Prostitution is Legal already! (Should prostitution be legalised?)

Member Name: jpegington

Product:	Should prostitution be legalised?
Date:	18/12/06 (2035 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Can only allow more people to be exploited

Should prostitution be legalised?

This is of course another emotional issue and the question as to whether prostitution be legalised has been going on for some time, especially with the current tragedy in Ipswich.

Before I outline my position and thoughts on this I should highlight that I am a Christian and stand with the principles of the Bible and its moral and Christian teachings. As such I would say that Prostitution is wrong and should not be made legal as it goes against the teaching of the Bible which highlights that you should not pay for sex.

However, putting that aside, lets look at the various issues that are arising here. The first issue to highlight is that prostitution in the UK is not illegal. In fact it has always been legal in the UK, it is the issue of soliciting in the street which is illegal (as is kerb crawling) and indeed running a brothel (where someone is controlling another adult’s prostitution for a gain) is illegal.

The current laws are therefore in place to keep prostitutes off the street (to avoid annoyance for the general public), to prevent anyone being forced into prostitution and to penalise those living off prostitutes.

In my opinion the current setup actually seems to make a lot of sense. Anyone who enters prostitution (either willingly to make money or because they have to, in order to fund a drug addiction, etc) is not breaking the law as long as they are not soliciting on the streets. I would also say that I would not expect that the police make a huge amount of effort on cracking down on soliciting as long as it is not too obvious or explicit (although I do not know this for certain as I do not come across it a lot where I live).

The current laws therefore allow the trade to continue while at the same time taking into account the general public and not having prostitution forced into their faces while penalising those who are being pimps and living off prostitutes. Personally I would rather be able to walk around in my town and other areas without having prostitutes approaching me or offering me their services. I understand that this is a service that some men will unfortunately pay for and although I do not agree with this, I think that the current status quo seems correct.

I would stress here that more should be done to stop anyone being forced into prostitution. We should have more drug centres in place to help those addicted to drugs and stop them from having to sell their bodies to feed an addiction. However in my opinion legalising prostitution (and as a lot of people are saying the drugs trade) does not make sense and I will try to highlight a little further the counter arguments.

Firstly, should we legalise brothels and soliciting in the streets and bring in red light districts then I do not think that it will reduce the amount of crime in relation to this. You will always have some individuals who will try to steal money, etc and by creating a red light district you have an area where some individuals will no doubt go to (and possibly be embarrassed to be there) and yet criminals will also be there. This could lead to a crime being committed in an area where the individual does not want to admit being at and in fact the criminal getting away with it because it is not reported.

I also think that in allowing the trade to continue more legally you are actually encouraging the use of pimps and people who will exploit women. After all, if it is legal to run a brothel and a pimp approaches a young woman with the offer to make £400 / £500 a week by being a prostitute rather than their current salary or no job, then I think more people will get into this business. Again it will be those who are weak and from a poorer education or upbringing who will suffer by being dragged into this business.

There is also the issue of taxation to consider. I understand that legalising brothels etc would possibly allow the government to tax the trade more efficiently (I am sure that prostitutes are already paying income tax in some way or another) but I do not see how it would enable the government to crack down on exploitation and / or pimping. After all if the job seekers allowance and social services benefits is so exploited as it is, how are they going to manage loads of brothels as well.

Everyone always highlights Amsterdam as an example to look to in regards to this issue and indeed drug legalisation. However since 2000 when the Dutch government legalised prostitution, Amsterdam has become a magnet for human trafficking, drug dealers and petty crime. Pickpockets are very active in the red light districts and I have been given the advise not to walk around the streets along at night for certain and especially not in the red light districts.

I would say that prostitution should not be legalised to the extent of allowing brothels and pimping as this can only cause more hurt to the individual women who are involved in this business. I would say that there is no reason why there cannot be a national register of prostitutes (with relevant regular health checks, etc) in order to prevent the spread of STDs and such. After all, being a prostitute and indeed using a prostitute is legal in this country and therefore this would allow them to be registered and give further protection to the various customers as they can be assured that they have had regular health checks. This would also allow more support to be given to the prostitutes and hopefully provide them with an opportunity and encouragement to move into other work if they want to.

Summary: Keep the status Quo, it seems to work!