Professor Todd Myers International Relations 10 May 2018 What factors influence the differences among nations in support and in opposition for legalizing sex work? Abstract In most countries, prostitution or sex work, which is defined as “the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment” [1] is criminalized. This study examines the factors responsible for why sex work is legalized in some nations, but remains restricted in others. The reason for this divide can be explained by a variety of factors. Specifically, we focus on health issues and the research entities like the World Health Organization (WHO) have conducted research regarding the prevention of HIV/AIDs as the primary incentive towards legalization …show more content…
[1] Due to the nature of the profession, sex workers are considered in most nations to be immoral and should therefore be excluded from proper healthcare, education, and basic human rights.[4] Police have been among the most prominent to harass prostitutes, including humiliating them with vulgar language and treatment particularly targeting transgender workers [13]. Legislation against sex work exclude workers from health systems that provide condoms and sexual examinations which can prevent the spread of HIV and other STD …show more content…
Sex workers are among the most susceptible to murder, and have been particularly targeted by serial killers in “Canada, the US, Iran, Namibia, and the UK [13].” Sex Workers' Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) released a study that found in 11 nations, over 200 workers had dealt with sexual violence[2] “I went to the house of a man. He punched me two times in the jaw. I didn’t tell the police. I don’t want it on my records,” one sex worker reported [12]. Sex workers face incidents of rape, extortion, kidnapping, and torture. Sex workers are discouraged from reporting these incidents to the police, as in some cases they too partake in the abuse. In 2007, 0 percent of the sex workers of Macedonia felt they could report assaults to the police when in the same year 82.4 percent of the sex workers claimed they were assaulted by the police. [13] Although there is substantial evidence conveying how decriminalization leads to better health and a decrease in abuse, research also points to the negative aspects of the profession as it relates to child trafficking and ethical
It is really perturbing that when suddenly when driving into a certain neighborhood, or street, and in a specific time of night, you see various women slowly starting to appear walking in the night. While children wonder why those women are out so late, and parents try unsuccessfully to distract them from the situation, no one truly dares to change anything. Most just simple choose to look away, not aware of the horrors these people face. The sole idea of one’s own family members in this industry, would make anyone’s skin crawl. Sex trafficking has stained society’s history, present, and sadly, it’s future.
Sex Trafficking is a form of modern day slavery that exists throughout the United States and globally. It is one of the biggest lies in society (Farley et., 2014). The Vanderbilt Law Review indicates that the majority of prostitutes do not enter the prostitution lifestyle on their own free will choice, but instead becomes a prostitute due to a variety of vulnerabilities that both pimps and traffickers exploit. This explains why young women get blindsided and think they are becoming a prostitute when in reality they are a sex trafficking victim (Elrod 2015). When the United States made prostitution illegal, it did not change the mentality of the johns.
Charlie Bulman’s article “Decriminalize Sex Work” discusses the Amnesty International’s policy to decriminalize prostitution. He uses evidence from sex workers’ life experiences, studies from New Zealand and Rhode Island decriminalization of sex work, and a document from sex workers’ advocacy organizations to support his argument that sex work should be legalized. The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Worker in Europe and other countries drafted a letter campaigning to promote the protection of their rights and from violence and discrimination. The evidence from the life experience of sex workers prove to be filled with exploitation and substance abuse due to their vulnerability from the lack of police protection and regulation.
Many of them have only attended school for one year or have graduated college and are unable to find employment (41). The economy does not supply adequate learning facilities or a stable environment for expecting women, single mothers, or abandoned children and pushes them to the sex industry in order to earn money and protection. Younger woman tend to travel abroad in the sex industry in the hopes of a better life in a different country. When the victims are asked why they are reluctant to leave the sex industry they answer with “the wish to survive”, “to be independent from their families”, or the need “to help the family” (41). With many children being born into poverty everyday, prostitution is viewed more as a positive lifestyle for all rather than something detrimental to their lives, it becomes more widely accepted.
In the decades following this case, many changes to legislation have been made with the welfare of sex workers being seen as more important and more emphasis is put on ensuring they are safe (Wattis, 2015). LESSONS
Prostitution is a widely recognized topic, anyone and anywhere can get involved into this line of work with just one thing, themselves. Do the men, women and children really have a choice whether or not they want to use their bodies to earn a living? Or are they forced by outside influences that make them have no other choice. Preliminary research covered numerous topics about prostitution; When the victims started and why they started was not uncovered by these findings. There have not been a sufficient interviews with these subjects to
The infectious disease of prostitution that has poisoned the population of sex workers can only be alleviated through the criminalization of its nature. The idea that prostitution is merely the exchange of sexual services for money is what buries the reality of sexual violence deep into the ground. Often, sex workers will be coerced to surrender their power to the hands of their client. In Canada, sex workers are stalked as prey by the treacherous monster of sexual abuse. They are enslaved into a sexual commodity and are stripped of their basic human rights.
Workers in the sex industry are at a much higher risk of HIV infection - they need the money and are unable to insist
Although there have always been reformist efforts and movements concerning prostitution, the prostitutes' rights movement, the difference between the modern prostitutes' movement and previous efforts is that the current movement has been defined in a large part by prostitutes themselves. Prostitute activists have defined prostitutes' legal status in specific ways since the beginning of the prostitutes' rights movement. The current movement includes recognition of the rights of prostitutes to independence and self-regulation. Most societies that allow prostitution do so by giving the state control over the lives and businesses of those who work as prostitutes. Legalization often includes special taxes for prostitutes, restricting prostitutes to working in whorehouses or in certain zones, licenses, registration of prostitutes and government records of individual prostitutes, and health checks, which often means punishment-based isolation to protect from spreading disease...
Over the years there have been many controversial ethical issues which are still debated in the 21st century. In today’s modern society one such controversial issue is prostitution. Prostitution can be defined as “The act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money” (Deigh, 2010, p.29). Prostitution is the oldest profession of all. However the ethics of prostitution is still unclear between many societies.
Sex work has been more or less a part of life all the way through history, including during the nineteenth century in America when many poor women turned to prostitution as it provided a relatively stable source of income during a time in which women didn’t have very many other career options. During the early 1900s, brothels in the US were legal, though through the action of religious groups, sex work became illegal nationwide . Unfortunately still, the word “prostitute” brings to mind an image of a drug-dependent women in a miniskirt in the depths of the “wrong side of town” due to the media’s portrayal of sex workers in red light districts. Today, our society has deemed prostitution to be a taboo subject, but is currently in the process of changing this perception, as it is becoming more common for people to understand that sex work is much more nuanced in terms of those who work within the industry, the types of work they perform, the reasoning behind the engagement in sex work and the location in which the work takes place
Prostitution is a form of human trafficking. Yet, in some states it is legal and others are considering legalizing it. Most prostitutes are not “independent workers”; an abuser (pimp) controls them through fear and drugs. Many prostitutes start out as runaway teens taken in by figures who promise to “take care of them”. Repeated rape and abuse cause severe psychological trauma in which the victims feel worthless and underserving of anything other than selling their dignity.
Ironically, many arguments for the criminalization and proscription of prostitution is that it should be banned to protect sex workers. However, more arrests are made against women sex workers than the men that buy from them in the United States of America. ("Prostitution" 1). This is because, in many countries, laws are meant to punish victims of human trafficking instead of the perpetrators. ("Laws Punish" 1).
The United Nations’ Convention held in 1949, stated prostitution to be “incompatible with human dignity”. According to the Oxford Dictionary, prostitution is defined as "The practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment." Often referred to as the “oldest profession” in the world, prostitution has become a burning issue in today’s world. The ongoing debate on whether to legalize, criminalize or decriminalize prostitution seems to be quite unresolvable. This paper investigates the negative impacts of legalizing prostitution such as 1) encouragement of prostitution, 2) increase in the incidence of human trafficking and 3) exposure of prostitutes to severe harm such as drug abuse, infection from sexually transmitted diseases and violence, which clearly supports the fact that prostitution should not be legalized.
Prostitution is considered the world’s oldest profession, but only a few countries or states have legalized the practice to date. Prostitution should be legalized because it generates a tax revenue, is a victimless crime, reduces crime against women, and would help reduce