Step #69: Legalize Prostitution

A list was given to mankind, not from on high, despite “Legalize Marijuana” being the first item on this list of steps for a better world. I prepared this list with the intention of writing a follow up essay (at the very least) on each of the suggestions. As the list is in no particular order, so too are my essays delving into the individual topics.

This is my first go at an essay from my list of steps for a better world, and it is on the topic of legalizing prostitution.

Step #69 for a Better World: Legalize Prostitution

When’s the last time you had sex? Think about it, seriously. Consider what led to it. What were your reasons for having sex? What do you think the other person’s reasonings were? Did you enjoy it? Did they enjoy it? Who pursued it and how? Was it a quick and charming one-night stand, or a well-planned and lengthy seduction?

Assuming you’re not a rapist, what you just imagined shouldn’t be too much different had you paid your partner for their participation. Was it worth your money? If you enjoyed it, maybe it was. If you didn’t, would a small cash sum make up for the wasted time? Money added into the mix does not change the underlying arrangement. It may, however, balance the perceived value of the act for its participants.

Morality, I think, is the biggest obstacle in the way of legal prostitution. The evidence is largely in favor of legalization, but those opposed to it (who don’t have self-interest in exploiting the current illegality of it) are so due to their superior sense of morals. They may find evidence and make other claims to support their side, but that’s only because they realize how subjective morality is with regards to sex. The truth is, if you think sex is wrong, you’re going to think prostitution is wrong. And if you don’t necessarily think sex is wrong, but think sex for money is wrong, then there’s probably no convincing you to change your mind. However, I don’t care to convince you, nor do I need to. Morality is subjective, and your designation of prostitution as something naughty does not make it so, except for its kinky value, of course.

So, I prefer to skip over moral issues of sex, sex outside of a relationship, and/or sex for money. It’s irrelevant for a law outlying an act that doesn’t involve others unwillingly.

There is the moral issue that so-called feminists will raise about prostitution being degrading to women, or limiting women or pushing them into selling themselves. Aside from envy over being unable to have anyone want to pay them for sex, people who take this stance are motivated by the assumption that sex itself is inherently sexist, or degrading, or wrong. Again, this is all subjective.

Is sex sexist? Thinking that sex is sexist is sexist. We are moving away from that imbalance, but women still haven’t completely found a way to own sexuality like men can. Maybe this is because there are actual differences between men and women in that department. I can’t speak to the reasons why so many women can’t cope with being sexual objects. Men don’t seem to have this problem. We’re comfortable knowing we can have sex without that defining us. Women can, too, yet, they aren’t realizing it. I would have to assume it’s lingering insecurities from a sexist past, like a former fatty still being worried about how people will judge her. I’m continually surprised by women’s fears of being a “slut”. Halloween just passed recently, and if anything can prove women are sluts, it’s Halloween. Here’s the point: it’s okay. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have negative connotations anymore. Let go! (Of course, I’m referring to the casual usage of the word, as hyperbole, applied to any girl engaging in anything remotely sexual. When it’s said to be insulting and imply a character flaw, then maybe it’s understandable to want to avoid it, but even then, it’s just a healthy case of gluttony.)

Once you’re okay with being a slut, then you can become okay with being a whore. And if you’re not, well, don’t be one. That brings us to the main reason prostitution should be legal: it’s consensual.

My list for a better world requires that I qualify what constitutes “better”. For me, “better” means more personal freedom for more people. Prostitution, in its legalized form, is an arrangement entered into willfully by the parties involved. There are no potential victims aside from its participants. So, on this basis, legalizing prostitution would do a great deal to extend personal freedoms.

Fortunately, we don’t live in a society where people commit to blindly following our government overlords. As Ian Malcolm says, “Life finds a way.” And surely life is synonymous with sex. Even with prostitution illegal in the United States, with the exception of some parts of Nevada, there are 250,000 to 500,000 prostitutes here [Empowering Prostitutes: A Proposal for International Legal Reform by Pasqua Scibelli]. Illegal prostitution is happening from sea to shining semen.

According to Scibelli’s essay, one study found that 76% of its interviewed prostitutes admitted to being injured while on the job. Now, we get to the part where we’re not simply creating a utopian society by granting more personal freedoms, but we can actually use the legalization of prostitution to improve lives of many people.

People in the prostitution business are easily exploited. When the government outlaws an industry, it doesn’t cease to exist. Instead, it thrives in a kind of pseudo-anarchy sub-government, where elections are determined by who can kill whom. Anyone abused in this kind of system loses the privilege of having a Bill of Rights to protect them. Generally, this is out of fear of prosecution. It’s the same reason if you crash into a tree while high, you don’t call an ambulance. If you do, your insurance won’t cover the damage, and you’ll be arrested. It’s not in your favor to do what would otherwise be logical. By making prostitution legal, which, unlike driving impaired, doesn’t put anyone outside of its participants at risk, there exists an artificial coefficient disrupting the general equation of logic. Typically, if your employer decides to slap you around or withhold money you’re entitled to, you would file a legal complaint and probably a civil suit. You can’t do that if you’re engaging in illegal behavior when that abuse happens.

So, the solution here is to stop considering prostitution illegal behavior. Resources would be freed up that are currently being wasted on policing prostitution. Police can tend to other matters. Our DAs can concentrate on criminals. Prostitutes and their clients won’t have to face jail time and legal penalties and fees. The essay by Scibelli states that 30% of the women in female jails are in for prostitution. Would anyone doubt that this is a detriment to their life? An arrest can be a difficult thing to live down, and really limit a person’s options in life. Where we might have had a promising young girl using sex as a means to escape her unfortunate reality, we end up with a young girl out of options and living with a criminal record.

For most of this essay, I’ve been making the claim that prostitution only affects those involved. Anyone opposed to its legalization would probably disagree. They may say that it’s a corrupting influence, that it lowers property values, that it spreads STDs. Currently, that may be the case. Legalizing would greatly reduce these harms. I don’t believe in setting up extensive regulations as many prostitution advocates might. If the pimps are a problem, handing that job over to the government isn’t going to do us any good. So, how do we control STDs if we don’t mandate regular health examinations? Competition, that’s how. By legalizing prostitution, the industry can move into the mainstream where its regulation is done by consumers. Sure, it may still be taxed as a good or service, so the government benefits, but we don’t need the government to take all the money its spending fighting a war on prostitution just to set up a new bureaucracy on prostitution. We can regulate the sex for money industry ourselves. We already see this in the works despite its current illegality. Eliot Spitzer paid over $4,000 an hour for a hooker when he could have had a 401-way using “regular” hookers. Is he just some kind of crazy monogamist or a financial imbecile? Maybe, but what he was really paying for there was something more than sex. He was paying for assurances, for safety, for quality, for privacy. Well, every industry makes the occasional mistake, right?

With prostitution legalized, people would be free to shop around for the deal they want. I would suspect that the reason most people don’t hire a prostitute isn’t because they feel it’s immoral, or because it’s illegal, but because they’re afraid of catching an STD. Naturally, a brothel that offers its clients safe, STD-free products would be more desirable, more profitable. Instances of STDs on the other hand would kill a sex trader (financially, and literally, in some cases). STDs aren’t bad for any business at the moment. Maybe that’s the real reason we’re not curing AIDS. Perhaps if we had a multi-million dollar industry whose income is threatened by STDs we could start to see some real solutions.

One of my favorite pluses to legalizing prostitution, aside from the possibility of coupon days, is that it would go a long way toward lessening the taboo of sex. Think about the psychological damage done by generations of repressing sexual desires and curiosities. Fortunately, this is going away, but not fast enough. We still can’t get gay marriage legalized. People are still more offended by a naked female than violence in movies and television. Then, we complain about sexual deviants: pedophiles, rapists and Larry Craig. Is it any wonder these people exist? We’re breeding them by creating an environment in which people are discouraged from freely and safely exploring their sexuality. Legalizing prostitution would give that repressed tension a natural release.