Lia responded to my post last week Think again, presenting a case against legalized prostitution. She writes:
I do think you’re missing the point. I am very conflicted on the matter of prostitution, but legalising it will remove pimps from the equation. Moreover, any sensible legislation on the topic will make safer-sex practices the law and make sex-workers undergo regular STI screening, so it’s silly to say that johns will want to hire little girls.
Also legalising prostitution will not take away the statutory protections that keep children safe from sexual abuse of any kind. There are lots of real issues surrounding prostitution, but this is most certainly not one of them.
Thanks, Lia. I’m betting your thoughts are shared by many but the evidence doesn’t bear out your conclusions.
Legalizing prostitution tends to increase the criminal influence not decrease it, as you suggest. The strongest case can be made by the most infamous red-light district in the world—Amsterdam. This TIME article details the Dutch government’s effort to rein in its storied sex trade because of the powerful criminal element that moved in. Note this excerpt:
In a break with Amsterdam’s “anything goes” attitude, Cohen and city officials have vowed to finally crack down on what they say are extensive criminal networks operating in the neighborhood. … Police also say that more and more prostitutes now work for pimps, in violation of Dutch laws that require them to work independently.
In the United States, Rhode Island officials just changed a state law allowing indoor prostitution, which criminal trafficking rings exploited to funnel women and girls in and out of the state with impunity.
Other powerful evidence comes from Shared Hope International’s Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Project which chronicles the prostitution of children in ten U.S cities. Here is a powerful video showing pimps offering to sell children for sex.
Finally, this heartbreaking video by New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof and this one about the formation of anti-trafficking group Love 146 ought to dispel any remaining “Pretty Woman” notions about prostitution.
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