Unit Three

 Adrian Bombard

WRT 105

Schilly

26 May 2021

Prostitution is Not a Dirty Word

Within the world we live in, many different forms of black markets exist, where everything is illegal. This can allow for many “under-the-table” job opportunities, but at the possible cost of mistreatment and abuse due to the lack of regulation. For years and years, prostitution has been a highly debated topic, where there is no clear answer; many want a safer work environment for sex workers, and many others believe legalizing prostitution would lead to higher rates of abused and trafficked women. While both sides are understandable, there are too many sex workers, specifically women, who are placed in multiple possible dangerous situations at work, and this could easily be avoided if these processes are legalized and regulated. Prostitution will not end, whether it is legal or illegal, and it would be a much safer and more protected environment if those within it were guaranteed healthy and safe working environments and rules. 

When sex work is made legal, violence, murders, and sexual assault rates decrease. It is not a secret that many women make the decision to start engaging in sex work when they are in a place of desperation for money. These women, as long as they are comfortable and consenting, should have the right to do so safely. Since sex work is illegal within the majority of the United States, it is widely known that harassment and assault is easily gotten away with, and many purchasers of sex work will abuse this ability (Gold, 2021). Since everything to do with prostitution has to be kept hidden, a sex worker does not have the power to come forward and speak up when they are traumatized by their customers. At a normal job, if a customer were to physically assault you, you would just turn around and tell your higher-up to properly solve the situation, but for many in sex work, there is nobody to turn to. Nobody would be able to help you, and if you went to the police, you would be arrested along with the offender, as the work you were doing when the assault occurred was illegal in the first place. This allows for a huge space for crimes to occur, creating an overall scary and dangerous environment. There is no way to regulate these hidden assaults and violence until sex work itself is legalized and regulated. When the industry of prostitution is legalized, there is a shown decrease in nonconsensual sex, which Jasmine Garsd shows us in her article. Garsd discusses a time period in Rhode Island where private sex work was legal for 6 years, and the number of rapes reported to police declined dramatically by more than a third (Garsd, 2019). As we are shown, legalizing sex work can create more safe jobs for those who would otherwise be working in the sex industry.

Prostitution flourishes in the black market it currently exists in (ProCon.org, 2018). When sex work is illegal, it is conveniently placed in the position to go hand in hand with poverty, drugs, and violence. When this same area of work is legalized, the government would be able to see into these businesses, removing the illegal activities from the situation. Consensual sex is not a crime, but since prostitution is illegal, it is easy for other illegal activities to occur in these places, creating dangerous environments for those who are just trying to make money through sex work. If these same people had the opportunity to go to a legal location where they could safely participate in sex work, they would experience a safer and healthier environment. This would end up benefitting the prostitutes, customers, and the general public, as sex work would be a taxable business, and it has been shown that it is capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a year (Garsd, 2019). While less drugs and violence are a huge benefit within legalization, decriminalizing prostitution has also shown to lower the rates at which sexually transmitted diseases and infections are spread within the industry, creating safer and healthier experiences. Regular checks and tests for STDs and STIs cannot be fully enforced in illegal environments, but in legal examples of prostitution, workers and customers can be regularly tested to improve the health of anyone involved (ProCon.Org, 2018). Overall, we are repeatedly shown that prostitution is only safe when it is regulated, which cannot occur in the current black market it runs within. Within the US, the majority of the states have a full prohibition on sex work, causing every single case of sex work to have to be hidden. Forcing these jobs into the shadows is practically inviting criminal activities, threatening the lives of hundreds who may have never wanted to be around drug abuse or other illegal activities. Whether people participate in sex work for cash or for their own enjoyment and liberation, they deserve to know they will be safe at their place of work, and it has shown that this is more likely to occur when sex work is legal and controlled.

A common argument brought up against the point of legalizing prostitution would be the morality within sex work. While researching on different points of view of sex work, almost every argument against legalization would include the words “moral” or “it’s just wrong”. “Some folks disapprove of the immoral nature of sex for sale and, perhaps, rightfully so. But judging morality is for churches, employers, family members and peers” (ProCon.org, 2018). Whether one believes sex work is morally acceptable, that should not affect how it is seen on a political or human rights scale; humans are not known to agree over everything, and a slight disagreement in moral belief should not negatively effect one’s life or safety. One other opposing point commonly brought up is the possibility of sex trafficking and sexual assault rates rising if sex work was made legal. While this is a common fear, decriminalizing prostitution would give those suffering more ability to speak up, and lessen the amount of people who are assaulted or trafficked as a result of prostitution. If sex work was controlled, these people would be in controlled spaces, where trafficking and abuse can be put to a stop, and people who are harassed are able to speak out and receive any help or legal action they would need to. Sex work has always been and remains a rather taboo topic due to the morals people commonly hold, but talking more and more about this can only help remove it from the shadows, removing the negative stigma and parts of prostitution. 

The legalization of the sex work industry would allow those who participate a safer and healthier way to live by lowering sexual assault, harassment, crimes, violence, and even murder rates within places of prostitution. Many are forced to endure traumatizing sights and experiences, and these are very real people and experiences. This legalization would help people feel safer, be safer, and allow a clear escape from the industry if one ever decides they do not want to work in that type of environment any longer. Prohibiting all sex work will only push it further into the dark, allowing for crimes to continue. Sex work needs to be legal to be properly executed and organized. 

Works Cited

Garsd, Jasmine. “Should Sex Work Be Decriminalized? Some Activists Say It's Time.” NPR, NPR, 22 Mar. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/03/22/705354179/should-sex-work-be-decriminalized-some-activists-say-its-time.

Gold R. Legalizing sex work is not as dangerous as people think. University Wire. Feb 16 2021. Available from: https://libezproxy-syr-edu.libezproxy2.syr.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/wire-feeds/legalizing-sex-work-is-not-as-dangerous-people/docview/2489618892/se-2?accountid=14214.

ProCon.org. “Legal Prostitution Top 10 Pro & Cons.” ProCon.org, 25 June 2020, www.procon.org/legal-prostitution-top-10-pro-cons/.