Should We Tolerate Legalized Prostitution?

by Danielle Strickland 06-01-2009

This week has been eventful in Australia. At the launch of The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal — a new fund-raising initiative — a group of sex workers from Scarlett Alliance (a local sex workers collective) stormed the event as a public protest against The Salvation Army. They were upset over one of the ads for the Red Shield appeal, which featured the story of a male prostitute stuck in a terrible situation including drug addiction. The Salvation Army flew him to a detox and treatment program and now he testifies to a better life. The suggestion that if you give to The Salvation Army you are helping others like him was offensive to the sex workers.

For those of you who aren’t from this part of the world and not caught up on the legislative nightmare that is legalized prostitution in Australia, there are three other articles that you may want to check out on theRubicon.org (Victims or whores | Banishing wickedness | Gunilla rocks). But this particular incident sums it all up pretty well: To help someone out of prostitution and then to tell others about it is to attack the good-natured, work-friendly face that is legalized prostitution in Australia (and elsewhere).

The truth about prostitution, however, is anything but good-natured or work-friendly. Those involved in prostitution struggle with complex situations that can include post-traumatic stress syndrome, drug addiction, family violence, work violence, and a myriad of other psychological dysfunctions that the degradation of sexual exploitation bring with it; and The Salvation Army repeatedly helps numerous people in all of these situations. Unfortunately, in reaction to the Scarlett Alliance’s objections, The Salvation Army’s response was to apologize and remove the offending ad from the campaign.

For me this raises questions about our response to injustice and its collision with corporate needs and financial structures — seemingly a constant and consistent tension around the world.

Now, I do want to be fair as I know there is great wisdom in picking your fights and refusing to allow a small group to hijack an entire national campaign launch. After all, why should we give Scarlett Alliance free publicity to promote their agenda? In some ways the Army’s quick apology and instant withdrawal was a way of ending the issue immediately — gone are the news cameras and the attention that Scarlett Alliance craves, and that’s smart.

On the other hand, when do we have those discussions? When do we talk to the nation of Australia and tell them what we know for certain to be true — that prostitution is an evil institution that strips everyone involved of their dignity and value and worth? When do we speak about what is involved in cleaning up hundreds of lives as a direct result of the injustice and exploitation people find themselves involved with as they are used and then discarded by society? When is it time to raise concerns that legalized prostitution in Australia has only succeeded in increasing human trafficking, sky-rocketing the illegal sex-industry crime sector, and luring young girls into prostitution before they reach the age of 15 ? When do we stand up and say, “Actually, I’m glad you brought this up — we are tired of apologizing for cleaning up a mess that this society has brought on itself by its refusal to pay attention to the social costs of legalizing an evil industry.”?

If it were William Booth directing the Red Shield Campaign in Australia this week, I can’t help but think he may have pulled out the horses. Yep, get the horses out because this week we are going to march to Parliament and tell them that the evil they hide in their own habits and the poor haunts of our cities is the very evil we are this day exposing and bringing to light. The evil of prostitution results in a sick society and an erosion of women’s rights around the globe, and we are tired of slogans and governments turning a blind eye to truth in the name of political correctness and “tolerance” gone nuts.

Of course, it was William who mentioned something about loving a fight. But in today’s justice fights, many churches and Christian institutions seem to be tempered by financial targets, corporate responsibility, and public relations strategies. It’s an older church now with more to lose than to gain by fighting … trying to keep the memory of its glory days alive by rigging present day fights, while playing as much footage as possible of the older rounds. But in doing this, the glory starts to fade and the fixed fights make the “old guy” look bad.

At some point, we need to dust off the belt, take it down from the mantle, and show up in the ring of the present day for a real knock-em-down, guts-driven, genuine fight again. And who can tell the future? We could lose big; we could be injured and bloodied with our pride knocked loose and less a few teeth. Or we could win … bloodied, bruised, and still a champion. Either way, at least we’d be in the game.

Capt. Danielle Strickland is currently the social justice director of the southern Australia territory for The Salvation Army. She digs traveling, reading, running, speaking, basketball, and movies. Her passion is grace, mercy, and justice … and all the stuff in between. Her favorite question is ‘how hard can it be?’ and most of her days are spent answering it. You can read more from her at her blog and more about her justice efforts at www.justsalvos.com. Listen to ABC’s report – Salvos withdraw ad to appease sex workers – from the current affairs radio show The World Today.

Categories: Activism, Gender

1Grace

"The Salvation Army you are helping others like him was offensive to the sex workers."

Thanks for the blog post. Wow the culture overthere has some difference aspects from ours. I suppose we are heading that way , to think helping a person out of the sex market is considered offensive to people is quite hard to understand over here .

I have seen it on other issues regarding sexual matters though. In our area the Salvation Army was protested because their health care benefits to their employees did not include domestic partners . They were actually boycotted and protested by religious churches in the area at Christmas .

Toongenius

We could all take a page out of the Swiss' book on handling prostitution. In Switzerland, those paying for sex (the "Johns") are prosectuted and the sex workers' rights are protected. In most cases these sex workers are victims themselves and it's not right to make them the brunt of the problem. These laws see those who take advantage of these victims prosecuted. This has, in many instances seen many a brothel close due to fear of prosecution and many victimised workers set free from this way of life. STDs and drug use has also declined.

sundanzkid80

I fear the only way we could tolerate the legalization of Prostitution is if it was government regulated. I believe in countries where prostitution is legalized- Netherlands and Canada, there are many restrictions. Sexworkers have to be of a certain age, have to obtain a license, have to undergo regular doctor visits in ensure they are not contracting diseases, etc. I'm sure this idea would be rejected by many religious churches, however in countries where it is practiced their crime and diseases spread is significantly lower.

1Grace

"countries where it is practiced their crime and diseases spread is significantly lower."

That is an excellent point . Often ends up winning the day in secularized cultures. . But consider say in Amstradam 30 out of every women is a prostitute . worse offense is against the very people who are "stuck" in it .
It increases the numbers who get stuck also by making it "healthier "and legal.

sundanzkid80

Well you can never mess with free-will I guess. People are going to do things which are bad for them. But setting up laws and regulations to protect them and the general public I believe is a very responsible action.

1Grace

"I believe is a very responsible action."

Some of my more libertarian thinkers I know would agree with you if the people involved handled the full consequences . But the example you gave is of a socialistic state , thus you see the increase in women in that occupation . The state is helping in regards to supplying enough supports for the women to ENABLE them . But the government has no means to what God has given to us in regards to the beauty , jou and FUN of sex. But that is the religious side that is not given too much consideration in secualrized cultures.

I wonder if you know how the socila status say of a women in prostituion is in the legalized countries ? Just curious if the stigma that is attached to it where it is illegal also fades away in areas where it becomes legal . I am hearing more about this , but i think we will be legalizing drugs in thei country before prostituion.

Good debate , Thanks ...

sundanzkid80

Okay what I meant by responsible action is that if countries aren't going to have any alternatives for people who are low income and becoming a sex worker is the only option, then why not make it safe for them and the rest of the public. From a very personal and conservative/religious side I would agree that prostitution is wrong, however because the way the world works and the governments are set up it would seem to me that a better option all around would either to make a safer environment all around or to have some other alternative for people arrest for prostitution or other vice crimes...a special facility or something I guess. Something has to be better than what is already in place, that's what I meant by responsible action.

trishabaptie

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commercial bin cleaning

No, but instead we should cleanse our world with such desperate acts. One's body is not a plaything for another.

SisterMarie

Should We Tolerate Legalized Prostitution?

No.

jmiklovic

I would think this would be one of the few issues that everyone in this forum would agree on. From the most liberal of liberals, to the most fundamental of fundamentalists nobody should be willing to tolerate the injustice that is prostitution.

Now sisterM... what are you doing, and what am I doing in opposition to it? Shamefully I have done nothing in direct opposition, other than educating youth to the reality of the situation.

SisterMarie

My opposition is based primarily on the instances in which girls are forced into prostitution against their wills. The libertarian side of me would cause me to oppose enforcing moral codes against consenting adults, but unfortunately, that is not the case for much of what goes on in prostitution.

This is off-topic, but the libertarian approach to drug abuse does make sense. Legalizing drugs would actually bring the price down to the point where those who are making millions of dollars would be forced out of business and much of the incidental crime that accompanies drug abuse (burglary to support the habit) would also be reduced. I fully support drug testing as a condition for employment, harsh penalties for anyone engaging in any potentially dangerous activity (driving) while under the influence of drugs, etc. I believe that once drug abuse is recognized for the sickness that it is, that the incidence will be reduced.

Back to your question. I have done little in opposition. I strongly believe that our culture has trivialized sex - especially during the past 50 years. We raised our children without cable TV and restricted the programs that were aired on the major networks. Today's families have a TV in every bedroom with a wide range of offensive programming. (Fox is no better than any other network.) We have no one to blame but ourselves.

xjm716

Ummm....why not?

The entire premise behind the abortion rights movement is that women have the right to do as they wish with their bodies. Gay marriage is the same...they're consenting adults. I see no logical difference.

nuclearferret

Because there is no logical difference: presuming two consenting adults, how does the right to privacy (particularly sexual privacy) not extend to prostitution? Because there is an exchange of money?

Unjust? No more unjust then any other individual selling their labor in the marketplace.

"Stuck" in it? No more than a factory worker or an office worker or a migrant farm worker "stuck" in those jobs.

Just realize that people are going to pay for sex anyway, that some man (or woman) paying for sex doesn't affect you and your sexual activity, and make it safe and legal. Better to have it done above board than by some back alley prostitute who could be diseased and thus spread disease leading to infertility and possibly even death.

Eric77

We should be working toward finding common ground on this issue and respect differences of opinion. Too often, those who oppose legalized prostitution seek a simplistic and flawed solution to this problem. Women are going to be prostitutes; we might as well try to make it safe for them, and in order to keep it safe we need to make it legal so they're not forced to practice their trade in alleys. We should set up and fund with taxpayer dollars prostitution centers where women who want to be prostitutes can get the proper training. They can meet their clients there instead of in back alleys.

And let's not forget that many of the women who need to engage in prostitution are frightened and scared and have no where else to turn. We shouldn't be condemning their behavior by making what they need to do against the law. Let's support these women in their choice. After all, they can do what they want with their bodies. Our society isn't any less just because we sanction with our laws women prostituting themselves.

Stein

The blog claims that Austrailia's experience is that legalization not only allow speople to do what they want with their bodies, BUT ALSO opens the door for more abuse (quite beyond the legalized limits), e.g. more forcing of underage girls into the mix.

If that claim turns out to be true, it grounds a powerful argument against legalization. It is no longer only a matter of libertarian choice.

keithsmith

For those that are pro-choice and say it should be a women's right to do what she wants with her body, than I see no other position for them but to say that prostitution should be LEGAL because it is a woman choosing what to do with their body.

arachne646

Decriminalizatipn of prostitution removes the threat of arrest of sex workers by police and gives a chance (if the city is willing) for the police to work with people on the street to find out where children are working (child sex abuse is never legal) and to keep prostitutes safer by working together to protect them from assault by customers or partners. If prostitutes are afraid of being arrested, they are LESS likely to seek out help with addiction, health, and victimization issues, including trafficking. Keeping prostitution criminal (a legalizing structure has problems of its own) victimizes the prostitute--occasionally a customer pays a legal penalty--for a society's problems.

Palosaari

I think this is a legacy of a broader concept - that if something is legal, it becomes automatically moral as well- or if it should be legal, than it should also be moral. There are the "victimless" crimes, like prostitution, that a society should not proscribe, in my opinion. They aren't stealing or killing, so it shouldn't be illegal- just as adultery is now treated in the West. That doesn't make it automatically moral, or mean we should not fight against it. It is the same with homosexuality or gay marriage- by all means, let gays marry, for the government has no right to stop something that is not a crime. But just because someone has an inherent right to practice homosexuality in no way automatically makes it moral, or that people shouldn't be helped out of a life of homosexuality. In the West, in America in particular, we our enamored with our rights, to such an extent we have confused our right to do something with right itself.

VasuMurti

Prostitution should be legal. Someone once commented that using attractive women in advertising--magazines, billboards, etc. (what to speak of women stripping, working in topless bars or merely posing nude!) is a subtle form of prostitution--women using their bodies for income.

Tracy Clark-Flory writes in Salon.com:

"At $25-$30 per hour, prostitutes make approximately four times what they likely would outside of the sex industry. Of course, that doesn't take into consideration on-the-job risks like contracting an STD (condoms were used in only a quarter of dealings) or being assaulted; researchers estimate that sex workers are assaulted an average of once a month. There's also the threat of being arrested, but according to the Economist, 'Prostitutes are more likely to have sex with a police officer than to be arrested by one.'"

Problems such as contracting STDs, being assaulted, pimp violence, etc. would not exist if prostitution were legal. Prostitution was legal in ancient India for the same reason the Prohibition of alcohol failed in the United States.

Commenting on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.11.19, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes:

"By tricks of chance, one may be obliged to adopt a profession which is not very adorable in society...even in those days, about five thousand years ago, there were prostitutes in a city like Dwarka...This means that prostitutes are necessary citizens for the proper upkeep of society. The government opens wine shops, but this does not mean that the government encourages the drinking of wine. The idea is that there is a class of men who will drink at any cost, and it has been experienced that prohibition in great cities encouraged illicit smuggling of wine.

"Similarly, men who are not satisfied at home require such concessions...It is better that prostitutes be available in the marketplace so that the sanctity of society can be maintained."

Even some conservatives concede that prostitution can be victimless. In a 1995 column entitled "Prostitution as a Privacy Right," Robert Craig Paul, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Times, wrote:

"If a woman's right to control the use of her reproductive organs permits her to enter into a cash transaction with an abortionist, then how can this fundamental right of privacy not apply to other transactions involving her use of her body?

"...abortion has been against the law and restricted with greater intensity for more of our history than prostitution, reflecting social norms that abortion, viewed as infanticide, is more immoral than prostitution...

"In contrast (to abortion), prostitution is entirely an act between consenting parties that does not affect the bodily integrity, identity and destiny of a third party (the unborn)...

"It is legal nonsense that privacy conveys the right to abort, but not the right to ingest drugs or engage in sodomy...

"It will be interesting to watch the court sort out on the basis of Roe v. Wade why it is legal for a woman to contract for abortion but not prostitution."

Again, prostitution should be legal.

arachne646

i don't know how we could go about legalizing prostitution--there are many realities for people who trade sex for money, and when a lot of money changes hands, it's really well hidden, less able to be dealt with through the legal system, though not necessarily less problematic. Prostitution has long been legal in Canada BUT it is illegal to bargain for it or live of the proceeds of it. Effectively it is ILLEGAL. To combat slavery and child sexual abuse you do not need to make all prostitution illegal and criminalize the workers. Decriminalize prostitution, and there is lots of work to be done in the parts of your city and mine where you can see street prostitution. Listen to what people need. Treat them as human beings. All sexworkers are saying is "Don't plan your solutions for us, without us""

trishabaptie

Here is an amazing report out of Canada by Shelagh Day an internationally known human right advocate.

Prostitution:Violating the Human Rights of Poor Women.
http://francofemmes.org/aocvf/documents/Prostit...

trishabaptie

Hello,
My name is Trisha Baptie and I am from Canada and felt I needed to respond to your post.
Prostitution in Canada is not "legalized' what we have right now is some sloppy, half hearted laws that make it illegal to live of the avails and to communicate for prostitution.
What I do in Canada is try to lobby for our government to change our laws that are pro-women and pro-equality which is why here in Canada we are loudly saying our Government needs to adopt the Swedish model of law.
I have to also say, I have never understood why people think being a certain age somehow makes it OK for a women to be raped for money. If at 17 we would call it child sexual exploitation how does that change just because they are now 18?
Do we really think women wake up one day at 18 years old and say the most positive thing I can do today is go become a hooker? Probably not, so perhaps instead we need to fight the systemic issues that got her there not, legalize and legislate women's oppression and inequality.
Health Checks, let's really look at this why do women have to undergo health checks to make sure they are safe for men to consume, why don't we also make the men undergo health checks to keep the women safe?
I am sure we all know men would NEVER do that.

I am also getting a little tired of the fact that we always only talk about the hookers, why are we never ever asking the real question.
'Do we as a society think men should be able to pay to sexually access women's bodies?" to me that reeks of the oldest form of patriarchy and misogyny and is a belief rooted in the fact that women are a sub-class of persons.

I think the most sex positive thing we can do is to make sure people CANNOT pay for sex to make sure it stays between consenting persons.

The mayor of Amsterdam which was once touted as the jewel of legalized prostitution is now shutting down the red light district as fast as he can and calling legalization an "abysmal failure".
Sweden where buying sex, trafficking, pimping are all illegal and the women decriminalized has seen a huge reduction is street level prostitution and other forms and is NOT a destination country for human traffickers because of it.