Prostitutes and Politics Why is it still illegal to pay for sex?

Reason Online ^ | May 7, 2007 | Cathy Young

[Lusis]

The resignation of Randall Tobias, the chief of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, for "personal reasons" following the revelation that he had engaged the services of two escort-service workers has provided rich grist for amusement on the punditry circuit. There was indeed plenty of material for humor in the situation, from Tobias's strong stand in favor of abstinence teaching in AIDS prevention programs to his "I didn't inhale"-style assertion that he never had sex with the women. But the predictable laughs have obscured a much larger issue than hypocrisy in the ranks of social conservatives. The reason Tobias's call-girl adventures became public is that the owner of the Washington, DC-based service, Pamela Martin, is facing prosecution and has turned her records over to news organizations to help pay for her legal defense.

Even those who feel a certain schadenfreude at Tobias's downfall should be asking the question: should there have been a criminal case in the first place?

[Zack Nguyen]

Prostitution is nothing more than sex and commerce. To those opposed to prostitution, which of those are you opposed to?

Neither, but I am opposed to their combination. Buying and selling sex on the open market is degrading, and debauches the great gift of sex. As it is a financial "transaction" I have no problem with the government disallowing it.

[psychoknk]

The issue was prostitution spreading STDs, not how effectlve the laws are,

The issue is if prostitution should be legal or not. By making it illegal, is the spread of STDs being stopped? I would say that it isn't.

[Niteranger68]

There are anti-slavery laws that do protect people from being forced to labor against their will. This is why it was the remnants of the Abolitionist movement that was largely responsible for having prostitution made illegal.

I just don't but the slippery slope arguments used with this subject anymore than when they are used for issues like gun control.

[psychoknk]

Rights do not need to be defined. They either exist or they do not.

So how do I determine if a right exists or doesn't? What is the litmus test? You can't say, "You just know." That won't fly in court.

[Just another Joe]

Ah yes, prostitutes and politicians.
One you pay to let you do it to them.
The other you pay to do it to you.

[Star Traveler]

You said — “Prostitution was legal under the government formed by the founding Fathers and only became illegal when Women got the right to vote.”

—

So was slavery legal under the government formed by the founding fathers. It took a Civil War to get rid of that one.

Fortunately in this case, it didn’t take a Civil War to get rid of it — only the women’s vote....

[Atlas Sneezed]

Perhaps because trafficking in human flesh is bad policy as well as immoral.

---

Is it “trafficking” to be paid directly for one’s own services?

[Atlas Sneezed]

Either source your claims, or recant. (Please stop makin’ stuff up.)

[JamesP81]

So how do I determine if a right exists or doesn't? What is the litmus test? You can't say, "You just know." That won't fly in court

Neither does this apparent claim in your argument that what rights we have are defined by the government. After all, you did claim there would be additional rights we normally wouldn't have if there was anarchy.

[Star Traveler]

Just a bunch of griping from some guys who can’t get “chicks” any other way, it seems....

“money for nothing and chicks for free”

[wideawake]

Is it “trafficking” to be paid directly for one’s own services?

The notion that prostitutes are informed adults who make a rational decision to engage in consensual acts is mythical.

99.999% of prostitutes are women in desperate circumstances who are tricked or coerced by cynical individuals into the profession.

And that's true in jurisdictions where prostitution is legal, as well as ones in which it is illegal.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

It would be wrong (to the extreme) to say that our Founding Fathers were "ok" with slavery.

No it wouldn't. Some were perfectly fine with it; others weren't. You said as much in your post, in fact.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I have to say these are misleading statements.

Women never were prohibited from voting by the national government. Women voted in NJ in national elections from the very start. They were prohibited later when a politico was upset they voted against him.

Until the 19A it was up to the states who could vote. Women were nowhere automatically barred from voting in the US.

[Realism]

By making it illegal, is the spread of STDs being stopped? I would say that it isn't.

The "all or nothing" argument, just doesn't fly.

[Sensei Ern]

Has the list been published anywhere. yet?

[Busywhiskers]

Uh...because is spawns all sorts of social and moral evils?

[pgyanke]

Give me a break. Do I have to call the language police? “Some” (as you put it) of the Founding Fathers being fine with slavery doesn’t make all of the Founding Fathers “ok with it”. It makes them very conflicted on the issue—as they were—as I posted. This is the point I made abundantly clear before your inane post.

[CharacterCounts]

So how do I determine if a right exists or doesn't? What is the litmus test? You can't say, "You just know." That won't fly in court.

Yes you can. The simple rule is: your rights stop at the other persons nose. In other words the minute the expression of your rights damages or interferes with the rights of another, your rights stop.

[wideawake]

Prostitution was legal under the government formed by the founding Fathers

No, it wasn't.

While there never has been federal law outlawing prostitution in toto, it was outlawed in pretty much every local jurisdiction.

Prostitution was not legal in the Founding Fathers' days.

It was often legal by default in unorganized frontier territory, but was usually outlawed as that territory was organized into states.

[wideawake]

If prostitution was legal, then there would be fewer pimps

That hasn't been Europe's experience with legalized prostitution.