Edit to add my opinion so I’m not just replying “I agree” to 90% of comments. I think it should be legal, properly regulated, taxed and viewed as a profession. I haven’t personally engaged in it but I have no moral objection to it. I do hate the common sentiment that it was the individual’s “only option” though.
Even in countries were it is legal and has some kind of regulation, it still has exploitative character. Not for all but for many. And I think forced labor, of different degrees, is more common then you think.
Even when regulated and legal, we need to think about the careers after sex work. Can those people freely transfer into a new position without discrimination?
And since there is discrimination, worker rights, and often women and gay rights, are neglected.
To establish a safe working space for sex workers it is not enough to regulate and make it legal. You need to actively support each group individually and make it clear, that as for every other form of employment you have rights and someone else is actively fighting for it. It is not enough to tell people they have rights and they have to fight all by themselves. Especially when we have established that human trafficking, exploitation, femizide, and so much more are common.
So I think the answer should not be: just make it legal and write regulation. It should be: what actually is a safe working space for all, no matter if selfemployed or working in a brothel.
It’s legal and regulated. Seems to work fine. I don’t know anyone who wants to outlaw it.
Regulated with provisions for safety. I’m all for the idea it should be in a specific license location, like love hotels or massage parlors or something like that. No going to someones house or a different hotel.
And unionized, and the employer pays for (without touching employee pay):
- PPE (including gloves, dental dams, and male and female condoms, which are mandatory for any and all physical contact that includes genitals, mucous membranes, feet, or non-intact skin).
- regular STD testing
- vaccinations
- optional pharmacologic prophylaxis
- building security
- both bedside and wearable panic alarms
- identity monitoring and protection / assistance removing their personal information from publicly accessible records.
Every room should be required to have a poster listing employee rights.
Aside from pricing differently for specific services (handjob vs blowjob etc) tipping is illegal.
No employee (particularly owners or supervisors) are allowed to receive service at their own location or any owned by a same parent company.
The owner and any shift supervisors are required to take a class on these regulations and sit for and pass a licensure exam.
Independent workers can receive a special, less restrictive license (that includes basic sex ed but mostly focuses on informing them of their rights and that independent means independent not “your boss just doesn’t want to get a license” and keeping people with intellectual disabilities or low educational level from being misinformed of their rights as a sex worker).
They worker will never face charges for not having a license but their boss or any John (Jane?) / client who can’t prove the sex worker or company was licensed (or that they were significantly or intentionally misled) can.
If you buy a hooker you are a pathetic fucking loser and worthless piece of shit. I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.
As long as the industry has regulations that help keep the prostitutes safe ( generic things like STD testing and time off to clear that all up, ways to deal with rowdy, rough customers, etcetera ) In have zero problem as long as the workers are consenting and at least in their mid to late 20s to keep the creepiest of people out.
You know what would give women power over men? Allowing them to charge money for sex. This is why it’s so demonized. It should be legalized so it can be regulated with health standards, and standards of engagement that protect everyone, like condom use, and having to do monthly or weekly STD/HIV checks. Make it 21+ ID is required to buy and sell services.
Nah, that’s not it. Germany has legal and - theoretically - regulated prostitution, and society is not meaningfully different than, say, France in that redgard as far as I can tell.
There are other issues associated with it, but just that one argument alone doesn’t seem to work based on what I’ve seen.
As a dude, i sucked a dick for big money to some rich old guy. With inflation, over 900 dollars for like nothing. So im biased
I think it needs to be legalized world wide to give it an opportunity to be regulated. If its already happening might as well capitalism the industry. Its going to happen either way, or the world will continue to have deep state sex clubs.
how do i do this that sounds awesome
Many complaints against prostitution also apply to trading labor for money/shelter in general. People just have a stronger emotional response.
Emotional responses are rarely a good foundation for policy.
Prostitution should be legal with safety regulations. All labor should have protections, unions, and such, to protect them from being abused by the wealthy.
Some specific things would probably remain illegal or disallowed, in the same sense that you’re not allowed to work construction without safety gear. People can wear condoms as easily as hard hats and hi-viz vests.
As long as all parties involved are consenting adults it’s none of my business what they are up to. Except that prostitution should be legalized in a way in which they get equal rights and protections to other professions. The only reason it’s illegal in many countries in the first place is likely based on religious Puritanism, which I do not think laws should ever be based on.
Even Calvinists in the Netherlands legalised prostitution.
suspect it’s not in spite of their faith, but… in recognition of their humanity and lack of hypocrisy when it comes to humans.
unlike other places where they’ll decry prostitution then rape the alterboys.
Wasn’t a core philosophy of Calvinists basically “god loves capitalism” (before the word was really established)?
this is a fascinating question I don’t have time to delve deeper into atm but a little googling:
“Calvin increasingly conceived of a state where the rulers were limited in order to ensure protection of religion.”
“Calvin argued for moderation in business ethics. Lending and profit-making should be permitted only insofar as they were useful, never simply to build personal wealth.”
but Calvin himself is entwined with capitalism
https://daily.jstor.org/john-calvin-religious-reformer-influenced-capitalism/
“Calvin’s theological beliefs, based upon his study of the Bible, captured adherents from around the Christian world as Geneva became a center of Protestant thought. He became known as a proponent of predestination, the belief that God’s rewards for humans have already been selected. It was later frequently invoked by wealthy Christians to justify their opulence as part of God’s plan that should not be disturbed by revolutions or high taxes. But Bouwsma argues that is a misinterpretation of what is a subtle theological doctrine about God’s mercy for believers.”
I suspect this is more capitalists embracing calvinism because the think it fits their desires but like most of religion, it’s people using a higher power to justify their wealth lol.
So long as it’s regulated and all parties are safe and consenting then it’s none of my business. It’s not something i’d be interested in however. To each their own.
The only thing more certain to exist till the end of time than prostitution is people complaining about it. I like it because it makes something explicit that is implicit in so many apparently non transactional relationships. There are so many people who say prostitution should be banned, who are also in relationships/marriages where they expect sex for shelter, food, safety or whatever. Prostitution makes the transaction clear. People point to the exploitative nature of it, but then reveal their real agenda by also rejecting the idea of making it safer for the people selling access to their bodies. The whole thing is a massively hypocritical pile of double standards. Mix into that cultures with backwards patriarchal religious doctrines and that’s where you get the really angry people who talk about dishonor and stoning and all that jazz. Prostitution has been around since there were people and will always be around. When the puritans are in charge it just hides for a bit. This has been my TED talk, thanks lol
“Kyle, every boy pays for kisses. Do you know what I am saying? If you got a girl and she kisses you, sooner or later you’re paying for it. You gotta take her out to lunch, take her to a movie, and then spend time listening to all her stupid problems. Look, look at Stan right there. He’s got to sit there and listen to all her stupid motherf___ing problems 'cause she kisses him. If you ask me, that’s a lot more than the $5 my company charges.”
We should find out which policy minimises harm to those participating in it. Then, regardless of how anyone might feel about that policy, implement it.
Never had anything to do with it personally, but just like with drugs it should be legal and regulated because it’s impossible to prohibit it.
yes, sex work is not going away, it’s too damn popular
sex workers need to be protected and legalised and helped if in situations like addiction
Hard agree.
Regulate it, tax it, protect the workers and users. Prevent the spread of diseases and use the money to ensure their futures.
Minimize harm, maximize happiness.
Failure to do so is a failure of society.
After all, we already have so many people making money on onlyfans and through doing pornography, which is legalized prostitution anyway, so the people that do that in a non-video scenario should have at least the same protections.
It was such a generic comment … lol. I agree with you,
Absolutely should be legal and taxed, with rules and regulations in place to protect clients and workers.
I pretty much do have moral objections to it, its fundamentally gross to me, but its not going to stop and id rather these prostitutes work in a safe place and pay their taxes like the rest of us than get their passports taken by a guy named The Scorpion with a spider Web tattooed on his neck.
Based ❤️ Great take IMO
Should’ve called himself the Spidion
One of the commenters said it was fundamentally gross to them…
It’s fundamentally depressing to me: intimacy’s … unending.
There’s no such thing as “a 1-night stand”, or “just a fuck” … you’ll never be unmixed with that someone…
& doing it as mere-transaction, or mere-physicality … ??
but apparently that view that most of a someone isn’t physical, & most of sex isn’t physical either, is deemed to be nonsense,
& pretending that merely-physical is “all that exists” is actually common …
so, my perspective is deemed lunacy or idiocy by this world.
But seeing women being used for mere-physical sensation by random strangers, as a purchased-transaction … that’s depressing…
I wish the world didn’t work that way.
I’m with all the people who want prostitution not-criminalized, who want it taxed & regulated, & I’d add that I want pimping criminalized: let women form cooperatives, or something, but nobody should coerce anybody into the biz of being used bodily.
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