Prostitution-Legitimate Career Choice? - Page 6

They're gonna do it anyways, you might as well make it safer and cleaner for them.

Just like how sex is always gonna happen, abstinence is a joke.

@supermod

Well of course criminals will still be attracted to the sex industry (but much less if it's legal, to me they just seem like another customer as opposed to involvement in the industry), I was researching the Netherlands just now on the subject.

Tell me, do you see in Holland things happening to prostitutes like they have in the U.S.?

quote Fatherbrain30

quote kingx2

quote walnuts

So, my question is, should legal prostitution be viewed as a legitimate career choice for men AND women? Would you want your son/daughter to pursue such a career?

No, and most definitely not.

I hold higher standards for myself and my children, and I do not think prostitution would be an acceptable career choice for them. I think it's morally demeaning, which I do not wish to be present in my household.

Ok, but the thing is you family doesn't represent the rest of the population.

Of course it doesn't, but I'm giving my opinion on how I feel about it. If you want me to go in full depth of why prostitution is wrong, I'm eventually just going to end up saying it's a moral issue, not a legal or ethical one. I don't believe anyone should pursue such a career.

You do realize that not everyone can have loving parents, not everyone can come from an ideal home. That's the problem with you conservatives.

There are so many factors and circumstances that you can't even begin to comprehend. Also, not everyone believes prostitution is morally wrong.

@ supermod= I think a registration system would help a lot. But in general? Are prostitutes better off in Holland than in the U.S.?

quote Fatherbrain30

@ supermod= I think a registration system would help a lot. But in general? Are prostitutes better off in Holland than in the U.S.?

I can't tell you for sure, but for all I know if I'd be a prostitute and have the choice, I'd choose working in Holland any day. Fact is that prostitution is there, both in Holland and the U.S. and the Dutchies choose to try and help out the prostitutes whereas it's prohibited in the U.S. I think that would be a deciding factor: you'd rather work somewhere where they try to help than hunt you.

quote silverboner

"It will always happen, so you might as well legalize it".

^That^ line of reasoning fails on so many other examples, its a line of reasoning that has no legitimacy to it as far as I am concerned.

I agree with that. That's sort of accepting it because you feel powerless to fight it. The difference in approach lies in: are we going to accept it and try and make sure it's works for everyone? Or: are we going to fight it?

The bottom line is that it'll still be there, and while that's not a reason to blatantly accept it and leave it the way it is, it may be a good reason to accept it and try and make it controllable.

quote silverboner

Its quite interesting that legalized prostitution still attracts criminal activity. A 'fact' that I am not surprised. Prostitution isn't a 'good thing'. Ideally, it very well could be "harmless", but in practice, its far from ideal. Its not just social context making it 'a bad thing'. It encourages dominance and objectification, women are bought and paid for, as property solely for a man's sexual pleasure. That has much deeper implications, and is why prostitution is bad for society. I know women don't think they are selling themselves, or you can twist it as though men are only buying services, but that isn't the real world experience. The inner workings of men, has a nasty tendency for dominance, power and control, and its these negative qualities that are encouraged through prostitution. That is why women in the sex industry experience violence at levels that are 10x other risky jobs.

It still attracts criminal activity, but on a far lower level than when prohibited at all. If think that if prostitution were to be prohibited, the government should make sure there isn't any going on as well. To me, that seems that's a hard job, actually it probably is a hard job, seeing as it's a problem in the U.S.

Although I can see where you're coming from, I don't think it's as much a man vs women thing as you state. As people mentioned before, there's also male prostitution, or as I mentioned, there are prostitutes in Holland that are solely there to give the opportunity of sex for those mentally disabled.

quote silverboner

edit:
The problem I have with legalization with regards to my children. There are some things, that if its not OK for my children, then its not OK for another's child. If its going to break my heart to have a daughter or son prostitution themselves out, then I wouldn't be OK with someone else's daughter or son prostituting themselves.

That's a noble thought, but I can safely say for myself that it doesn't work that way for me. Or at least, if I disagree with something close to me, I feel obliged to take action against it, but as much as I'd mourn for the parents, I can't see myself taking as much measures as I would for my own child. That in mind, I don't think we care as much about the lives of others than of those near to us, but again, if you are someone that can truly live that way, I applaud you.

[size=1][color=#666666]This message was edited by ViNCeNZo on Apr 27 2010.

The problem I see in this thread is that there are two arguments being waged. One is an emotional argument which has no right or wrong answer. That argument is about how you feel about prostitution, whether you would want your kids or other family members to be prostitutes, and whether you think it is a viable or honorable profession. I would never condescend to tell anyone how they should feel about a thing, so I respect all opinions regarding prostitution in THIS part of the debate.

The problem is that people here are using the same emotional arguments to try to counter legalization, and this is where I draw the line. While I find it interesting that legalization does not eliminate crime associated with the profession (as Vincenzo stated in Holland) it does reduce it. But even that is not the point. The problem, as I have stated more than once in this thread, is that you CANNOT make emotional arguments for a legal issue! You have to make legal arguments. You cannot refute the legalization of prostitution with arguments based on your beliefs, ideals, religion, or values. Not if you are going to be taken seriously in an intelligent community like this one.

Look, if you are talking about, say an Islamic nation, where the laws are different and the society is not free in the way we here in the west define a constitutional republic, then some of the arguments here may be effective. Some nations have kings, some are fascist, some are dictatorships, and some have their governments inextricably bound to the prevailing religion. In regions like this, since the laws are different, the legal arguments would be as well!

But in a Constitutional Republic like the United States, you simply cannot make laws based upon beliefs. You have to make them based on the Constitution. And not ONE PERSON in this thread has come up with a single constitutional argument against the legalization of prostitution.

Tumbles,
It has everything to do with the discussion...

quote walnuts

Would you want your son/daughter to pursue such a career?

Further, I said...

quote silverboner

The problem I have with legalization with regards to my children. There are some things, that if its not OK for my children, then its not OK for another's child. If its going to break my heart to have a daughter or son prostitution themselves out, then I wouldn't be OK with someone else's daughter or son prostituting themselves.

I even took the extra few seconds to emphasize "some things", in the hopes that someone wouldn't bother with a strawman. "Some things", meaning you should ask before you attempt to apply my statements to other examples, as it doesn't apply to just anything...