It's Time to Legalize the Sex Trade.
I can't imagine that any eight, ten, twelve year old girl, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, responded "a sex trade worker".
It's not a career choice many make willingly, but the fact remains that for many women (and yes, some men) sex equals survival.
Regardless of whatever reason or circumstance, sex trade workers face abuse, disease, public scorn and the very real possibility of death every single time they hit the streets looking for a "date". Except for a few small groups dedicated to keeping sex trade workers safe, who cares about these women? Who even gives them a second thought? Not many people, obviously, given that more than 60 women went missing from the Downtown East Side without as much as a whisper from the police, the press or the public.
Legalizing prostitution and regulating the sex trade would go a long way toward keeping a vulnerable group of people safer. In jurisdictions where governments sanction brothels, sex trade workers are given medical care, safe housing, and most importantly, protection. The women are not forced to stand on dark street corners in the pouring rain, subjected to untold horrors while their fellow citizens try to pretend they don't exist.
It's really not about whether the sex trade should exist. It does exist. It's not about whether women should sell their bodies in order to survive. Women do sell their bodies. Prostitution has been a reality for hundreds of years, and for hundreds of years women in the sex trade have been treated like pariahs.
The truth is that sex sells, and as long as there are men willing to pay, and women willing to sell, there will be prostitution.
But it doesn't have to remain a neverending game of Russian Roulette for women.
It's not a career choice many make willingly, but the fact remains that for many women (and yes, some men) sex equals survival.
Regardless of whatever reason or circumstance, sex trade workers face abuse, disease, public scorn and the very real possibility of death every single time they hit the streets looking for a "date". Except for a few small groups dedicated to keeping sex trade workers safe, who cares about these women? Who even gives them a second thought? Not many people, obviously, given that more than 60 women went missing from the Downtown East Side without as much as a whisper from the police, the press or the public.
Legalizing prostitution and regulating the sex trade would go a long way toward keeping a vulnerable group of people safer. In jurisdictions where governments sanction brothels, sex trade workers are given medical care, safe housing, and most importantly, protection. The women are not forced to stand on dark street corners in the pouring rain, subjected to untold horrors while their fellow citizens try to pretend they don't exist.
It's really not about whether the sex trade should exist. It does exist. It's not about whether women should sell their bodies in order to survive. Women do sell their bodies. Prostitution has been a reality for hundreds of years, and for hundreds of years women in the sex trade have been treated like pariahs.
The truth is that sex sells, and as long as there are men willing to pay, and women willing to sell, there will be prostitution.
But it doesn't have to remain a neverending game of Russian Roulette for women.
posted by Alphamutt at 11:55 AM
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