So here’s a topic that might bring you to the edge of your seat. On August 26 2015, an article was found in the opinion pages of The New York Times stating that “Amnesty International passed a resolution supporting the decriminalization of sex work, on the grounds that it would be safer for sex workers — a move that many human’s rights groups disagree with and opposed” (The New York Times). Should it be okay to legalize the promotion of your own occupation as a sex worker? After all, people will still find a way to complain about their rights even if they do already live in the land of the free, so one can say that prostitution being illegal takes away the right for individuals to make a career choice. It has also been said that decriminalizing prostitution allows sex workers to legally challenge bullying and exploitative behavior. However, I beg to differ on the above assumptions.

    If, “It is believed that trafficking in women, coercion and exploitation can only be stopped if the existence of prostitution is recognized and the legal and social rights of prostitutes are guaranteed,” (Marjan Wijers Chair of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Trafficking in Human Beings) then how can we assume that legalizing prostitution would not just pertain to the act of leading the lambs to the wolves? This means I believe that giving women the green light for this occupation would bring them to a serious danger zone and leading them to slave owners, pimps, or landlords of sex trafficking organizations.

      Another argument that I strongly stand for is that legalizing prostitution encourages girls at very young ages to become a part of this occupation.  Instead of girls being encouraged to chase after dreams that are much more worthwhile they are encouraged to take the easy way out by selling themselves to some fat old pervert for money. Maybe you’d like to argue that, “It’s not fair for you to say that when some people are left with no other choice in order to support their families!” Well I completely disagree and I encourage you to think a little bit deeper. There are MANY resources and organizations out there which also reach out into the places you might think are in the dark that are willing to help young women get careers and funds for their families. Young women should challenge their other challenges.

     In other words, I am saying that young women should fight against their struggles and rise up to do something more effective with their lives. Prostitution might be a career some women enjoy, but for most women in prostitution this career was not something they chose from the beginning. Research has showed that many women who live in countries that have legalized prostitution were actually forced into sexual labor as trafficked victims. I am not bashing women individually for being prostitutes; I am encouraging women to take part in something greater with their lives because too many people simply just objectify women through in result of prostitution.

     Along with many other aspects about this topic I have also read that, “It is estimated that if prostitution were legalized in the United States, the rape rate would decrease by roughly 25% for a decrease of approximately 25,000 rapes per year….” (Kirby R. Cundiff, PhD Associate Professor of Finance at Northeastern State University). I find this prediction to be very null and void. Rape would still exist just the same whether or not prostitution is legal or illegal. The only difference would be that rape would be “buying” the victim rather than stealing them. One might say that whoever is buying the service of a sex worker is less likely to commit a sexual crime because he or she is satisfying their sexual desires. This is incorrect because individuals who are controlled so immensely by their sexual desires are most likely to still seek sexual service just as much whether it is with consent or without it. I argue this with the fact that most people who are sexually unstable will always want what they cannot have. So no matter what, people will still find a way to be dissatisfied so much that it would still leave them to become weak enough to sexually assault other individuals being prostitutes or not.

    I am concluding with my answer to this question, “Should prostitution be a crime?” My answer is yes. I believe that legalizing prostitution would only increase the numbers of sex slaves that are held against their own will. People purchasing sexual service would most likely fall into a situation where they are buying it from a person who has been captured and is forced to carry out the actions of a prostitiute. “Sex buyers often claim they had no idea that most women and girls abused in prostitution are desperate to escape, or are there as a result of force, fraud, or coercion” (WikiMedia).

   Legalizing prostitution would only create an increase of objetifcation of women. And rape would still be just as likely because rape is not an outside cause. Rape starts internally within the mind and heart of the rapist. Saying that decriminalizing prostitution would help to decrease sexual assault is like saying people are less likely to steal when they are sitting beside a pile of a million bucks. It all comes down to a measurement of the heart.

    Women selling themselves as a prostititue is not fully justifiable, and when others can find more reasons why something is wrong over something being right, then it should not be acceptable.

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/08/26/should-prostitution-be-a-crime