DOWNTOWN RALLY Sex Workers Criticize Law Enforcement - Washington Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prostitution is exploitation. Men (and women) use prostitutes to do things that they themselves would never do. Do you think Spitzer would want his daughters doing that? No way, but he sure could make use of the prostitutes.

I think that your post demonstates why we should punish the consumers and decriminalize the sex workers. Do you think that locking up a few prostitutes will stop the likes of Spitzer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prostitution is exploitation. Men (and women) use prostitutes to do things that they themselves would never do. Do you think Spitzer would want his daughters doing that? No way, but he sure could make use of the prostitutes.

I think that your post demonstates why we should punish the consumers and decriminalize the sex workers. Do you think that locking up a few prostitutes will stop the likes of Spitzer?

And next, let's just punish the drug-dealers and let everyone buying the drugs get off scott-free.

Whatever.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

And next, let's just punish the drug-dealers and let everyone buying the drugs get off scott-free.

Whatever.

I think you have the analogy backwards. The PP would have suggested punishing drug buyers rather than sellers. Though, in fact, the PP probably wouldn't support that unless drug dealers are routinely forced into dealing and subject to exploitation.

[Anonymous]

Legalizing prostitution would make it easier for the pimps and the traffickers to exploit women. Stiffer penalities for those who kidnap and brutalize to benefit financailly from prostitution would have a bigger impact.

[Anonymous]

Legalizing prostitution and decriminalizing prostitution are two very different and distinct things.

[Anonymous]

Let's be realistic - prostitution, even if illegal, is never going to go away. In theory, legalizing prostitution could bring numerous benefits: e.g. tax revenues, sex workers with better health care & health status, as well as protection from violence and exploitation. It is, however, a very complex issue. Sweden re-criminalized prostitution after having it legal for 30 yrs b/c legalizing it didn't solve many of the problems they thought it would. The discussion deserves much more thought than moralistic gut reactions.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe I will ever live to see the day where a prostitute collects and remits sales tax. What next, receipts too? And how does legalizing prostitution protect the 'girls' from violence really? This is some utopia, not reality.

[Anonymous]

Umm, PP, have you ever been to Nevada. You can order your pleasure from a menu of services. Prostitutes are strictly (so I hear from people in the legal community there) regulated and regularly tested. It is very much like a business (like you may have seen on the HBO specials). These are women who made choices, not victims necessarily (not being one of them I obv don't know and neither do you). But, they are taxed and treated as a business. I've known people who have been to these places . . . This is what they relate.

SO, you have in fact lived to see the day. Congrats.

[Anonymous]

Please drop the "ummm." Use real words to make your argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please drop the "ummm." Use real words to make your argument.

In honor of the new spirit of accommodation arriving in DC, I would like to support both the right to "umm" and the right to request "real words". And, of course, the right to .

[Anonymous]

I know this may seem as if it is coming from left field but are you aware that Joran van der Sloot (main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway ) is wanted for coercing young women into the sex slave trade in Thailand? He also has admitted to selling Natalee to a Venezualan man for $10,000 the night of her disappearance. He is probably a sociopath and I believe that legalized prostitution will only give others like him more license to commit atrocities. I am well aware that this is an emotional response, but aren't we always telling ourselves and others "trust your gut instinct"? As the mother of a teenage daughter, my gut tells me that legalizing prostitution would legalize the exploitation of women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this may seem as if it is coming from left field but are you aware that Joran van der Sloot (main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway ) is wanted for coercing young women into the sex slave trade in Thailand? He also has admitted to selling Natalee to a Venezualan man for $10,000 the night of her disappearance. He is probably a sociopath and I believe that legalized prostitution will only give others like him more license to commit atrocities. I am well aware that this is an emotional response, but aren't we always telling ourselves and others "trust your gut instinct"? As the mother of a teenage daughter, my gut tells me that legalizing prostitution would legalize the exploitation of women.

PP, prostitution is currently illegal (in most places) and these atrocities still occur. BTW, I think that it is possible to "deciminalize" prostitution and still have laws against human trafficing or similar acts. The state can still crack down on brothel owners and "pimps" who are forcing women in the "trade" without locking up the women themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Umm, PP, have you ever been to Nevada. You can order your pleasure from a menu of services. Prostitutes are strictly (so I hear from people in the legal community there) regulated and regularly tested. It is very much like a business (like you may have seen on the HBO specials). These are women who made choices, not victims necessarily (not being one of them I obv don't know and neither do you). But, they are taxed and treated as a business. I've known people who have been to these places . . . This is what they relate.

SO, you have in fact lived to see the day. Congrats.

ummmm, have you ever been to Amsterdam? The country is fighting a fierce battle against human trafficking. They gave them an inch they took a mile. It is the #1 country in Eurpoe where young children and women are forced into the sex trade. These women are working as legal prostitutes against their will. They are being controlled by fear, often times not seeking help. There is a government effort to root these sex slaves out and get them help, but thousands of sex slaves are flowing into the country a year.

Prostitution in Amsterdam is a mess. Its a more appropriate example to look at if you want to study the widespread leagalizatiton of prostitution. The crime and drugs it drags is another topic all together.

[Anonymous]

You really have to address demand before you can reduce or eliminate prostitution, same as drug use. You need a much healthier society, and that's so difficult a problem to solve that there's no single solution. Legal or illegal, prostitution will continue. Horny men are the problem, let's face it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really have to address demand before you can reduce or eliminate prostitution, same as drug use. You need a much healthier society, and that's so difficult a problem to solve that there's no single solution. Legal or illegal, prostitution will continue. Horny men are the problem, let's face it.[/quote]

For real! They cause a lot of problems.