Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; Should Prostitution be Legal?
...ted. This is a contractual agreement. As such, I feel it should be legal, yet still regulated in much the way other contractual agreements between people are regulated. Employment contracts, as well trade and commerce contracts all have regulation to protect all the parties involved and ensure smooth mutually satisfying contractual relationships. Legalized prostitution is not a new or unique concept. “As of early 2000, there were twenty-six brothels in Nevada, scattered throughout ten of the state’s seventeen counties.” (Albert, 44) Additionally, there are other countries were sex work is already legal such as New Zealand, Netherlands and Germany, where there is even a union for sex workers. Still other countries have recently taken up the issue of decriminalizing prostitution. Just last year in Canada, Sheila Orr, “a liberal member of the provincial legislature in British Columbia is calling for the establishment of a designated area for street prostitutes near the downtown core of Victoria.” (CBC.CA News) In April, 2002 The Roman Catholic bishop of Prague, Vaclav Maly stated “It isn’t enough simply to moralise, to judge, but it is necessary to do something.” (Pigott, internet) Vaclav “called for prostitution to be made legal” and “What give the bishop’s apparent challenge to Roman Catholic orthodoxy its significance is the support he has won among other Czech bishops.” (Pigott, internet) Demonizing sex workers and throwing them in prison does not help to improve their situations. Working illegally, hidden away, there are left unprotected and more vulnerable to disease and violence. Legalization and regulation can vastly improve the safety, health and legitimacy of those choosing prostitution as their profession. This has been demonstrated in the legal brothels of Nevada. For instance, “There has only been one reported case of assault against a prostitute in a Nevada brothel in the last twenty-one years. In contrast, one 1998 study of San Francisco prostitutes found 82 percent has been physically assaulted since entering prostitution (55 percent by their customers), and 68 percent had been raped (46 percent by their customers).” (Albert, 162) “As early as 1985, nearly three-fourth of Nevada’s brothels voluntarily started testing their prostitutes for HIV “ (Albert, 174) and “Since 1986, the state legislature had required that all brothel prostitutes be tested for HIV as a condition of employment; once employed, they were tested monthly.” (Albert, 57) “Since 1988, the Bureau of Disease Control and Intervention Services for the Nevada State Health Department has required brothel patrons to use latex condoms for all sexual activity with brothel prostitutes.” (Albert, 56) The result being no HIV in any brothel workers and nearly eliminating STDs as w...