...DECRIMINALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION: AN INMODEST PROPOSAL An Annotated Bibliography Bristol Community College 04/25/2016 Elmer Paz Prostitution is the sale of sexual services in exchange for money or other compensation. A person exercising prostitution called prostitute. Prostitution is one of the jobs and social phenomena that responds to human sexual desire, and in many cases, the need for affection and understanding, seeking relief from loneliness and isolation, especially in the big cities. Prostitution is included within the so-called "victimless crimes", i.e. those committed by adults with legal capacity whose behavior does not harm anyone or does not affect the rights of third parties. It is a voluntary transaction for sexual services in exchange for money. This occurs because the parties involved in it expect to obtain mutual satisfaction. Otherwise, the business relationship would not take place. Prostitution, a universal reality, remains a pending issue for most advanced democracies, specifically in the United States. Some countries have tackled the problem from different points of view, with more or less success, but the answer is not simple. There is a huge need to pose prostitution as a legal job and decriminalize it in order to increase control and protection of women. Prostitution should not be a crime. Prostitutes are not committing an inherently harmful act. While the spread of disease and other detriments are possible in the practice of prostitution, criminalization...
Words: 2556 - Pages: 11
...performance of sex acts for hire; prostitution” (ProCon Organization) sex work is most often stigmatized. Though it can be vilified and illegal, sex work does exist on a global scale; the issues surrounding it, therefore, affect millions and must be carefully examined. Policy-makers, scholars, community leaders, and citizens should consider the arguments both supporting and opposing decriminalization of sex work, defined by the Global Network of Sex Work Projects as “the removal of all criminal and administrative prohibitions and penalties on sex work, including laws targeting clients and...
Words: 2085 - Pages: 9
...February 2012 Decriminalization of Prostitution The question that I am exploring is should society allow individuals sell sex for money? This question is important because taxpayer money is being spent on Vice Police Units who patrol known prostitution locations and go under cover. It’s also important because through out history social policy and public law has changed back and forth on the issue of prostitution. I am interested on this issue because recently my hometown of Ottawa, Ohio, has had a scandal involving our town mayor being arrested for solicitation of prostitution, causing the loss of his job and embarrassment for our town. My first source was a documentary series on the History channel called “Sex in the Ancient World” specifically the episode I watched was “Pompeii”. “Sex in the Ancient World” is written and directed by Kurt Sayenga. Kurt Sayenga got his start with his magazine “Greed” which covered punk rock culture and quickly rose to stardom trough his multiple documentaries and his feature films like “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. His experience shows he is a very creditable source because he has blockbuster movies and is a respected by all of the film community. In this documentary the core issue was sex in Pompeii in ancient times. Pompeii was small Roman city of 6,000 when Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 76 AD and sealed the city in volcanic ash like a time capsule. Pompeii is the first definite proof of the occupation of prostitution. According to...
Words: 1664 - Pages: 7
...Finally the third adjudicated law enacted to criminalize prostitution was called the Federal Mann Act. This Act, which was also known as the White Slave Traffic Act, made prostitution a felony to engage in the transport of any female for the purpose of prostitution posed by the immorality of the act. This Act criminalized the sexual behavior between consenting adults. This Act can be found under 18 U.S.C. §2421, and defends all human trafficking throughout the United States. After addressing two legislative decisions for prostitution and one on criminalizing prostitution, I want to give three examples of this “victimless crime.” Before I jump into my first topic on escort services, I want to define the terms of prostitution and escort service....
Words: 1469 - Pages: 6
...to sex work, Bill C-36 The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. This act was meant to protect sex workers by criminalizing the buying – not the selling – of sex, and reduce the demand for prostitution by discouraging entry into it. In fact, Bill C-36 impedes sex workers from organizing and protecting themselves, often leaving them to engage in riskier behaviour, imposing more danger to sex workers, criminalization and fewer safe options. Introduction Prostitution or sex work in Canada is a controversial topic among many Canadians which often leads to intense debates with radically opposing views. The definitions of what constitutes sex work often vary, and multiple views...
Words: 1445 - Pages: 6
...Against Legalizing Prostitution in Country like Indonesia There is an ongoing and intense debate surrounding decriminalizing prostitution. Some countries, such as The Netherlands, Canada and Australia have legalized Prostitution. They argue that the legalization of prostitution brings more good than harm, and so far people see that good things such as an increase in country’s gross domestic product and economic output from those country is happening. But, that’s just a glance of external view out of a lot of things that really happened inside of the country that legalize prostitution itself, such as morale issue and women trafficking. This writing will boldly show and explains the arguments against legalizing prostitution and why a country like Indonesia should not legalize prostitution. Some people, whom agree to legalize prostitution, come up with arguments that from their point of view will bring more goods than bad. First, they argue that legalizing prostitution will decrease the number of sexual harassment and rape. They believe that by the legalization of prostitution, it will reduce the number of unwanted sex since it is now woman’s choice to get in to the business of prostitution or not and it will not be called as rape if both parties are willing to have sex. Second, It will be better and safer for sex-workers if prostitution was legalized and regulated. This point argue that if prostitution was legalized then there will be less crimes against (un-legalized) prostitutes...
Words: 2277 - Pages: 10
...“Decriminalization would reduce the stigma, discrimination and uncertainty that come with criminality allowing us to live and work in health and safety and without fear of arrest that deprives us of our freedom and dignity”(Clamen, Santini & Charlebois,2013:3). This stigma affect all sex workers, legalising sex work mean a step to eliminate disgrace or shameful. This removal of sex work as a criminal act and organisation that prohibits sex work will allow sex work as work that protects the rights of sex workers through the agency of health and safety standards. Decriminalizing this trade will lead to sex workers to live without stigma, social exclusion and fear of violence. Sex worker will also have an access to financial services which means they have...
Words: 759 - Pages: 4
...The topic of prostitution and drug use has been an ongoing battle over the decriminalization of these so called victimless crimes. They are both correlated to sociological factors, such as, race, gender, socioeconomic standing and age, which, increases the likelihood of becoming involved in prostitution and illegal drug use. They are correlated to each other because prostitution is a means of income to support drug use and drug use is used to make a prostitutes work “bearable”. This paper will discuss in detail, prostitution and illicit drug use, including the contributions of sociological variables. Furthermore, it will distinguish whether the two are truly victimless crimes. Finally, it will include a personal opinion regarding the decriminalization of drug abuse and prostitution. Prostitution is associated with sexual services for hire. Lyn Stankiewicz Murphy defined prostitution as “a behaviour that involves the exchange of sexual services for economic compensation in the form of drugs, money, or needed resources” (2010, p.775). There are several types of prostitutes that are based on their status. From lowest status to highest, they are: streetwalkers, bar prostitutes, house prostitutes, massage-parlour prostitutes and escort service prostitutes. Streetwalkers are those who solicit their availability on the streets and are most often ran by pimps. Bar prostitutes work in bars and lounges, while house prostitutes “operate illegally and on a small scale” and are “managed...
Words: 1655 - Pages: 7
...PROSTITUTION IS NOT A CHOICE LEARN A BOUT TH E TRA FFI CKING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS WORLDWIDE, AND FIND OUT WHAT CAN BE DONE TO END THIS WID ESPR EAD PROBLEM … Soroptimist International of the Americas-1709 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 - 215 893 9000 - www.soroptimist.org SOROPTIMIST WHITE PAPER Prostitution is Not a Choice I think so much about what has happened to me. Why these men did what they did to me. Old, disgusting men. It was horrible. They knew I did not want to be there, but they paid their money. They used me. I was their property for the night. They destroyed me. (14-year-old girl at Casa Hogar, a shelter in Costa Rica for children rescued from the country’s sex trade1) OVERVIEW Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest “profession.” In reality, it is the world’s oldest “oppression” and continues to be one of the most overlooked human rights abuses of women on the planet today. 2 Prostitution of women is a particularly lethal form of violence against women, and a violation of a woman’s most basic human rights. While society attempts to normalize prostitution on a variety of levels (discussed later in this paper), prostituted women are subjected to violence and abuse at the hands of paying “clients.” For the vast majority of prostituted women, “prostitution is the experience of being hunted, dominated, harassed, assaulted and battered.” 3 It is “sexual terrorism against women at the hands of men and little is being done to stop the carnage...
Words: 12689 - Pages: 51
...society. Decriminalization of homosexuality would require many of the existing moral values of the society which would be again a problem as many of the people would resist to such changes, this would eventually lead to violence and in worst scenario may even lead to the total breakdown of the civilized society. The society may even cease to exist. The ministry of Home Affairs has reasoned that it has been generally invoked in case of allegation of child sexual abuse and for rape instances and not just for homosexuality. Hence cases of such offences would be impacted and criminals might roam free. If homosexuality is to be legalized, soon enough people would start fighting for legalizing prostitution and regulating it. Prostitution is something which exploits basic human rights, one trading her body in order to survive in the society. This industry itself thrives upon exploitation and corruption which are the basic fundamentals the law seeks to safeguard against. This may lead to a breakdown of the society very intensely. The scope of criminal law is to provide sufficient safeguards to prevent any form of corruption, exploitation and to maintain public order so that people can live in peace. But legalizing issues like homosexuality, sodomy can also provoke the citizens for a rebellion. By all means a society is free to protect itself from disintegration in case of such an incident. Unless our society is ready to accept gays and homosexuality, the outcome of decriminalization could...
Words: 910 - Pages: 4
...should be the controllers of their own bodies. Prostitution has been a long-standing profession throughout history. Governments are still working to solve the perpetual dispute of the legalization of prostitution. There are forty-two million prostitutes in the world. In the United States, there are one million in the United States, and it is only legal in Nevada (Lubin, Gus). Despite the laws against it, the industry continues to thrive. Young women resort to prostitution because they have no other choice. Human trafficking and prostitution rings import prostitutes from developing, poorer countries throughout Eastern Europe, East...
Words: 851 - Pages: 4
...The problem with prostitution Over the past two decades, Canada's prostitution laws have faced a number of challenges. Soon they will face another. By The Vancouver Sun August 27, 2007 Over the past two decades, Canada's prostitution laws have faced a number of challenges. Soon they will face another. A group of Vancouver lawyers and sex workers have initiated a Charter challenge arguing that our present laws violate their right to life, liberty, security, equality and free expression. Our laws don't actually prohibit prostitution per se. They just ban any mechanism of engaging in it -- from soliciting for the purposes of prostitution to operating a common bawdy house. Those bringing the challenge argue that the laws do more harm than good. They argue that our criminal laws expose sex workers to significant harm: Physical and sexual violence, lack of access to police protection, social stigma, inequality, exploitation and murder. Their solution? Strike down the laws and institute a regulatory scheme to help make being a prostitute safer. There is something fundamentally wrong with this vision. Prostitution laws don't expose sex workers to an increased risk of physical and sexual violence, psychological injury, kidnapping and death. Prostitution does that. Should drug dealers challenge laws banning the selling of drugs because those laws force them to sell drugs in alleys and deal with shady individuals in their business? No. They should stop selling drugs...
Words: 779 - Pages: 4
...Decriminalization of harlotry would admit a decline in violence against women in the sex industry. “Prostitutes who experience violence may be reluctant to call the cops since what they're doing is illegal. Sex workers in licensed brothels, on the other hand, can have somebody to back them up, according to a paper by Barbara Brents and Kathryn Hausbeck of the University of Nevada. Brents and Hausbeck interviewed brothel owners and made these observations… The study concluded that "brothels offer the safest environment available for women to sell consensual sex acts for money (Fuchs)”. Sex workers now are prone to not call police during an emergency, due to the fact that there could be serious consequences even for the victim. However, if legal,...
Words: 724 - Pages: 3
...Introduction/Policy Statement This action memorandum proposes to change the current legislation surrounding the criminalization of women in prostitution within Canada. This memorandum suggests altering the current legislation similar to the ‘Swedish Model,’ through the criminalization of the purchase of sex while decriminalizing the supply in order to protect sex workers’ equal rights and reduce violence against women, specifically those within the sex trade market. Summary The current legislation on prostitution in Canada prohibits the action of prostitution, specifically surrounding the issue of solicitation and the use of public space. Although, it appears that prostitution is legal in Canada, the current law is riddled with arbitrariness, hypocrisy and virtually no enforcement. The current law reflects inherent bias and sexism towards women who decide to work within the sex industry and forces women to work in dangerous isolation, afraid to seek help. This reinforces patriarchal norms that insist women seduce men to the point where they no longer have any self-control, placing societal blame on the woman. This sexism locks women in to prostitution where they are subject to rape, violence or physical and psychological trauma. In Canada, Aboriginal women are over-represented within the sex trade industry because of vulnerability to exploitation driven by poverty. The current legislation does not adhere to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, negating women’s right...
Words: 1217 - Pages: 5
...Indecent Occupation (- SAY IT, The Vagina Monolouges- Eve Ensler,2008) Prostitution, pornography or sex work has been in history one of the most demeaned kinds of work. But today there is a drastic change in the way prostitution is viewed. There are demands from every corner about decriminalization of prostitution. In its draft statement ICPR (International Committee For Prostitute’s Rights) states, “Until recently, the women’s movement in most countries has not, or has only marginally, included prostitutes as spokeswoman or theorists. Historically, women’s movement (for example socialist and communist movements) has opposed the institution of prostitution, while claiming to support prostitute women. However, prostitutes reject support that requires them to leave prostitution, they object to being treated as symbols of oppression and demand recognition as workers. Due to feminist hesitation or refusal to accept prostitution as legitimate work and to accept prostitutes as working women, the majority of prostitutes have not been recognised as feminists. Nonetheless many prostitutes identify with feminist values such as independence, financial autonomy, sexual self-determination, personal strength and female bonding.’ In the new discourse demanding the legitimisation of prostitution the however, the institution and the individual is confused. It is one thing to defend the prostitute and a completely different thing...
Words: 5501 - Pages: 23
