I was wondering if other countries have the same repressive laws concerning the basic right of humans to sell the expression of physical love? Other countries have a more mature approach to hookers..When did the USA get to be so messed up? Christ I wish we’d get caught up with the rest of the world…
Frequently I am asked, “What countries have legal prostitution?”
It would be easier to ask which countries is it illegal in, that would be a very short list, with mainly the U.S. were consenting adult sexual rights are denied.
Prostitution is LEGAL (with some restrictions that aren’t that bad) in Canada, most all of Europe including England, France, Wales, Denmark, etc., most of South America including most of Mexico (often in special zones), Brazil, Israel (Tel Aviv known as the brothel capital of the world), Australia, and many other countries. It is either legal or very tolerated in most all of Asia and even Iran has “temporary wives” which can be for only a few hours! New Zealand passed in 2003 one of the most comprehensive decriminalization acts which even made street hookers legal which is causing many concerns. I do NOT support public nuisance street hookers being legal unless in special zones. But PRIVATE consenting adult sexwork should be legal as it is in most of the world except the U.S.
As long as prostitution is kept illegal, and women are persecuted for acts which harm no one, prostitute women will be subject to brutality at the hands of misogynists and moralists—they are, arguably, the same group. And when prostitutes are treated as second class citizens, and in extreme cases, as less than human, then all women who dare to step out of their social constructs will be labeled as whores and treated accordingly. For these reasons, the rights of all women are contingent upon the rights accorded to the most vulnerable women. - From Dr. Jocelyn Elders: March 1997 International Prostitution Conference highlights: Keynote speaker was Dr. Jocelyn Elders. Elders was surgeon general until President. Clinton fired her for supporting masturbation. Elders called for prostitution to be decriminalized. Dr. Elders has also said: “We say that [hookers] are selling their bodies, but how is that different from athletes? They’re selling their bodies. Models? They’re selling their bodies. Actors? They’re selling their bodies.” See http://www.lpt.com/
Prostitution is LEGAL (with some restrictions that aren’t that bad) in Canada, most all of Europe including England, France, Wales, Denmark, etc., most of South America including most of Mexico (often in special zones), Brazil, Israel (Tel Aviv known as the brothel capital of the world), Australia,
you might wanna research that a bit deeper, champ.
Although prostitution has never been illegal in Canada, many of the peripheral activities intimately related with it are so penalized. Communicating for the purposes of prostitution, soliciting, keeping a common bawdy house, procuring, and living off the avails of prostitution are some examples of the type of activities that are criminalized according to the legal system.
In the United Kingdom, prostitution (the exchange of sexual services for money or goods) is legal for the client and prostitute when aged 18 or over.[2][3] However several related activities are illegal, these include soliciting in a public place, keeping a brothel, pimping, pandering, kerb crawling and outraging public decency (having sex in public). Since the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the word Prostitute is gender neutral[4][5], previously some laws only applied to female prostitutes.
Prostitution in Australia is governed by state and territory laws, which vary considerably.
Brothels are legal in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. They are illegal in South Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia. Brothels are often regulated by local council planning laws. Street prostitution is illegal in all states of Australia except New South Wales, where it is prohibited near churches, schools, hospitals and similar venues.[1]
Nevada is one of only two U.S. states that allow some legal prostitution; in most of its rural counties brothels are legalized and heavily regulated. (In Rhode Island, the act of sex for money is not illegal, but operating a brothel, pimping and street prostitution are illegal.) Prostitution outside the licensed brothels is illegal throughout Nevada. Contrary to popular belief, prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas (and in Clark County which contains its metropolitan area). Currently 8 out of Nevada’s 16 counties have active brothels; as of June/July 2008 there were 28 legal brothels in Nevada.[1][2][3]
Thanx for the clarification Piff..Ultimately one of the ways hookers might get the green light legally speaking ..is if it’s financially beneficial…here’s a piece of a site that has really expanded the dialogue..
Benefits of Legalization
Currently most everywhere in the United States, our legal system penalizes prostitutes and their customers for what they do as consenting adults. Money is still spent on law enforcement efforts to catch prostitutes and their customers. Once caught, justice departments have to process these people through very expensive systems.
What are the end results? Police personnel and courtrooms are overburdened with these cases, having little or no impact on prostitution. The prostitutes and their customers pay their fines and are back to the streets in no time in a revolving door process. Catch and release may work for recreational fishing but it has no deterring affect on prostitution.
Making prostitution legal will allow the act to be managed instead of ignored. Pimps and organized crime figures, who regularly treat their workers on subhuman levels, would no longer control women. In some countries, prostitute rings buy and sell women on the black market, force their women to comply through violence and create unhealthy working conditions. When prostitutes operate independently and in secret, many times they become abused by their own customers.
Legalizing prostitution would prevent underground prostitution that occurs today. When men want to pay for sex, they find prostitutes. These people work in massage parlors, escort services, strip bars and modeling agencies or still work corners as traditional streetwalkers. There are legitimate parlors, dating services, bars and agencies but of the hundreds that exist within newspaper classified advertisements and telephone directories, there are a large number that provide sexual services. A routine search through Google’s Internet news engine for ‘prostitution’ routinely reveals connections between prostitution and these falsetto agencies (Google, 2004).
Legalized, regulated prostitution has many benefits. Encounters can happen within controlled environments that bring about safety for both the customers and the prostitutes. Prostitutes would no longer be strong-armed by pimps or organized crime rings. Underage prostitution would be curtailed. There would also be health-safety improvements.
You don’t normally think that legalizing prostitution…could save lives and improve the lives of many desperate alienated teens..
It is estimated that 100,000 to 3 million teens are nearly invisibly prostituted per year in the United States (Walker, 2002). If we allow prostitution to remain hidden from view and basically invisible to the law as it is today, we allow a number of teens to be swept up into prostitution every year. When adult women decide to exchange money for sex, it is a personal choice open to them under the philosophy of a free, democratic society. When troubled minors who do not yet have the social survival skills decide to prostitute, they are often manipulated by opportunists who exploit these teens, typically leading to horrific ends. Legalizing prostitution will help prevent these instances through regulation.
its always interesting to note who is for and against decriminalizing prostitution.
it works well in nevada, really.
I was watching ..“Cathouse” on HBO the other night..a doc about the Bunny Ranch.in Nevada. Now these girls don’t seem like down trodden drug addicts..They seem happy, spontaneous and very excited about making money…They seem much better adjusted and satisfied with their lives than most office workers I’ve known…
Most of them have great compassion for the customers they service..after all they provide simulated physical love..they really are therapists..
Ok here’s a thought..If it were legal, the money prostitutes make could be taxed and they could also be subjected to rigorous STD tests like porn stars. Hey does it make sense that it’s legal to have sex for money in front of a camera and not legal without a camera?
One in nine men hire prostitutes:From
Malarek’s new book, The Johns: Sex For Sale and the Men Who Buy It
1 out of nine that admit buying sex…what’s that 15 million men or more in the USA alone.. Christ..do we really want to criminalize that many people..we don’t have enough jail space for the rapists and murderers..
