Why is sex work even illegal in the first place.
this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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Selling is legal, fucking is legal, why isn't selling fucking legal?
-- George Carlin
Seas he also the fella that said “Getting paid for sex is illegal… UNLESS YOU RECORD IT!”
For years I've contemplated the idea if I came into a bunch of money if starting a porn studio where the customer is an actor/actress in the porn.
We have a building and several "sets" with cameras recording, customer picks their "partner" and "set" and "shoot the porn", after they are done the video is burned on to a dvd(or blue ray or potentially put on a private file server).
The customer isn't paying for sex, they are paying for the video.
Pretty sure it would have a ton of legal push back and I would need a lot of money for the lawyers to fight the cases.
But 1. Safer for everyone imvolved(it's video taped so you won't beat/hurt/kill the other party) 2.technically legal just like shooting porn
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The underlying assumption is the same as in abortion: that women can't be entrusted with agency over their own bodies.
Because one of the biggest issues with sex work, human trafficking, gets worse with legalization. Studies across Europe have shown that countries that outlaw prostitution see a decrease in human trafficking victims while countries that legalized or decriminalized it see an increase.
Unlike with drugs, you don't just create a way to increase the supply. A very small minority of women actually want to engage in sex work. And the few who do, usually envision the high class escort lifestyle. But working in a brothel charging $100 per client isn't something many want to do.
But legalizing prostitution increases demand. Which makes it more profitable for criminals to utilize human trafficking to fill that demand.
https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/lids/2014/06/12/does-legalized-prostitution-increase-human-trafficking/
One source of it.
It also doesn't help at all with protecting victims of human trafficking. Victims of human trafficking are already protected. But they don't step forward because of threats against their own well being and that of their families. Something that doesn't change just because their work technically is legal now.
Which leaves a small percentage of people who fall into financial hardship and consider prostitution as a method of overcoming said hardship. For them that might slightly improve their situation. But that still means exploiting vulnerable people and isn't people engaging in sex work because they want to. And it's even questionable if people in these scenarios would follow the legal way.
So while initially it might seem like legalizing it solves a lot of issues, it is more difficult than that.
Us laws regarding sex work are firmly based in puritanical values not out of any concern whatsoever regarding trafficking.
I reckon that even though sex work is legalised, and still caused issues, the problem is that there is no government regulation. It's one thing to say by the government that they won't prosecute sex workers, but if it's not regulated and abuse still happens then nothing changed for all intents and purposes. Best analogy I could think of is like allowing food factories to manufacture food, of course. But if there is no regulatory watchdog to monitor and test to make sure food factories are not putting random and dangerous stuff into food, then legalising an activity is pointless.
Basically, the sex industry having been legalised by many countries is unofficially a libertarian set up. Yeah, the government exists and allow sexual transactions between agreeing parties, but they're hands off on how the practitioners in the industry would conduct business. There is no government agency for sex workers to complain to if they're abused. I know people would ask, how exactly would the government regulate sex? That, I will leave to policy experts.
Edit: wording
Thanks for the data. I think the issue here is not that legal prostitution creates problems, but rather the government bodies being incompetent at protecting the victims, then.
There are other industries in which people "sell their bodies" for profit (the military and construction come to mind), and if those can be quite regulated, why can't prostitution?
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Puritan values.
My bet is on America's conservative puritan history where anything good is bad.
Also sex trafficking. At least that's the argument for keeping it illegal. :(
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Old white men elected themselves under the guise of voting (gerrymandering who?) and are too embarrassed and confused to allow women the rights they have as humans. Isn't democracy silly.
I'd say the diagram of "Why is sex work illegal" and "Why is abortion illegal" is almost a perfect circle.
It's about contolling other peoples' bodies and weakening the separation of church and state.
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I'm assuming they're arresting the sex workers and not the politicians and military officials?
Hopefully neither, and they’ll arrest the organizers/pimps/etc.
sex workers and clients should be the lowest priority.
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3 individuals sounds like just the pimps.
They'd probably have to confirm identities to arrest those folks, and also prove they aren't just getting name-dropped.
Just grabbing the pimps and workers is a lot easier and less case intense
Anybody remember that one piece about our servicemen being involved in trafficking women overseas about three years ago that was swept under the rug?
I only remember the rug as I’m supposed to.
Ah, yes, 4-star generals in Procurement retiring to gold-plated consulting gigs in the very companies from which they ordered $1000 paper clips and congressional members using insider info from some congressional comission or other they're in for trading on their portfolios is all fine, it's paying for sex that's the real problem with holders of high level official positions in America.
The bribery potential of those officials violating the laws they're publicly supporting is the problem.
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The client list will likely go in the same vault as Epstein's. They're all assets now.
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I'm sure they'll be arresting and charging the politicians any and revoking security clearances any moment now...
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I really don’t understand the way the US works in regards to „bought“ sex… on the one hand prostitution is illegal (with the exception of ~~Las Vegas~~ parts of Nevada) and as soon as you point a camera on the paid fucking it is called PORN and it is still a multi billion dollar industry.
You guys are weird
Edit: changed the Las Vegas part
Prostitution isn't legal in Vegas. Parts of Nevada yes, but in Clark county where Las Vegas is located prostitution is illegal.
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It's very bizarre. Kinda shocking the gov't hasn't figured out the massive amount of tax revenue behind the legalization of sex workers.
Works in other countries at least. Here in Germany they just pay income tax, like everyone else. Actually they are freelancers usually…
On the other hand, Germany is still a bit backwards regarding cannabis legalization… but we are working on it.
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There are porn producers who do such a crappy job that I’d swear they only film so they have legal access to prostitution.
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It started a few centuries ago when this annoying group of people known as Puritans were expelled from their home country and sailed to north America.
The natives saved them from starvation and today still impose their beliefs and values on everybody. These hypocritical laws is but one example
They were not expelled from anywhere. They wanted to impose their religious doctrine on everyone else but every government keep telling them to fuck off.
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In this day and age where nothing stays secret, how is it hard for elected officials not do stupid stuff like visiting brothels?
In this day and age, why aren't brothels and sex work legal?
Buddy, we're still working on legalizing an absurdly common plant because for a while much of the country thought it was satanic or whatever.
"In this day and age," in America, of course it's not legal yet. That is gonna take a long time.
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Where else are they going to get sex? From the woman they live with that is laughably called their wife?
Look at Ted Cruz and tell me that there is a woman on the planet earth who will allow him inside her without money being exchanged.
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If the girls were sex trafficked I have a problem with this, if they were free to do as they please, then I have no issue with this.
Since it’s illegal and probably secret from their wives, it opens the client to blackmail, which isn’t good for the public if they’re in government or military.
Regardless of whether someone was trafficked, folks in positions of power chosing* to disregard the law is itself an issue.
Sex shouldn't be illegal if it occurs between two consenting adults.
It shouldn't. But if elected officials are breaking the law instead of fixing it, that is bad.
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Who would have thought it. A brothel in Watertown. Cambridge I can see. What's next, strip clubs in Belmont, Mitt Romney's home town?
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