3 reasons that Prostitution should be legalized

Quan Tran

Mamata Rai

Professor Osbone

Assignment 2

Prostitution, or the sex trade, is the business of selling sexual activities, and most of the workers are women. Prostitution is a known problem in most countries. It is undeniable that prostitution causes many of society’s vices, for instance rape, sexual diseases, and kidnapping. In some cultures, people even have the negative idea that sex is dirty or something embarrassing. Should prostitution be banned? Does it solve any problems when a government decides to prohibit this kind of business? Prostitution is generally condemned or abolished, people know that it still existed around us. Is it better to avoid the issue or face it? If prostitution were legalized, people would open their minds to accept it as a typical need of humans.

When people become adults, they tend to have some changes in their thinking needs. One of them is naturally the demand of their gender, in particular sexuality. There are many different conceptions about sex among different cultures and religions. If the attitude about sexuality in Western society is compared to “the sunset”, then the one in some Eastern countries is still “the sunrise”. Western civilization approved sexual freedom a long time ago but it has just begun to be established in a few places in the East. In most Asian countries and religions, people are still shy or afraid of talking about this issue. They think that sexuality is a sensitive subject that should not be mentioned publically. In some stricter cultures, people believe that sex is totally immoral if it is happening in a marriage. In fact, sexuality is just a normal activity of the human body. According to Abraham Maslow, sex is accurate in the first stage of the hierarchy of human needs. Alongside breathing, food, water, or sleep, Maslow showed that sexual activity is biologically a part of survival. This makes it easy to see that there is nothing wrong or unethical about sex. It is just a natural demand of every adult. Since sex is an essential need, it opens up a market for buyers and sellers. A person has a right to have sex even when they are not ready for a one-on-one relationship. With sex-workers, this can be seen as a serious job that could give them income. They may even enjoy it. Sex can be considered a natural ability or talent. Some people have the ability to work with what they have such as youth, beauty, and good health. Sexuality is not something shameful but a healthy adult activity. Since sex is the foundation of prostitution, there is nothing wrong with this business. Its aim is just a purchase of the human beauty and sexual acts.

The second reason that prostitution should be legal protection of sex workers. Prostitution still exists everywhere around the world. Not many countries accept it, but sex trade is not going away in the near future. Everybody needs sex, so that demand and supply are going to be growing all the time. Stopping prostitution is impossible. For that reason, sex-workers’ lives became more noticeable. Street prostitutes now face some problems with pressure from pimps, sexually transmitted infections, being physical abuse, and legal status. A legalized sex trade contributes to a safe and healthy environment for this kind of worker. When prostitution becomes public and legal, the workers must follow proper policies on the job, like having a work permit. Consequently, there would be more workers making a personal choice rather than the women and children being abducted. Legalizing this trade would interest those people who are able to work in prostitution which is much better than building a labor force by kidnapping or scamming. Legal sex-workers would get deserved labor rights like wages, health care policies and other civil benefits. In Singapore, legal prostitutes are required to test for HIV and other sexual infections every month, and condom use as well as other safety precautions is compulsory. They are commonly working in designated red-light areas (DRAs) - a safe work place supported by the government (Tan and Gill 3).

Meanwhile in South Asian, prostitution is considered an ethical issue; people and governments harshly criminalize the presence of prostitution in society. In India, the laws of the sex-trade are impacted by such laws as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act of 1956 (ITPA) or Indian Penal Code of 1890. Every activity related to the sexual industry is seen as an offense according to most provisions of law. Women can be imprisoned for up to six months but the maximum for men’s penalties are only less about seven days to three months (ITPA Section 8). Prostitution is prohibited in public, but the ‘public places’ are prescribed by law as schools, hospitals, religious worship sites, and even hostels, hotels. Any human being who earns income from selling sex and the people they financially support are charged with violation of law. This includes parents, children, siblings, and partners (Godwin 54). In reality, closing brothels and stopping prostitution is incredibly different in these countries, so the sex workers do not get any human rights. This is not only raising more social problems, but also acting against civilians, when the laws are created to protect their rights. Legalization of prostitution would help change the prejudices about sex and its market trade; it would reduce discrimination against the sex-workers and give them the general human rights they could get from working any other occupations.

Most people suppose that prostitution is mainly caused by social vices and should be banned. It is undeniable that gonorrhea, syphilis, or HIV/Aids are the diseases mostly gotten from prostitution. Furthermore kidnapping, abuse and human trafficking all coexist with the sex trade. But are they the things that make up prostitution, or only illegal prostitution? Is prostitution truly harmful to society? Could a country reduce these negative effects if it legalized the sex-trade?

"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Simply Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2015.

Tan, Shin Bin and Gill, Alisha. . “Containing Commercial Sex to Designated Red Light Areas”. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. (2013): 1-18. 3 Oct. 2015.

Godwin, John. “Sex Work and The Law in Asia and the Pacific”. Laws, HIV and the human rights in the context of sex work. Oct 2012: 41-85. 3 Oct. 2015.