People, especially women, sell their bodies daily for financial gain in a legalized way. Pornography is legal, as are exotic dances. It is common for people to have sex with wealthier partners in order to enjoy their wealth, whether through the search for wealthy life partners or through the less formal but increasingly common phenomenon known as sugar dating. It`s also common for people to stay in unhappy relationships because they don`t want to lose financial stability or spend money on a divorce. As debate continues around the world over whether prostitution should be decriminalized, a researcher from the School of Public Health argues in the American Medical Association`s Journal of Ethics for common ground in the United States that would penalize sex buyers and intermediaries, but not people who sell sex (i.e., prostitutes). When people argue that prostitution should be illegal, in many cases, their concern comes from a place of morality described as a concern for women`s health and safety. People believe that legalizing prostitution will only abuse more women, make it harder for prostitutes to get out of the industry, or teach young women that their bodies exist only for the purpose of sexual exploitation by men. Meanwhile, the links between organized crime, violence and prostitution in New Zealand have not been broken. Opinions differ as to whether decriminalization has improved or worsened the situation. A report released five years after decriminalization claimed that it had little impact on the number of people working in sex trafficking, but provided some protections for children and others. But the personal testimonies of women who have been prostituted prove that brothel owners and sellers have benefited more than women. Opponents believe that legalizing prostitution would lead to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, global human trafficking and violent crimes such as rape and murder.

They argue that prostitution is inherently immoral and commercially exploitative, reinforces the criminal underworld, and fosters the oppression of women by men. Globally, the prostitution trade is worth $186 billion, according to the www.havocscope.com website, which analyzes the underground economy. Revenues of this magnitude could generate a lot of tax revenue. It is estimated that legalizing prostitution in the United States could bring tax authorities about $20 billion a year. In Germany, which liberalized its prostitution laws in 2002, the legal industry is worth around €16 billion and tax revenues make a significant contribution to some urban budgets. It is time for the sex industry to be taxed like any other business so that this income can benefit society. Prostitution does not allow the general public to take advantage of these pretexts. On the contrary, the industry is honest about how sex and money are directly related. And for many people, it`s an uncomfortable idea. It is even more uncomfortable for some people to believe that women should have control over their bodies that would allow them to voluntarily engage in prostitution; You cannot afford to believe that women would choose such a profession. But instead of acknowledging this reality, those who oppose the legalization of prostitution advance with arguments about concern for women`s safety. They don`t realize that criminalizing prostitution doesn`t help sex workers, and their arguments lead to legislation that harms women while operating under the morally motivated pretext of wanting to protect them.

With regard to the authors` first point, although sex trafficking involves violence, fraud or coercion, it may not be easy for consumers or law enforcement to distinguish between those who sell sexual services with their consent and those who do not. Therefore, in a legalized environment, illegal commercial sexual acts can masquerade as legal. Moreover, prostitution has long been a stigmatized practice compared to the researchers` second thesis. Legalization could therefore significantly increase demand, not only by removing the deterrent effect of punishment, but also by reducing stigma, making sex trafficking even more profitable. The net effect of legalizing prostitution may therefore be an increase rather than a decrease in the prevalence of human trafficking, at worst. Making prostitution legal will not make them enjoyable, healthy or safe. The legalization of prostitution encourages men to demand sex and have multiple partners, which increases the risk of STDs. Condom policies are unenforceable – men will force or bribe prostitutes not to use them.

Health checks for prostitutes are meant to protect the clients, not the sex workers themselves. Being alone with strange men in an enclosed space will always put women at risk of violence. Police in the Netherlands, with their liberal prostitution laws, estimate that up to 90 percent of sex workers do not practice the profession voluntarily. Legalizing and regulating prostitution will make life safer for sex workers and help crush the pimps and trafficking gangs they exploit. Traffickers thrive because the sex trade is driven underground. Legalize it, and they will disappear. Prostitutes will feel safer when they no longer fear prosecution. Police will be able to focus their resources on fighting the real bad guys – the criminal gangs that exploit sex workers.

The experiences of countries such as Nevada, Switzerland and New Zealand show that legalized and regulated prostitution works. There appear to be notable similarities between the dynamics of the ivory trade market and the ivory trade. [+] Prostitution. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) “Consensual sex is legal. But as soon as one party offers money to another in exchange for sex and that money is voluntarily accepted, it is considered prostitution, which is illegal. This is hypocritical, illogical and unnecessary – and it must stop. The opposing abolitionist position – defended by feminists, including myself, and all the survivors of sex trafficking I interviewed – is that prostitution is inherently abusive and a cause and consequence of women`s inequality. There is no way to make it safe, and it should be possible to eradicate it. Abolitionists reject the disinfectant description of “sex worker” and consider prostitution a form of violence in a neoliberal world where human flesh is seen as a commodity, like a hamburger. The German experience shows that legalized prostitution does not work. Women are abused hour after hour in huge mega-brothels around German cities.

Human trafficking gangs continue to sell girls from Eastern Europe, South America and Africa for sexual slavery. The industry is still unregulated and under-monitored. It encourages corruption, drugs and other crimes. A report by Germany`s Family Ministry noted that a decade of legalization had brought “no real measurable improvement in social protection for prostitutes,” nor “solid evidence” that the law had reduced crime. In recent years, this argument has made great strides. In 2000, the Netherlands formulated what had already been acceptable for several years and lifted the ban on brothels, thus legalizing sex trafficking. Three years later, the New Zealand government passed the New Zealand Prostitution Reform Act by one voice, decriminalizing street prostitution and brothels. While these concerns about legalized prostitution may seem purely theoretical, some evidence supports them. One document, for example, dealt with the legalization of brothels in the Netherlands in 2000. The researchers found that “screening brothel owners and monitoring compliance with licence conditions does not create a level of transparency that uncovers sex trafficking.” They therefore concluded that “combating sex trafficking with the assistance of the criminal justice system may be even more difficult in the legalized prostitution sector.” As a possible alternative to sex trafficking, the legalization of prostitution has obvious appeal.

It is believed that legalization is not only a desirable policy for many who engage in prostitution on a consensual basis, but also helps the market displace violent clients, abusive pimps and evil traffickers. Proponents argue that legalizing the sale of sexual services increases the supply of consensual prostitution, while legalizing the purchase of sexual services attracts higher consumers, which should make the commercial sex market less exploitative. This reasoning makes sense and it is also what basic economic theory would predict.