Prostitution

Sex for Sale

To begin with a cliche, the definition of prostitution is "the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire." Is there anything wrong with this at first sight? It would seem that, like any other service, it is okay to sell sex in the literal sense. The main problem with this is: whether prostitution is a choice or a form of oppression.

In general the legality of prostitution in some parts of Europe and in other countries as for example the U.S. is that, like the argument for the legalization of drugs, the legalization of prostitution makes it regulatable. Therefore it would try to eliminate the things that are really wrong with prostitution, like the spread of disease, slavery, and human trafficking. Otherwise, prostitution can be seen as maybe even empowering to women, but even more at the very least not any more belittling than sleeping with random men for nothing.

In many ways, the arguments that prostitution is critical or belittling to women is often true in the cases of prostitution gone wrong, that is, in the cases where women are bought and sold by third parties or forced into prostitution. Here prostitution can be seen as an act which conserves an inherently sexist system in which women are sexually and otherwise exploited. Even though the bare act of prostitution is not necessarily exploitative, the act within its greater context supports and encourages pimping, human trafficking, and the depreciation of normal romantic and sexual relationships. Thus prostitution is never really a "victimless" crime, since the victim is always the woman, or more generally, women.

Moreover one must see how sex, class, and race all come together. In many countries people are chosen in prostitution because of the extreme imbalance of power. Here mostly the poorest, the most vulnerable women are basically made available for constant sexual access. This can be seen within sex-tourism in Asia, for example.

There are certain institutions that help women, or men, that experience both sides of the medal. Prostitution should not be exploitative. If there are women who are dependent on the

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