[NYer]

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[weegee]

Legalization would mean the regulation of prostitution with laws regarding where, when, and how prostitution could take place.

Already is legal. The Supreme Court has done away with sex laws (at least for those over age of consent). Constitutional privacy concerns keep the government out of the bedroom. Regulation would only place a government official in there.

If a babysitter can come over to your home in violation of child labor laws, payroll taxes, and licensing requirements, two consenting adults can have sex for money.

[NYer]

The impact report says that from 2002 to early 2004 there was a 57-percent increase in calls for police service regarding prostitution.

The adult entertainment industry and pornographers have endorsed John Kerry as their candidate for the presidency, and one pro-family advocate has gone to some lengths to find out why.

Kerry Campaign Keeping Quiet on Obscenity Issue

[1stFreedom]

>>Few's personal background is, tragically, typical for a woman in the sex industry: incest, child abuse, runaway (at age 13), high-school dropout, domestic violence, rape, and stripping — all before she entered prostitution.

I think that with the new permissiveness of society, this common profile will change.

It's already acceptable for people to engage in amateur porn. Young women are having sex with both men an women -- and it's promoted as being "cool".

It's not hard for many of these women, who don't fit the typical mold, to make the leap from free sex to paid sex -- especially while they work their way through college.

And if a woman is beautiful, the money is severly tempting. Some [beautiful] escorts make $30,000 per month having sex with as little as 20 johns. Many quit for periods of time, try to go straight, but when money get's tight they jump right back into it. They simply cannot earn the same amount of money any other way.

I think that in five years, the majority of [non street walking] prostitutes will simply be women who hold the idea that it's all simply business. (Note, I'm not talking about druggie street walkers, I'm talking your "higher end" prostitute -- paid escorts/amateur porn starts).

[searchandrecovery]

My evil side says "let this pass". Then let the conservative documentarians go in and record the stupidity of such freedom. Again, on the evil side, this would be a great wedge issue for the next election cycle.

[olde north church]

There is no reason for prostitution not to be legal. There are quite a few people who are unable to find a partner for sexual relations. Why should the old, ugly or disabled be prevented from sexual pleasure?
People should not be deprived of their status as sexual beings simply because they are unable, under normal circumstances, to have normal human functions and urges fulfilled.
When was the last time you looked at someone in a wheelchair, hideously disfigured, or extremely elder as a potential companion or someone you would be romantically involved with?

[The Great RJ]

How could socialist Berkeley legalize prostitution as it would encourage free enterprise and profit? It would be more in keeping with Berkeley to to make it legal to give away sex or have it provided for the common good by the government, but make it totally illegal to profit from it. I suppose they could justify the action if the workers (i.e. the prostitutes) totally controlled the means of production (sex), but outlawed pimping as that would be worker exploitation by capitalists seeking to make profits from the labor of others.

[LiberalSlayer99]

Prostitution (and drugs) should be legal (however, I don't partake in either). It is a personal responsibility issue. For "The State" to dictate what I do in my own home (or with a consenting adult) so long as I don't hurt anyone else is an infringement on my freedom.

Prostitution is the "world's oldest profession" for a reason and it isn't going away. You can now shop for a call girl online and as an earlier poster mentioned, it's now a business (a friend of mine worked vice and they just googled "Escort" and the city). Even an "average" call girl can make minimum of $5k a month with 20 johns (yet another reason for scrapping the current tax system and going to a national sales tax).

I'd suggest for those of you that believe government should be the moral arbiters of society, that you worry more about what goes on in your home and less about what goes on in your neighbor's home.

[Palladin]

Give the poor gals Bill O'Reilly's number.

[ThinkDifferent]

the majority of women in prostitution have been physically assaulted and raped, often multiple times, by "johns" (86 percent were physically assaulted, 80 percent were sexually assaulted, and 65 percent had weapons used against them)

I suspect these percentages are quite a bit lower in legal establishments in Nevada.

[jordan8]

It's no coincidence that this is happening in Berkeley. The radicals that control things there understand that hedonism is a social-political weapon.