Why is prostitution illegal?

[Dante]

Personally I feel prostitution is degradation. It affects both men and women, but the majority are women. Many of these women are desperate. They turn to this 'profession' out of desperation.

What about the women who are not desperate? What about people who do not feel sex is degradation? What about people who feel what and how and when they have sex is none of yours or mine business?

 

[idb]

The flaw in that argument is that road construction is of a roading nature...prostitution, among other professions, is not.

Prostitution is not synonymous with road construction. It's the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment. Per its other definition, it's the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for the sake of personal or financial gain. Therefore, it cannot be argued that everything you do with your body is prostitution. To argue otherwise is to, for example, say that working as a soldier, a doctor, a nurse, and an EMT is that same as being a prostitute.

Prostitution is not synonymous with road construction

Of course it isn't.
Just like working at McDonalds is different to working at KFC...one is burgers, the other is chicken.

With respect, could you clarify what it is you are disagreeing with me on, please?

You saying that prostitution is different to other jobs because it includes sex.

My point is that you could cite any spurious difference you chose between any two jobs if it suited your purpose.
Just because prostitution includes sex doesn't make it less of a profession than road construction.

I do appreciate your willingness to level with me, and I respect your candor.

Respectfully, I feel differently about this. Personally I feel prostitution is degradation. It affects both men and women, but the majority are women. Many of these women are desperate. They turn to this 'profession' out of desperation. They whore their bodies, treated like pieces of meat, treated like they don't mean anything, only to be degraded again, and again, and again. My heart hates this. I don't like seeing people desperate and starving and dehumanizing themselves because they feel that is the only way to survive. It breaks my heart, and it makes my ears tear up knowing that people are being treated this way to make a few measly bucks. That is how I feel. I have a soul, and emotions, and I think I can tell when something is wrong. Who here wants their little girl to grow up one day and be a prostitute?

They're both 'not just' professions. That is like saying just because assassins and thieves include murder and theft doesn't make them any less of a profession than road construction. Honestly, idb, I don't feel in my heart that I can see this issue the same way you do. Again, I do thank you for your candor and respect.

Should the government be ruling on moral issues?
Should they be making prostitution illegal because they deem it to be immoral?
Is that their job really?
How comfortable would you be if the US government ruled on the morality of everything?

 

[Wake]

Prostitution is not synonymous with road construction. It's the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment. Per its other definition, it's the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for the sake of personal or financial gain. Therefore, it cannot be argued that everything you do with your body is prostitution. To argue otherwise is to, for example, say that working as a soldier, a doctor, a nurse, and an EMT is that same as being a prostitute.

1) it's the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents? says who?

2) and if one's talents happen to be in the sexual sphere why not use them the sake of personal or financial gain?

1) Google

2) Well, that depends. Where do you stand on the moral spectrum? Once that's known, we can bridge from there.

It's not an issue of where one stands on a moral spectrum that has yet to be identified. It is about definitions ..

• the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment.
  
  
• the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for the sake of personal or financial gain.

Dante of course came at it without a moral crusade. To suggest everyone involved in prostitution is in it for the same group of reasons that would outrage most people, moralists or not, is to defy the realities of sexuality. There are people who view sex differently than either you or I. Their views are not any less or more moral to me

If you want to mix in ethics, we have a whole nother conversation

Personally I feel prostitution is degradation. It affects both men and women, but the majority are women. Many of these women are desperate. They turn to this 'profession' out of desperation.

What about the women who are not desperate? What about people who do not feel sex is degradation? What about people who feel what and how and when they have sex is none of yours or mine business?

Those I feel really are valid questions and, if there are answers to them, it's really freaking complicated. Uhm... I could try to answer them, but it's really just a matter of opinion and, with respect to you, both of our opinions are not the same. That, in itself, is neither a good or bad thing. It makes us people with our own unique collection of viewpoints.

Uhm... What about the women who are not desperate. Uhm, hm... It still feels wrong. Personally it feels like a woman is still being treated like a piece of meat, degraded repeatedly [fucked], for money. It is the carnal men with lust in their hearts who pay money so they can get into a woman's vagina, because he has neither love nor courage to befriend and fall in love with a woman like normal men usually can. This lust, the twisted sister of love, is behind this dehumanization. Again... that's just my personal view of it, and I'm being honest with you, and I'm not pretending that my view is the only view that is correct. All I can do is speak for myself while respecting those who see things a little differently.

On the second question... I don't think sex in and of itself is degradation... And I don't think I argued that, either... It is the selling of your body for money to be gripped and treated like a piece of meat out of nothing but carnal lust, not love, that I personally feel is degrading.

In spite of people who feel differently, or feel it is none of my business, I don't think it really matters, honestly. I will hold true to my convictions; those with a difference of opinion will not change theirs simply because of my opinion, and so I and everyone else with a similar view to mine will not change theirs simply because the other people have a difference of opinion. I think that's what makes honest communication great: we have these differences of opinion, and we have respect, and we can get to know one another better while treating each other well. Also, it'd be really boring if we all had the same set of opinions. Seriously.

 

[Dante]

I'll get back to Wake on this later,,

 

[idb]

Prostitution is not synonymous with road construction. It's the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment. Per its other definition, it's the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for the sake of personal or financial gain. Therefore, it cannot be argued that everything you do with your body is prostitution. To argue otherwise is to, for example, say that working as a soldier, a doctor, a nurse, and an EMT is that same as being a prostitute.

1) it's the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents? says who?

2) and if one's talents happen to be in the sexual sphere why not use them the sake of personal or financial gain?

1) Google

2) Well, that depends. Where do you stand on the moral spectrum? Once that's known, we can bridge from there.

It's not an issue of where one stands on a moral spectrum that has yet to be identified. It is about definitions ..

• the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment.
  
  
• the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for the sake of personal or financial gain.

Dante of course came at it without a moral crusade. To suggest everyone involved in prostitution is in it for the same group of reasons that would outrage most people, moralists or not, is to defy the realities of sexuality. There are people who view sex differently than either you or I. Their views are not any less or more moral to me

If you want to mix in ethics, we have a whole nother conversation

Personally I feel prostitution is degradation. It affects both men and women, but the majority are women. Many of these women are desperate. They turn to this 'profession' out of desperation.

What about the women who are not desperate? What about people who do not feel sex is degradation? What about people who feel what and how and when they have sex is none of yours or mine business?

Those I feel really are valid questions and, if there are answers to them, it's really freaking complicated. Uhm... I could try to answer them, but it's really just a matter of opinion and, with respect to you, both of our opinions are not the same. That, in itself, is neither a good or bad thing. It makes us people with our own unique collection of viewpoints.

Uhm... What about the women who are not desperate. Uhm, hm... It still feels wrong. Personally it feels like a woman is still being treated like a piece of meat, degraded repeatedly [fucked], for money. It is the carnal men with lust in their hearts who pay money so they can get into a woman's vagina, because he has neither love nor courage to befriend and fall in love with a woman like normal men usually can. This lust, the twisted sister of love, is behind this dehumanization. Again... that's just my personal view of it, and I'm being honest with you, and I'm not pretending that my view is the only view that is correct. All I can do is speak for myself while respecting those who see things a little differently.

On the second question... I don't think sex in and of itself is degradation... And I don't think I argued that, either... It is the selling of your body for money to be gripped and treated like a piece of meat out of nothing but carnal lust, not love, that I personally feel is degrading.

In spite of people who feel differently, or feel it is none of my business, I don't think it really, matters, honestly. I will hold true to my convictions; those with a difference of opinion will not change theirs simply because of my opinion, and so I and everyone else with a similar view to mine will not change theirs simply because the other people have a difference of opinion. I think that's what makes honest communication great: we have these differences of opinion, and we have respect, and we can get to know one another better while treating each other well. Also, it'd be really boring if we all had the same set of opinions. Seriously.

So, given all that, do you think prostitution should be illegal?

 

[MikeK]

I give up

Ask a damn prostitute how they feel about their profession!

There is a very broad spectrum of types of women who engage in prostitution at some level. It ranges from the strung-out junkie streetwalker to the $5,000 a session courtesan who establishes terms on what is and is not acceptable to her.
In between those extremes are women who have a nymphomaniacal compulsion for sexual activity and feel that it might as well be profitable. And there are college girls who pay their way through school with $200 "dates" with men they selectively accept. And on and on.

 

[danielpalos]

Is the right really claiming to believe in Capitalism; but, denying and disparaging Individual Liberty through socialism?

 

[Programmer]

Prostitution is not theft or robbery, it is services paid for, like any other business. Why is it illegal then?

Also, with increased poverty, prostitution may help some economically.

If prostitution was legal, it could be regulated, pimps held at bay, and the exchange would be safer, even worthy of insurance policies.

So, why is this traditional industry still outlawed?

Transcribed from the most ancient scrolls: "cracka is always going to hate on a pimp".

 

[Ame®icano]

If you want to make women vulnerable to abuse and rape then legalize prostitution. If you want to devalue and demean women, if you want to encourage sick bastards to purchase women's bodies then legalize prostitution. If instead you want to demonstrate to women that they are respected and equal in our society then prostitution would be unthinkable.

What happened with "it's my body, my choice"?

 

[BluesLegend]

If you want to make women vulnerable to abuse and rape then legalize prostitution. If you want to devalue and demean women, if you want to encourage sick bastards to purchase women's bodies then legalize prostitution. If instead you want to demonstrate to women that they are respected and equal in our society then prostitution would be unthinkable.

Wouldn't you be showing greater respect and equality to women by letting them make their own decisions about how to act with their bodies?
Why the need for Government control over people's choices...I thought that was supposed to be a Socialist thing.

There's a reason we have laws to control lowlife scum and their filthy disgusting habits. Left unchecked and unopposed a segment of women in society would be driven into prostitution and not by choice.

And the difference from what happens right now is?
Oh yes, if we legalized prostitution there would be controls and regulations in place to mitigate such things where there are none currently.

Your faith in government is ill advised.

 

[BluesLegend]

If you want to make women vulnerable to abuse and rape then legalize prostitution. If you want to devalue and demean women, if you want to encourage sick bastards to purchase women's bodies then legalize prostitution. If instead you want to demonstrate to women that they are respected and equal in our society then prostitution would be unthinkable.

If women don't want to have sex for money, no one is forcing them. I don't see how telling them who they can have sex with and under what circumstances shows they are respected. All you're telling them is that they aren't competent to run their own lives.

You underestimate the criminal and filth element who would jump all over legalized prostitution. Plus I'd have umpteen dozen women trying to buy sex from me and the libs would whine even more how I wasn't paying my fair share.

 

[OnePercenter]

I give up

Ask a damn prostitute how they feel about their profession!

I have. Next time you're in Vegas take a trip to Pahrump. Sheri's Ranch has a great steak house, and you can talk with the girls.

 

[bripat9643]

If you want to make women vulnerable to abuse and rape then legalize prostitution. If you want to devalue and demean women, if you want to encourage sick bastards to purchase women's bodies then legalize prostitution. If instead you want to demonstrate to women that they are respected and equal in our society then prostitution would be unthinkable.

If women don't want to have sex for money, no one is forcing them. I don't see how telling them who they can have sex with and under what circumstances shows they are respected. All you're telling them is that they aren't competent to run their own lives.

You underestimate the criminal and filth element who would jump all over legalized prostitution. Plus I'd have umpteen dozen women trying to buy sex from me and the libs would whine even more how I wasn't paying my fair share.

Yeah, right, because organized crime is known for running legal businesses.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Personally it feels like a woman is still being treated like a piece of meat, degraded repeatedly [fucked], for money. It is the carnal men with lust in their hearts who pay money so they can get into a woman's vagina, because he has neither love nor courage to befriend and fall in love with a woman like normal men usually can.

It's not that we want them to not make their own choices, we just care about them enough to know there is a better future for them.

 

[bripat9643]

Personally it feels like a woman is still being treated like a piece of meat, degraded repeatedly [fucked], for money. It is the carnal men with lust in their hearts who pay money so they can get into a woman's vagina, because he has neither love nor courage to befriend and fall in love with a woman like normal men usually can.

It's not that we want them to not make their own choices, we just care about them enough to know there is a better future for them.

What a load.

 

[idb]

Personally it feels like a woman is still being treated like a piece of meat, degraded repeatedly [fucked], for money. It is the carnal men with lust in their hearts who pay money so they can get into a woman's vagina, because he has neither love nor courage to befriend and fall in love with a woman like normal men usually can.

It's not that we want them to not make their own choices, we just care about them enough to know there is a better future for them.

Being men, we know what's best for the ladies.

 

[kaz]

The only legitimate use of government force is to prevent me from harming someone else

My case. In not so many words.

I thought you were arguing for prostitution to be illegal

I am. The risk for disease if anything else should be one of the main reasons to keep it illegal. If government's role is to protect others from harm, preventing the spread of STDs is the first measure I'd want them to take.

what if a small tax was imposed on that industry for a "safe sex administration" to help regulate it.

There will be a wealth of unregulated and untaxed prostitutes. Some men will use legal brothels, some men will choose the cheaper alternative that's not taxed and not regulated.

How is that different than any other product or service? The more the government taxes and regulates something to death, the more incentive people have to go to the black market.

And is that an argument? Seriously? Well, we don't want to legalize something because not everyone will use the legal version, so let's keep it all illegal...

 

[kaz]

The only legitimate use of government force is to prevent me from harming someone else

My case. In not so many words.

I thought you were arguing for prostitution to be illegal

I am. The risk for disease if anything else should be one of the main reasons to keep it illegal. If government's role is to protect others from harm, preventing the spread of STDs is the first measure I'd want them to take.

But again, to repeat an earlier point -- transmission of disease has nothing to do with whether the sex is for hire or not.

In the Netherlands where prostitution is legal, sexual disease transmissions are low

 

[TemplarKormac]

Personally it feels like a woman is still being treated like a piece of meat, degraded repeatedly [fucked], for money. It is the carnal men with lust in their hearts who pay money so they can get into a woman's vagina, because he has neither love nor courage to befriend and fall in love with a woman like normal men usually can.

It's not that we want them to not make their own choices, we just care about them enough to know there is a better future for them.

What a load.

Really? Screw you.

You want them to continue down that path? Isn't it the right of any woman to pursue a better future?

Prostitution is nothing but slavery. The real "load" here is the fact you support it. Yes you do, don't deny it. There is nothing more misogynistic that I can think of. You're basically encouraging women to be nothing but be playthings to be used by their "clients."

Perhaps I come from a different era or something, where we actually stood for a woman's integrity, not for her ability to throw herself and her body away to sexually craven men.

My bad. Now that I have a clear understanding of how some of the men in this thread feel, forgive me, but I'm sorely disappointed.

 

[BluesLegend]

If you want to make women vulnerable to abuse and rape then legalize prostitution. If you want to devalue and demean women, if you want to encourage sick bastards to purchase women's bodies then legalize prostitution. If instead you want to demonstrate to women that they are respected and equal in our society then prostitution would be unthinkable.

Wouldn't you be showing greater respect and equality to women by letting them make their own decisions about how to act with their bodies?
Why the need for Government control over people's choices...I thought that was supposed to be a Socialist thing.

There's a reason we have laws to control lowlife scum and their filthy disgusting habits. Left unchecked and unopposed a segment of women in society would be driven into prostitution and not by choice.

How do you help them by ruling out one of their options?

If you want to make women vulnerable to abuse and rape then legalize prostitution. If you want to devalue and demean women, if you want to encourage sick bastards to purchase women's bodies then legalize prostitution. If instead you want to demonstrate to women that they are respected and equal in our society then prostitution would be unthinkable.

What happened with "it's my body, my choice"?

That sounds like something a liberal would say after chanting hey hey ho ho.