Is It Time To Legalize Prostitution Yet?

I caught Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on CNN last night standing in staunch defense of Eliot Spitzer. He named men such as Jefferson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Clinton who were great presidents despite their extramarital affairs. He went on to express his hope that Spitzer will not resign because a sexual misdemeanor does not affect the work of the politician--it just gives the public something to boo about.

'Tis true, however, that Spitzer is in hot water for more than just having an affair but also for soliciting a prostitute. One of Dershowitz's final comments was, "These laws are never forced against ordinary people." An excellent point! Now, if the public isn't held accountable for a law on a regular basis then should it still be a law? Not only that, but is an act that involves consensual adults really a crime? Bear with me, I'm not asking why prostitution is wrong--that I don't dispute--I'm asking why it's illegal.

Your reaction probably goes something like this, "It should remain illegal!"

"Why?" asks the universe.

"I don't know it just should!" you respond adamantly.

If we're so interested in waving a moral wand over other people's sexual transgressions, then why is adultery legal? As it stands now adultery is, as it should be, grounds for divorce but it is not considered criminal. You cannot call the police and report your spouse for being unfaithful, unless, of course, your spouse is being unfaithful with a prostitute.

In Jesus' time adultery was the worse crime. If you'll recall, Jesus had the easy task of stopping the Pharisees from verbally ostracizing a prostitute whereas he has to stop the crowd from actually killing an adulteress. They were heated and ready to hurl their rocks in her humiliated direction when he called them out on their hypocrisy, "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone." Many people feel strongly that adultery is wrong, but that doesn't mean we want the law involved. Prostitution, too, is a private matter and should move its way into being a strictly moral issue rather than a legal one.

One knee-jerk response to the legalization of prostitution is "Well, if it's legal then they'll be more prostitutes." As a member of a group of young professional women I can assure you that we have never once sat around the cocktail table with our frustrated fists raised in the air, angry over our would-be careers as prostitutes If only it were legal!

Consider, for a moment, legality. Prostitution is now legal, and therefore can be regulated. Prostitutes can be required to take systematic STD tests, which will aide in abating the spread. Prostitutes can also seek legal recourse in the event that they suffer abuse at the hand of their employers or clients. There can be a legal age implemented--making it easier to spot minor prostitutes and, more importantly, the people who force them into such work. Finally, prostitutes will be tax-paying citizens, and the service itself can be taxed.

A friend of a friend of mine who had an encounter with a prostitute in Amsterdam, where it is legal, believes regulating prostitution is they key to ending it. His experience was not only passionless but downright clinical. Condoms, rubber gloves as well as an egg timer were used during his session. The liaison doesn't end when the body says so but rather when the timer goes off--putting a trip to the prostitute on par with a trip to the dentist.

Prostitution is not referred to as the world's oldest profession for nothing. We can deny it happens all we want, but that won't make it go away. Both you and I interact on a regular basis with people who've been with prostitutes, and we'll never know because these people are nice. They're hardworking. They're successful and interesting--just like Eliot Spitzer. They shouldn't be stripped of their professional merit for their sexual indiscretions. What they do, and maybe even what we do, behind closed doors should stay there. It's time to consider prostitution as a waste of law enforcement, and certainly media, time and energy.

Comments

[WorkingClass]

Americans are WAYYYYYYYYYYY WAYYYYYYYY to stupid to legalize prostitution.

[Pandu]

We already have so many women publicly selling their services for pay. Prostitution is not different in kind, only in degree.

[Quaoar]

Legalize it, regulate it, and tax the hell out of it. The same goes for drugs. Remember, It's for the children. You don't want your kids and your grandkids still dealing with the budget deficits that the Big Government Republicans have left us with.

[blueraven]

I once got engaged in a debate about this very idea with some radical-fringe feminists. They kept trying to talk as if the experience of a grand-an-hour escort belittled that of a crack whore forced into selling $20 blow jobs for the sake of her next fix and that neither should exist accordingly. They couldn't grasp the possibility that some women choose that sort of job because they like it. The fact that legalizing it and introducing such things as EEOC and work safety regulations into the industry would cause the crack whore end of the equation to diminish while the high-end escorts would at worst suffer a pay cut or have to file as independent contractors to maintain their hourly rates just didn't fit their image of reality.

[Martin06]

HuffPost's Pick

I agree 100%.
Prostitution exists everywhere and is part of the human experience whether we personally experience it or not.
The countries in which it is legal have usually better social and health systems than the US and less sex obsessed and neurotic men. Sometimes, all you want is drop your load, unburden your mind and go back to business. But in the US you have to get loaded with the guilt of having done something illegal. It is very corrosive and stupid.
Do I expect the law to change? Not in the country that elected George Bush twice.

[oldpotsmuggler]

Yeah, we could grow up and legaize prostitution. We could grow up and stop legislating morality altogether. But we're not going to.

How, you may ask, does the world survive with prostitution being legal in parts of Nevada? And gambling in all of it, as well as many other places? And pot legal for all intents and purposes in small pockets in California?

And then we come to the fact that Texas still has entire counties where alcohol sales is a crime, and places like Utah where alcohol must be purchased only from the government. As for adultery, it's been a few years since I checked but Utah still had a law on the books making that a felony. And Texas will not only put two consenting adults in prison for sex if they happen to be of the same gender, but even has bedroom police trying to catch folks in the act.

Yeah, on balance I think that I'd probably predict things getting worse before they get better.

But look on the bright side. If Obama gets elected we can at least hope that they'll get better, and that's a pretty close substitute, isn't it?

[j0hnwi11iams]

It should be legal and safe.

[gplaw]

I am not in the least concerned with the crime of prostitution. However, I am concerned with the oath he took to uphold and enforce the law; and he did not. What kind of message does this send about all the cases that he has prosecuted? He just opened up Pandora's box. He has placed people in prison for less. It is only fair that he be charged for the misdemeanor and disbarred. If his judgment is this lacking in his personal life what did he do when he was a prosecutor? In the private sector he would be fired, disbarred, and sanctioned by the Bar Association. An attorney in my city was arrested for solicitation and he was disbarred. New Yorkers do the right thing, demand that Spitzer be arrested. If he was poor he would be arrested. We can no longer allow politicians, the wealthy, and the famous to continue breaking the law.

[PeteBogs]

"Prostitution, too, is a private matter and should move its way into being a strictly moral issue rather than a legal one."

agreed... if it's between two consenting adults, it's no one else's business...

"As a member of a group of young professional women I can assure you that we have never once sat around the cocktail table with our frustrated fists raised in the air, angry over our would-be careers as prostitutes If only it were legal!"

I am for marijuana legalization, even though I never touch the stuff... and that would change if I could get it legally!

[ruralguy]

I would like to see prostitution legalized, but not marijuana. People should not be allowed to drive a car after smoking marijuana. It also has serious health implications for chronic users, such as lung cancer. Too bad, it sure is fun.

[LeftRight]

Legalizing marijuana would NOT automatically mean that people would go drive while high. Yes some would, just like they drive drunk, but it can be made legal without allowing those who are using it to drive while they do.

And as far as lung cancer goes, don't forget, cigarettes cause MUCH more lung cancer than marijuana does, and they're legal!

[booklover]

Well sure cigarettes cause more cancer - because they're legal and cheap and therefore more people smoke them. But marijuana is now way stronger than it was 20 years ago, and not filtered, therefore more dangerous. Also, in countries where it has been legalized schizophrenia has risen at the same rate as pot use. It's dangerous to the brain, especially the adolescent brain. Before legalization, more facts need to be made available, and regulations need to be put in place to protect those affected.

[blueraven]

There is no causal link between marijuana and lung cancer. Also, there are already laws on the books about driving under the influence that would not magically disappear just because there would be one more substance one could buy and use without fear of punishment without other reasons to be pulled over, such as driving drunk. By your logic, we need to ban alcohol again (gee, look how well tjhat worked out).

[LeftRight]

"...Well, if it's legal then they'll be more prostitutes...."

And yet this line makes as much sense as the following:

"If we teach kids about sex they'll be more likely to have it, and at an earlier age"

or perhaps:

"If we teach kids about drugs, they're more likely to use them"

All three of these assume that people are stupid, and when you educate them they will be unable to make a decision. All three also refuse to admit that maybe someone MIGHT be able to make a better informed decision if they have the information available to them! Plus, think about the tax revenues that could be earned by the gov't!!!

[LoRiseAntlers]

Living in a country made up of the biggest prudes in the western world,you might as well lobby for murder to be made legal.
There is nothing Americans like to do more than legislate morality,or their local version of it.

[BeeOplentee]

Well, you're right-- it would be nice if it was legalized and regulated. Just like in Europe.
The market place would soon set more realistic prices than $6,000 for an hour. Some guys (and gals?) might be able to afford the Emperor treatment, but the rest of us would undoubtedly go to the "Wal-Mart" brothels for relief and fun!

BTW: Is it Eliot or Elliot?