I can’t believe there are self-identified liberals, progressives, and Democrats basically taking the tack of, “Well, it’s illegal; so it must be bad!”
HELLO.
The fact that something is illegal does not mean it’s somehow inherently, morally wrong - and vice versa. Anyone who considers themselves to have any liberal/progressive/what-the-hell-ever leanings AT ALL should understand this.
I won’t go the route of talking about how it’s what this country was founded on but you can go there yourself if you’d like.
Examples:
Interracial marriage was illegal into the 1960s.
Spousal rape was legal - excuse me, there wasn’t even the concept of spousal rape! - in many jurisdictions well into the 1970s.
And some particular lightning rods for liberals etc.: Abortion. Same-sex marriage. ENDA.
I think that’s all I need to say about that, right?
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6 Responses to "Astounded"
Thomas and I were talking about this last night, and I think the hard part is that regardless of whether it should be illegal, the problem with prostitution is that peoples’ perception is that its practitioners’ presence draws others whose activities are more nefarious to the surrounding area. I’ve never lived anywhere with prostitutes nearby, so I don’t know for sure that such a thing happens, but this is what I hear.
One thing I do know is that the Midtown Neighbor’s Association is crazy, and what they are doing is endangering people’s well-being.
Yet apparently it never occurs to those same people that the criminalized nature of the work is what leads to the violence and other types of crime being around it (or associated with it) in the first place!!
People also don’t seem to “get” that most sex work does not take place on the street. Street prostitution is the most visible aspect but it’s not the whole story. Chances are good that you and Thomas live somewhere with prostitutes nearby right now - they’re just not street workers.
Agreed entirely.
If a profit is to be made from any endeavor, you can count on others to organize their efforts to maximize said profit. That’s just good business. Unfortunately, if the endeavor itself is illegal, then the organizations that manage it just might be criminal in nature. I’m not saying that every sex worker is part of a larger criminal network, each one fitting in the branches of some kind of Soprano family tree. Far from it. But since prostitution is illegal, there comes with it a kind of “company of thieves” operational environment that dictates what resources are available. They cannot count on the police for protection, as what they do is illegal by statute, so they might seek protection elsewhere.
(And really, the same rewriting of societal rules would probably apply to anyone engaging in an illegal trade involving consensual crime. By the way, have you ever read Peter McWilliams Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do? Not sure where my copy is, but you really should read it if you haven’t.)
So does this mean that the only solution is revocation of laws against solicitation entirely? And until then, what can be done to sever the ties that do exist with more disruptive criminal elements?
Thomas,
COYOTE (a sex workers’ rights organization based in California) has an excellent article which answers your question. Unfortunately, their web site is down right now. :P For future reference, here is the link: http://www.freedomusa.org/coyotela/decrim.html
Fortunately though, a friend of mine quoted a portion of it in her blog recently:
The McWilliams book used to be available on the late author’s website, but it looks like the site’s gone fallow. There is, however, what looks like an old reliable plain-text version here.
And of course, DESTIGMATIZATION, as well as addressing the economic roots of problems that drive people into street work would be a good thing, too.
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