San Francisco may be safe for prostitutes

[AGDee]

I have voiced here before that I think things that do not interfere with someone else's civil rights should be legal. This would include prostitution. Who is the victim in prostitution? Not the prostitute, not the john. Prostitutes are sometimes victims of their pimps as teen runaways, part of the slave trade, etc, but that would be greatly reduced if it were legalized. Besides the health benefits for participants (and therefore, reduced medical costs for tax payers), we could tax it.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I have voiced here before that I think things that do not interfere with someone else's civil rights should be legal. This would include prostitution. Who is the victim in prostitution? Not the prostitute, not the john. Prostitutes are sometimes victims of their pimps as teen runaways, part of the slave trade, etc, but that would be greatly reduced if it were legalized. Besides the health benefits for participants (and therefore, reduced medical costs for tax payers), we could tax it.

Yeah, but any regulation you put in place kind of creates a black market in avoiding that regulation.

I don't really care about prostitution's legality at all. I wouldn't expect benefits from legalizing it and I don't think there are very many benefits to keeping it illegal.

I see your argument AGDee when we're talking about prostitution of the Eliot Spitzer-whore level. But when you think about street level prostitutes, associated drug use, and abusive pimps, it's a whole lot less a personal freedom argument and a whole lot more a public nuisance kind of thing, as well as maybe an unacceptable risk to the women involved, no matter how well regulated.

And I don't want the government involved in regulating prostitution.

[AGDee]

The government is already regulating it by making it illegal. I think it would greatly reduce the street level issue.

Some women give it away freely, others charge for it. They are all at risk. It's not illegal to be promiscuous, so why should it be illegal to charge money for it? Just things to think about.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The government is already regulating it by making it illegal. I think it would greatly reduce the street level issue.

Some women give it away freely, others charge for it. They are all at risk. It's not illegal to be promiscuous, so why should it be illegal to charge money for it? Just things to think about.

To me regulation is a whole lot more involved that merely prohibiting it. Are you going to have OSHA rules, pay workman's comp? Who tests for STDs and documents results, and who verifies that woman working are within whatever rules make it safer? AND then you still have all the issues related to what happens when people break whatever regulations exists.

I don't think women who "give it away freely" are associated with most of the issues of street prostitution, for whatever reasons.

But as I said, I really don't have a preference on legality or illegality. I just don't expect much societal gain from a change.