The Legalization of Prostitution - Essay Example

and Number of the Teacher’s Argument Against Legalized Prostitution Introduction “Since the mid-1980s, the debate on how to address prostitution legally has become a subject of legislative action”, states Raymond (315). Netherlands and Germany are some of the countries in Europe who have legalized and/ or decriminalized systems of prostitution, by which all stakeholders including pimps, brothels and buyers have also been decriminalized. In Thailand and other places, the government legally prohibits prostitution activities and enterprises, but in fact permits brothels to function, along with the buying of women for commercial sexual exploitation, especially in its sex tourism industry. On the other hand, Sweden has taken a different legal approach, decriminalizing the women in prostitution while at the same time penalizing the buyers. Prostitution should not be legalized; it should be treated as sexual exploitation and violence against women, and not as ‘sex work’. The arguments against legalizing prostitution apply to all state-sponsored forms of prostitution including the legal operation of brothels and pimping, decriminalization of the sex industry, regulating prostitution through registration and health checks for women, recognizing prostitution as ‘sex work’ or advocating it as an employment of choice (Raymond 315). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is argue against legalizing prostitution, taking into consideration the various adverse outcomes for women in the domain. Prostitution Should Not be Legalized Raymond (315) argues that “legitimizing prostitution as work makes the harm of prostitution to women invisible, expands the sex industry, and does not empower the women in prostitution”. The arguments against legalization of prostitution are presented: Legalization of Prostitution: Beneficial for Pimps, Traffickers, and the Industry The legalization of prostitution or decriminalization of the sex industry would have several negative effects, particularly on women who are the commodity on sale. Legalization in the Netherlands authorizes and permits various aspects of the sex industry; this includes the women themselves, the buyers, and the pimps, “who under the regime of legalization, are transformed into third party businessmen and legitimate sexual entrepreneurs”, states Raymond (315). Legalization and decriminalization of the sex industry also converts brothels, sex clubs, massage parlors, and other sites of prostitution activities into legitimate venues where commercial sexual acts are allowed to thrive, with few legal restraints. Countries which criminalize women for prostitution activities, should advocate for the decriminalization of the women in prostitution. Such exploited women should not be punished by criminalization. However, pimps, buyers, procurers, brothels, or other sex establishments should not be decriminalized (Raymond 316). Legalization/ Decriminalization of Prostitution Promotes Sex Trafficking One of the root causes of sex trafficking is legalized or decriminalized prostitution industries. An argument supporting legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that legalization would help to end the exploitation of desperate immigrant women who had been trafficked to the country, for prostitution. However, the Budapest Group (1) argues that 80% of women in Netherlands’ brothels were trafficked from other countries. The International Organization of Migration (IOM 4) stated that in 1994 nearly 70% of trafficked women were from the Central and Eastern European countries. Dutting (16) observes that although the government of the Netherlands presents itself as a champion of antitrafficking policies and programs, it has eliminated every legal obstacle to pimping, procuring and the running of brothels. In the year 2000, the Dutch Ministry of Justice argued for the authorization of a legal quota of foreign sex workers, because the Dutch prostitution market called for women of different nationalities. Further, in the year 2000, the Dutch government acquired a judgment from the European court recognizing prostitution as an economic activity, facilitating the obtaining of permits as sex workers by women in the Dutch sex industry, if they could prove that they were self-employed. Traffickers use the work permits to bring foreign women into the Dutch prostitution industry, covering up the fact that women have been trafficked, by instructing them to describe themselves as independent ‘migrant sex workers’. Since legally permitting brothels in the Netherlands, eight Dutch victim-support organizations reported growth in the number of victims of trafficking, and twelve victim support organizations stated that there was no decrease in the number of victims from other countries, according to the Bureau NRM (75). Similarly, in Germany, in South America, in Australia, and other countries, the legalizing of prostitution did nothing to stem the increase in trafficked victims. Legalization of the prostitution industry makes anti-trafficking enforcement difficult to implement at the working level (Raymond 318). Legalization Expands the Sex Industry, and Does Not Control It Daley (4) argues that in contrast to claims that legalization and decriminalization would control the expansion of the sex industry, prostitution now constitutes 5% of the economy of the Netherlands. Moreover, the sex industry increased by 25% in the 1990s, most of the women being trafficked into the country. Besides governmental endorsement of prostitution in the Netherlands, prostitution is also promoted by associations of sex businesses and organisations comprised of sex buyers who collaborate with the government. Their objective is to make prostitution and the use of services of prostitutes more accepted and discussed openly, besides protecting the interests of clients, states Bureau NRM (115-116). There is continued decrease in the number of Dutch women who engage in prostitution activities, while there is increasing demand for more exotic women in the prostitution market. With prostitution being known euphemistically as ‘sex work’ and pimps as entrepreneurs, the recommendation for legalization transforms trafficking into ‘voluntary migration for sex work’, and it particularly targets the economically poor women. In Australia, legalization of prostitution resulted in an immense expansion of the sex industry, in all its dimensions, including in the tourism and casino boom in Victoria. In Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, a range of state-sponsored prostitution systems exist. It is likely that European state sponsored prostitution countries “serve as magnets and, ultimately as conduits through which significant numbers of women are trafficked to other European nations” (Raymond 319). As compared to North America, Europe has a high density of women trafficked per square mile. Due to porous borders, even those European countries which do not have legalized or decriminalized systems of prostitution, have high numbers of trafficked women. As compared to 45,000 to 50,000 women and children trafficked annually into the United States, there are 500,000 women and children trafficked into Europe annuallym state Raymond (319). Legalization Increases Ililegal, Clandestine and Street Prostitution One of the objectives of legalizing prostitution was “to move prostituted women indoors into brothels and clubs where they would be allegedly less vulnerable than in street prostitution” (Raymond 319). However, many women are in street prostitution to avoid being controlled and exploited by pimps transformed into sex businessmen in legalized systems. Other women avoid getting registered or undergoing health checks as required by law in countries where prostitution is legalized. “Thus, legalization may actually drive some women into street prostitution” (Raymond 319). Further, brothels may actually deprive women of the little protection they may have on the street, by confining women to closed spaces where they would have few chances of being helped by outreach workers to exit prostitution, argues Aghatise (1126) against an Italian proposal for legalized prostitution. In the Netherlands, women in prostitution point out that legalization or decriminalization of the sex industry does not erase the stigma of prostitution. Because they must register and lose their anonymity, women are more vulnerable to being stigmatized by their work, and this identity follows them everyplace. Thus, the majority of women in prostitution still operate illegally and underground. Some members of Parliament who originally supported the legalization of brothels on the grounds that this would liberate women are now seeing that legalization actually reinforces the oppression of women (Daley 1). Legalization of Prostitution Increases Child Prostitution In the Netherlands, an argument supporting legalizing of prostitution was to help end child prostitution. Contratingly, it has increased radically, and it is estimated that the number of children in prostitution has risen by over 300% by the turn of the century, as compared to 1996. A large proportion of children are those trafficked from other countries, particularly from Nigeria. Similarly, child prostitution has increased in the state of Victoria as compared to other Australian states where prostitution has not been legalized, states Raymond (321). Women in Prostitution are not Protected by Legalization of the Industry In two research studies (Raymond, Hughes and Gomez, 2001; Raymond, D’Cunha, Dzuhayatin et al, 2002), in which 186 victims and 146 victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, respectively were interviewed, it was disclosed that prostitution establishments did little to protect them, regardless of whether the establishments were legal or illegal. Protection was given only to the clientele. Most women had suffered physical violence from pimps and buyers, and “endured similar and multiple health effects from violence and sexual exploitation” (Raymond 321), irrespective of whether they were trafficked internationally or were in local prostitution. Women who reported that sex businesses gave them some protection qualified it by pointing out that no one protected them from physical abuse. In brothels that have surveillance cameras, the function of cameras was to protect the buyer and the brothel rather than the women. The Women’s Liberation Movement in Norway has unsuccessfully struggled against prostitution, states Strom (29). They have demanded better social services and job training for women, to rehabilitate them from the industry. Legalization Increases the Demand for Prostitution Legalization encourages men to buy women for sex in a broader and more permissible range of acceptable settings, and more men see prostitution as acceptable. With the disappearance of legal barriers, the social and ethical barriers also diminish, and the treatment of women as merchandise increases. Sullivan and Jeffries (10) state that as men have a plethora of these services offered to them in prostitution, the advertisements line the highways of Victoria, Australia, offering women’s services. A Melbourne brothel owner stated that the client base was “well educated professional men, who visit during the day and then go home to their families “(Sullivan and Jeffreys 10). Women in relationships with men find that often the men in their lives are visiting the brothels and sex clubs, as legal forms of entertainment. Legalization of Prostitution is Detrimental to Women’s Health A legalized system of prostitution often mandates health checks and certification, but only for women and not for male buyers. Health examinations or tests for women but not men does not protect women’s health because monitoring prostituted women only serves to protect the men from HIV/AIDS or STDs. This reveals the duplicity of a policy that implies safer sex and HIV/AIDS control by examining the women under a regulated or decriminalized system of prostitution. Male buyers can and do originally transmit disease to the women they purchase, states Raymond (322). Farley (1087) states that prostitution is harmful for women’s mental and physical health, and is detrimental to them in all aspects. An argument supporting legalization or decriminalization of prostitution is that the women in prostitution are rendered dignity and professionalism. On the other hand, by dignifying prostitution as work, does not dignify the women, it only dignifies the sex industry. Legalization Does Not Improve Women’s Choice Most women in prostitution did not have other real options in other professions, which required academic qualifications, or other skills and supportive systems. Their only consideration is for fending for their needs, and those of their children, in the form of survival strategies. Rather than consenting to prostitution, a prostituted woman more accurately complies with the extremely limited options available to her. Her compliance is required by the fact of having to adapt to conditions of inequality that are set by the industry (Raymond 322). Better options for making a living are not provided to the women through legalizing prostitution. Women in Prostition Do Not Want the Sex Industry Legalized A five-country study on sex trafficking conducted by Raymond et al, 2002, revealed that most of the trafficked and prostituted women interviewed in the Philippines, Venezuela and the United States, strongly stated their opinion that prostitution should not be legalized and considered legitimate work, warning that legalization would create more risks and harm for women from already violent customer and pimps. Not one woman we interviewed wanted her children, family or friends to have to earn money by entering the sex industry. Another woman stated “Prostitution stripped me of my life, my health, everything” (Raymond et al., 2002). From these strong arguments against the legalizing of prostitution, it is evident that the industry should be established as illegal in all the countries, and governments should help women obtain alternative employment. Works Cited Budapest Group. The Relationship Between Organized Crime and Trafficking in Aliens. Austria: International Centre for Migration Policy Development Publications. 1999. Bureau NRM. Trafficking in Human Beings: First Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur. The Hague: Bureau NRM Publications, 2002. Dutting, Giseling. Legalized Prostitution in the Netherlands – Recent Debates. Women’ Global Network for Reproductive Rights, 3 (2002 November), 15-16. Farley, Melissa. Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart: Prostitution Harms Women Even if Legalized or Decriminalized. Violence Against Women, 10.10 (2004), 1087-1125. Raymond, Janice G. Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostition and a Legal Response to the Demand for Prostitution. Journal of Trauma Practice, 2 (2003), 315-332. Raymond, Janice G., Hughes, D. and Gomez, C. Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States: Links Between International and Domestic Sex Industries. N. Amherst, MA: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. 2001. www.catwinternational.org Raymond, Janice G., D’Cunha, J., Ruhaini Dzuhayatin, S., Hynes, H.P., Ramirez Rodriguez, Z., and Santos, A. A Comparative Study of WomenTrafficked in the Migration Process: Patterns, Profiles and Health Consequences of Sexual Exploitation in Five Countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela and the United States). N. Amherst, MA: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW). 2002. www.catwinternational.org Strom, Agnette. A Glimpse into 30 Years of Struggle Against Prostitution by the Women’s Liberation Movement of Norway. Reproductive Health Matters, 17.34 (2009), 29-37. Read More