Prostitution is the oldest profession but the moral dilemma created by engaging in this profession causes heated debates on whether to legalize or prohibit prostitution. Hence, the need to determine the advantages and disadvantages of decriminalizing or criminalizing prostitution.
Pros of Legalizing Prostitution
Point #1: Decriminalizing prostitution protects sex workers and reduces human trafficking.
The victimization of sex workers in countries where prostitution is a crime is quite high. According to the Open Source Foundation article (2015), police brutality which is one of the multiple cases of abuse and violation of sex workers' ranges from 20% to 90% in countries that criminalize profession. The Open Source Foundation depicted that the sex workers in Bulgaria and Kyrgyzstan are 20%, and 90% respectively. Cambodia's sex workers reported sexual abuse from police to range between 44% and 72% for freelancer sex workers and those in the brothel (Open Society Foundations, 2015). The sex workers argued that the fear of violent attacks and imprisonment makes it easier for the police to use imprisonment as a threat to get their way on the women.
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These problems dominate the prostitution industry. For instance, in London, sex workers reported police brutality with over 456 prostitutes prosecuted for loitering and soliciting between 2014 and 2015 (Open Society Foundations, 2015). The report demonstrated that police patrols use prosecution to have sex without paying for the services or extort the sex workers for money, or sexually abuse these workers. The streetwalkers in London stated that the police know that the sex workers cannot report the abuse because prostitution is illegal and it would expose them to serving time in prison for just reporting the officers. Therefore, the streetwalkers have no option but to condone with the victimization (Open Society Foundations, 2015). Prohibitionist argues that decriminalizing prostitution promote moral and social degradation. Hence, the government should focus as many resources as possible to inhibit its practice because the government has a role to protect the social norms.
However, Gerassi (2015), states that activists and feminists supporting the decriminalizing the prostitution argue that prohibition policies make prostitution a dangerous profession. Feminists and supporters of the decriminalization claim that when the industry is illegal the sex workers and brothels operate secretively thus providing opportunities for human trafficking and victimization in the trade. Reid (2012) appliance of the life course theory to victimization in sex trafficking. He argued that the desire to enhance one's lifestyle and the attraction of fast cash makes girls venerable for trafficking by the illegal brothel bosses and operators and with the protection of the police and the law, some of the girls are underage (Ried, 2012). Therefore, the black market entry into prostitution promotes the violation of the women in the trade.
According to the above data and analysis, criminalizing prostitution offers the opportunity for the police, the rich brothel owners and human traffickers to use the unregulated victimize and abuse the sex workers. Therefore, decriminalization activists see that to reduce the victimization and helplessness of the sex workers, decriminalization would make the industry safer (Gerassi, 2015). Legalizing prostitution reduced harassment and crimes associated with prostitution such as drug and human trafficking reduces rape by 32% to 40%. In a study focusing on decriminalization of the sex in Rhodes Island, it was evident that decriminalization reduced sexual violence by 30% (Bulman, 2017).
Point #2: Decriminalization protects the workers from STIs and enhances their health
Recent changes Rhodes Island depicted that HIV/AIDs and other STIs reduced gonorrhea in the area by 40% (Bulman, 2017). According to an article in Huffington Post, researchers in the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, HIV among the female sex workers in India, Kenya, and Canada, legalization of prostitution can reduce the HIV/AIDs by 33 to 46% (Goldberg, 2017). The article demonstrated that prohibiting prostitution increases sexual abuse and stigmatization of the sex workers. Therefore, the clients use force or refuse to use condoms because the sex worker has no rights. The sex worker is a victim of social abuse thus increasing the likelihood of reporting such cases.
However, decriminalizing prostitution would empower the sex workers to stop and report such clients who violate the use of a condom. In rare cases of abuse, the sex worker can legally acquire health support (Goldberg, 2017). Reports from legal Brazil's prostitution industry demonstrated that legalizing prostitution led to the use and availability of condoms with more than 55% of the sex workers using a condom for all their clients for all their clients in 2009 (Goldberg, 2017). The first point and second points are interrelated in the aspects with the ability to protect the sexual abuse and harassments making it possible to empower the sex workers and prevent the STIs.
Cons of Legalizing Prostitution
Point #1: Prostitution protects women from abuse neither does it reduce trafficking
As earlier stated, proponents of decriminalization argue that legalizing prostitution would enable the government to protect sex workers from sexual abuse and eliminate trafficking. However, Raphel (2018) is adamant that most of these claims are mere assumptions that are irrelevant in the real world. By citing previous surveys in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and Nevada, it was evident that the proponents overestimate the benefits of decriminalizing prostitution thus leading to policy changes that make it easier for victimization, human trafficking, and modern slavery.
In a past survey in Victoria, Australia, the legalization of prostitution did not stop the women abused by their clients. The survey in Victoria demonstrated that in over 10 licensed brothels, more than 50% of the women were imported and their passports confiscated by the owners of the brothels (Raphel, 2018). As of 2005, all the brothels convicted for human trafficking were licensed. The confiscation of the foreigner's passports makes them fall under the category of modern slavery because they have to do as commanded to remain alive or in the business (Raphel, 2018). In a report by the Federal Government of Germany, as quoted by Raphel (2018), depicted that following the legalization of prostitution in 2002, there were no viable indications of violence reduction or crime decline. To justify these statistics the report argued that the at least 55 prostitutes have been killed whereas, in Sweden which prohibited prostitution in 1999, there have been no murders connected to prostitution (Raphel, 2018). The issue was the same in Nevada and New Zealand whereby legalization of prostitution increased the market but did not protect to the sex workers from rapes and other types of abuse from clients or bosses.
According to Raphel (2018), the Report of the Prostitution Law Committee of New Zealand in 2008 depicted that violence and crimes such as theft and drug abuse did not change. However, the report did not claim whether the violence or crimes connected to the sex industry increased but it was evident that cases of kidnapping, violence towards the sex workers remain high even after decriminalizing prostitution. The main reason for the continued violence and illegal activities is because decriminalization makes the rich dominate the entire business. For instance, in the Netherlands, the decriminalization laws resulted in the rich brothel owners owning and controlling the entire market and eliminating the weak brothels (Raphel, 2018). However, rather than change their businesses, the weak brothels operate in illegally thus creating competition between the legitimate and black-market industry. The double standards of dealing make the legitimate brothels engage in illegal activities such as trafficking to remain in business.
Point #2: Decriminalization does not prevent STIs
According to Bindel (2017), proponents of decriminalization claim that legalization of prostitution diminishes violence and STIs but this is just a misguided assumption. Bindel (2017) argues that during her interviews with past and current prostitutes it was evident that rapes and STIs did not change. She claims that punters still treat women as they used to and after legalization, they are projected to continue their harassment. Legalization may have empowered sex workers to demand the use of condoms but most of the client is the decision-maker in almost all cases.
Bindel (2017) is critical of the lies of the decline of the violence and STI transmission because most of these studies are only undertaken in sampled areas and in licensed brothels whereas the illegal brothels are almost double the number of the licensed brothels. The essence that legalization increased the sex market for instance in Nevada, New Zealand and Australia shows that the decreasing rates noted by most decriminalization supporters fail to consider the number of workers affected by the abuse and infection. This means statistics showing that the past rates of violence was 40% but decreased by 10% without considering the number of sex workers. This is likely to be wrong given the doubling of the sex workers after the legalization. Therefore, STI infection by sex workers remains high in almost all areas.
References
Open Society Foundations. (2015, April). Ten Reasons to Decriminalize Sex Work. opensocietyfoundations . Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/ten-reasons-decriminalize-sex-work
Bindel, J. (2017). The pimping of prostitution: Abolishing the sex work myth .
Bulman, M., (2017, December 20). Decriminalising prostitution could 'dramatically' reduce sexual violence and STI transmission, finds study. Independent . Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prostitution-decriminalise-sexual-violence-sti-transmission-diseases-reduce-study-a8120316.html
Gerassi, L. (2015). A Heated Debate: Theoretical Perspectives of Sexual Exploitation and Sex Work. Journal of sociology and social welfare , 42 (4), 79-100.
Goldberg, E. (2017, December 6). Legalizing Prostitution Could Reduce HIV Infections Nearly In Half. HuffPost . Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/legalizing-prostitution-hiv_n_5618887.html
Raphael, J. (2018). Decriminalization of Prostitution: The Soros Effect. Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 3 (1).
Reid, J. A. (2012). Exploratory review of route-specific, gendered, and age-graded dynamics of exploitation: Applying life course theory to victimization in sex trafficking in North America. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17 (3), 257-271.
