Identifying Whether Prostitution Should Be Legalized

Should prostitution be legalized? Prostitution is identified as one of the oldest professions in the world and even though society has tried to eliminate it, women (and some men) still sell their bodies. In recent years, the argument connecting the legalization and criminalization of prostitution has begun to be a popular issue. There are numerous reasons as to why the legalization of selling sex would be beneficial. Some of the most convincing are that sex workers would be given rights, there would be a growth in the forestalling of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and that sex trafficking would decrease. Sex trafficking is defined as the act of illegaly forcing people into prostitution; the idea is that legalizing prostitution would reduce the amount of sex trafficking because then victims would not be scared to report assaults or violations to the authorities since what they are doing would not be illegal. Others, however, say that decriminalization increases violence towards prostitutes. Opponents also argue that prositution is the biggest cause of women’s stigmatism, and that it will be harder to distinguish human trafficking from consentual sex if it is decriminalized. A large amount of the arguments against the approval of prostitution are built on morals and ethics, rather than evidence. The legalization of prostitution has been tried in Germany, Sweden, Australia, India, New Zealand, and in part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and some data on the results is becoming available. People on both sides of this issue are passionate in their beliefs, especially about how this issue affects women. So, the debate we are going to examine is, should prostitution be legalized?

When someone hires a person there are certain labor rights that the employee acquires like, “minimum wage, freedom from discrimination, and a safe work enviroment…” but since the work that these prostitutes are doing is not legal, they can’t get any of these and they are basically working at their own risk (Fuchs). Wright says that the product of the Prostitution Reform Act has resulted as a profit to the prostitutes. Based on the passes act, the Christchurch school of medicine has done a study and realised that, “ 90 percent of sex workers believed the PRA gave them employement, legal and health and safety rights… Prostitutes also reported being able to go to the police when they were hurt or threatened.” The article is a reliable source since it shows a neutral opinion and it gives evidence to support its reasons. Both of the passages give counterarguments, which shows that they are recognizing and considering the other side of the issue. The authors base their judgement off of the evidence that is provided towards the very end. Although they’re well-written, they don’t give much explanation and it’s not easy to follow since the authors want to show all the evidence and reasoning so that the audience can make a judgement of their own.

Some countries like, New Zealand, decided to legalize prostitution and noticed that, “Condom use among sex workers rose above 99 percent…” (Bazelon). India’s sex worker collectives also proved that, “the collectives first proved adept at helping to slow the spread of H.I.V…” Melinda Gates says. Gates also wrote in, The Seattle Times, about Gita the sex worker who, “have helped to increase condom use from zero to 70 percent in their district, and to reduce H.I.V infection rates to 7 percent- compared with the rates as high as 66 percent among sex workers elsewhere.” The proof that Bazelon shows is very strong because most of the articles provide evidence based on theories about how the outcome will be. This is built on the fact that they tried this in various countries and have generated the same result. For The New York Times to have published this article demonstrates that it is reliable and credible because this source goes through many background and plagiarism checks. The article is well-written since it gives counterarguments and understands that there are reasons to support the other side but choose to stick with the decriminalization of prostitution since the advantages outweight the damages.

One of the most promising evidence that has a lot of research for both sides of the argument is sex trafficking. The people in favor of the decriminalization of delling sex say that it will decrease it because women wouldn’t be as scared to go to the authorities when they’re assaulted since what they’re doing would no longer be illegal. According to Wright, “ Munos didn’t exactly seem like a trafficking victim...But looking back, she says that’s the way she sees herself. ‘Because the work I was doing was illegal, he started to hold it over my head. He blackmailed me by threatening to tell everyone, including my family.’.... Munos told the crowd that she thinks decriminalization would have benefits for many people by bringing the sex trade out from underground.” The source that Wright pulls is a strong and reliable source since Munos’ area of expertise is in the recovering field from a sex worker’s life by forming a small recovery organization called, Abeni. She is also a former sex worker which only strengthens her evidence becuase she knows what it’s like and can actually relate to the issue. She speaks of what she went through and how the legalization of prostitution at that time would have helped her overcome some of her past problems. Although she does give her evidence-based opinion she does give the conveniences of the other side, which shows that she acknowledges and considers the counterargument.

Others who believe that decriminalizing prostitution will do more bad than good suggest that it will increase violence towards women. Although this article doesn’t use this reason as a detriment for legalizing prostitution it does give evidence as to why it’s a damage more than a benefit to women. It all bases their judgement on this certain reason on possibilities and not actual evidence that has been tried and proven. According to Fuchs, “Prostitutes in America (mostly women) are vulnerable to violence from customers and pimps. A study in San Francisco found that 82% had been assaulted and 68% had been raped while working… Another study of prostitute in Colorado Springs found they were 18 times more likely to be murdered than non-prostitutes their age and race.” Although it gives reasonable and understanding evidence, it is not reliable because it does not give any specifics as to where they got the source and a “San Francisco study” is a very general and broad term. The strengths are that it does provide evidence towards its reason and only after it gives a counterargument does it provide the side that it takes.

As said before, most of the judgements on the criminalization of prostitution is morally and not evidence-based but instead more towards the ethically side of the issue(Bazelon). Many say that prostitution is the main reason as to why woman are seen as less and the increasement of discrimination towards prostitutes(Bazelon). According to Benyamin a former sex worker said, “I’ve been shot five times, stabbed 13 times” abolitionist say that these women have to allow it and let it happen because that’s just the way this system works and society uses it as a way to stigmatise women because she “might have brought it upon herself”. Bindel says, “Abolitionist position-favoured by feminists including myself … is: prostitution is inherently abusive, and a cause and a consequence of women’s equality..” These are strong pieces of evidence because it shows that society doesn’t know much about the issue and immediately condemn it. The first piece of evidence is reliable because the previously sex worker has lived through it and can explain the problem from a different perspective that other won’t have. The second piece of evidence has some weaknesses since it shows bias because the author has a vested interest in proving that inequality is rising.

The side that has the most reliable and evidence-based information is on the legalization of prostitution because the authors that provide the proof that has been tested on other countries and have been successfull strengthen the argument. The argument is also more reasonable and has common sense like the one about sex trafficking, it’s obvious that prostitutes are going to be more open towards the police since they would no longer have the fear of commiting a crime. And the decrement of sexually transmitted diseases is also something that has been proven in places that have legalized prostitution.