Why is Prostitution Illegal?

[demoman_chaos]

I have never fully understood this. As the late (and great) George Carlin said, "Selling is legal, fucking is legal. Why is it illegal to sell fucking?" "Why is it illegal to sell what is perfectly legal to give away?"


Sex is legal when its free, but illegal when you pay for it. It doesn't make sense to me.
Here is my proposed solution. You have to have a license to be a prostitute, which requires a weekly STD test. Fail the test, lose your license.

Any ideas why prostitution is illegal and any idea ideas on how it would work if it was legal (like the above mention license)?

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I don't know. I'd imagine they would think its degrading to the human race or something. It was legal in most ancient empires (Rome had a ton of brothels.) so maybe its our way of thinking we're more sophisticated or something.

The whole, STD thing doesn't hurt either. If anyone could sell their body then I'd imagine that they would spread like wildfire.

 

[Dyme]

Prostitution isn't illegal. Prostitutes here(Germany) even have to pay (and profit from) the governmental health insurance and governmental annuity assurance. Also as far as I know, they also have to do weekly tests like demoman_chaos described.

 

[AllLagNoFrag]

Yeah, I think that people that made protitution illegal has thought through all the reasons why it is bad and honeslty, I see more cons than pros in legalizing protitution.

 

[dfphetteplace]

Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. But selling fucking isn't legal. I guess it is so the politicians can feel nice and naughty when they do it.

 

[midget_roxx]

The same reason why Child Labour is banned. Because it's immoral.

 

[Souplex]

I think, because with every thing you do, you need to be careful. You can remedy bad selling, and forget about bad sex. But you can't really remedy STD's, so if you get one you are screwed. Since a lot of people refuse or just don't use proper protection from the get go, spreading an incurable disease like HIV doesn't seem like a really good idea.

But with legalization comes regulation.
I personally think it's illegal because it's viewed as "Immoral"

 

[Dyme]

What's immoral about trading sex for money?
I think it's immoral to earn money by exploiting poorer countries, still it is allowed and common.
I think it's immoral to use food for biodiesel while people are starving elsewhere. Still it's legal.

 

[Slaanax]

Illegal Prostitution spreads STDS better than Legal Prostitution specially now of days when you can test and force the of condoms and other protection. The USA was in many was founded by religious people so they viewed at as wrong mostly.

 

[Jark212]

Because it is: "Morally Wrong", whatever the hell that means...

If it's properly regulated and taxed with precautions I see nothing wrong...

 

[Double A]

It's because it's too hard to tax, and probably because the Christians don't like it.

 

[likalaruku]

Having sex for free is Sex Piracy. All men must now pay for sex. Dinner & a movie is not enough! & the other way around too; cougars & nymphos will have to pay the pool boy & the mail man. The economy will thrive with all the money excange. Hookers won't need pimps, & crime will somehow go down! No, you can't have whatever I'm smoking.

 

[demoman_chaos]

If regulated properly, most problems could be eliminated. Just like with the prohibition of alcohol, making it legal solved a lot of problems. Just like with weed, keeping something that is natural (sex is natural, and weed grows naturally) illegal causes a lot more problems than it would if it were legal and regualted.
Plus the government could use it to get more tax money.

The same reason why Child Labour is banned. Because it's immoral.

So everytime a father makes his son mow the yard its immoral? Lawn mowing is labor, which means a child doing it qualifies as child labor.

 

[MONSTERheart]

The same reason why Child Labour is banned. Because it's immoral.

Assuming the OP is talking about the USA, then that is flawed reasoning. The law in the United States is not about being ethical or 'right', but about being fair. The only reason it's illegal is because no one has seriously tried to press it into legality. Although I personally agree that it is 'immoral', that reasoning just doesn't fly.

Anyways, I fully believe it should be legalized.

1. Reduces spread of STDs/STIs (via weekly checkups)

2. Sex crime rates diminish because people no longer need to break the law for what they want.

3. Increased revenue for government by taxing licenses prostitutes

4. Increased protection for prostitutes. I'm sure we all know the stories of them getting killed and dumped in the river.

The only downside I could see is that society may become so sex-oriented that it starts to impede with more important things. But considering that this is already happening, this would just be icing on the cake.

 

[crudus]

I really have no idea. All I know is I would totally want it to be the way it was in Firefly.

My guess was it was viewed to be immoral. What with it being pre-marital sex and all.

The same reason why Child Labour is banned. Because it's immoral.

But why?

 

[Dyme]

So everytime a father makes his son mow the yard its immoral? Lawn mowing is labor, which means a child doing it qualifies as child labor.

Wiki: "Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour."
So it probably depends on the size of your lawn.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Look what happens any time degeneracy is legalized. It never works out for the betterment of society, which is also why I disapprove of legalizing narcotics.