Dark alleys… smoky bars… lonely stretches of road… strip clubs… to storefront operations on Main Street USA? That’s what we’ll have if prostitution is legalized. Well, maybe not a Prostitution WalMart but something similar but on a much smaller scale will be born… or will it?
Prostitution, as everyone knows, is the World’s Oldest Profession dating back to the time of Mary Magdalene. It’s criminality has been in place for ages by some countries legislating morality and nothing else. Some say legalizing it would bring about the end of the modern civilized world as we know it. Sodom and Gomorrah would be reborn with prostitutes free to ply their trade without fear of being arrested, indicted, and prosecuted. Some might say that legalizing prostitution would remove a stigma that “The Industry” (and that’s what it is… an industry) has. Well, guess what… we already HAVE legal prostitution in place. It’s called “The Porn Industry.”
Here we have adult men and women (at least we hope they’re adults) engaging in sex acts on camera for the visual pleasure of voyeurs everywhere… and getting paid for it. It doesn’t matter if their pay is coming from a porn producer or an actual customer. The idea that a camera is what separates these “actors” from street=walking prostitutes is ludicrous. These “actors” are prostituting themselves for the camera. THAT is legal as long as the activity stays outside of obscenity boundaries. So, how is that different from the average prostitute on the street if they are basically “selling” the same thing? There IS no difference. Sex is being sold and to continue to criminalize one activity and not the other smacks of selective and hypocritical morality.
I can hear some folks screaming “Oh Good Lord, what about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases?” Then, this newborn industry would have to be regulated, making monthly physical exams paid for by the prostitutes themselves mandatory if they want to keep their “licensed status.” If not, they lose their license and off to the clinic they go.
It’s time that legislated morality be reigned in. Legalizing prostitution would be a start.