislature to make and vote on a law that is constitutional, so as to give a ruling with significant social impact more legitimacy and head off charges of judicial activism.

Stay tuned for the Harper (and Dalton McGuinty/Tim Hudak) reaction.

[Mongrel]

A history professor from my alma mater gives a pretty good rundown of how prosititution was handled in the medieval period

Even then it was marginalized and disreputable, but still managed to be much more socially acceptable than it is today.