What if they are hurting themselves?

Then they need mental health and/or substance abuse treatment, not incarceration. @JeffMurray

@LEPeff Not prostitutes. I should have been clear what that was a response to. I was talking about your statement that people should be allowed to do whatever they want as long as they're not hurting other people. Should people allowed be allowed to do whatever they want even if they're hurting themselves? I mean, I assume you believe people should be allowed to take whatever drugs they want, right? But should people be allowed to have fully functional limbs surgically removed? Do you draw a line anywhere in the freedom granted by your statement?

That is an extremely tough questions. I'll use the smart approach and dodge it. I don't think that such a surjury should not be covered by health insurance, especially publicly funded insurance. I would think that most doctors would not perform this operation due to the hipocratic oath, but I don't know that for certain. @JeffMurray

agreed. even in places where it was legalized for safety reasons like Amsterdam they realize that did not work and many countries are moving to a model of prosecuting johns only

@LEPeff Well, it is a real condition, and those are the types of questions you are inviting with your political philosophy. Something to think about, maybe, before continuing to support that ideology?

I brought up the idea of poor people selling body parts. This can legally be done for free, so should it be legal to do for money?

I think you will find a lot of people who have these very sentiments as you have. I do.

I brought up the idea of poor people selling body parts. Does selling a piece of your liver count as damage? Do you not count emotional or psychological damage?

@JeffMurray selling a peice of your body permanently is a completely different topic. Sexual prostitution is more like renting something. And yes, I do count psychological and emotional damage as damaging... However, the person prostituting themselves has the right not to prostitute if it bothers them in any way. If they choose to damage themselves anyway, that's their own body and their own personal choice. If they aren't hurting anyone else, that's their own demon to deal with as they see fit. We don't have the right to control other people.

@Twisty420
Just came back after a long time away and was reading old posts.
Out of curiosity, if prostitution is just another job like selling your time or brain power as others have suggested, then should children be allowed to do this job? Children are allowed to do other jobs. Either prostitution is just like other jobs, or it's not. Can't have it both ways.

in Germany where it is legal they have found increased incidence of trafficking

this topic came up about a month ago. I had my opinion and did some research to make sure I wasnt wrong. . Legalization doesnt solve any issues of violence toward women who would rather be doing something else, does turn the state into the role of pimp in some places and in Germany has increased the level of sex trafficking. Trauma reverberates through society in the present and through generations. Being a prostitute for many is like paying to get raped numerous times daily

an article I read said in Amsterdam even when they had 3 alarm buttons in a room women were still being assaulted

Allows sluts to excel? You really just said that? Drops the rate of rape? Wow.....

@BlueWave Stop the hate towards sluts. Ugly guys would never get laid. There would be no multi million dollar American porn industry, no more feminist slut walks. Please stop this pathetic language policing. Legal prostitution in NZ has prospered for over a decade so don’t demean sluts , men woman or in between s. Need the industry to freely engage in mutual intercourse. And yes the rape rate has plummeted . So I don’t understand your comment . It’s current year the start to death to PC culture I truly hope.

@Seriousreason If you did not understand my statement, I would have appreciated your asking me for clarification prior to going off the rails. I would call them women, or sex workers. If you had seen any of my previous comments on the subject, you would see that I am not anti-legal prostitution. If you had read other places on this forum, you would see that I am abhor derogatory words related to sex and women. I consider slut a derogatory word.Yes, I am politically correct. That’s my prerogative and I’m getting along just fine in this world.

@Ligeia I don’t have a definition for slut because I think slut is a derogatory word. I think people should have the right to have sex with whomever they want, however often they want, wherever they want, in exchange for whatever is agreed-upon, or exchanged for nothing at all. Kind of like being a free person.

@Ligeia Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! And, I should have seen that! Using the phone version makes it a little harder to see everything. Cheers!

@Seriousreason Also, you said "And yes the rape rate has plummeted." Do you have a source for that claim?

According to the Internets, prostitution became legal in New Zealand around 2003-2006. In 2012, there were 3,500+ REPORTED sexual assaults. In 2013, there were 3,900+ REPORTED sexual assaults. In 2014, there were 4,050+ REPORTED sexual assaults. Of course, I'm sure you already know that many sexual assaults go unreported, right?

Regardless of my strong belief that all sexual acts by consenting adults is private and should never have been illegal, it does you no favors to make sweeping statements like "And yes the rape rate has plummeted," when you are in a room full of skeptics.

@BlueWave with sexual assault as broad as including cat calls and butt taps. Or you Zane Joshi type over reaction. It’s now impossible to validate real from butt hurt. This insane PC word policing has to stop . Offence taking is now a profession and it’s a sad indictment of the current world we have to live in . Less feels more reals please.

@BlueWave forgive me for not being an ardent follower of your posts . Your opinion of sex workers Whores, giggilos , whatever title or llable you prefer to stick on them is your personal choice. Just stop the self righteous policing of what others use as words in our rich language. The offence brigade is self consuming and will be at each other’s throats for merely making use of a word that describes perfectly the person or action in question. Words cannot hurt you. And if they do your a snowflake.

@BlueWave imagine how high it would be without sex workers services. Think about it.?

@Ligeia So the fact that I started writing this last night and walked away because I wasn't satisfied with my answer, shows?

I think about things extensively before I state my position on them. It's kinda my deal.

Good reply. Id like to respectfully rebut your points.

1. It isn't a matter of who SHOULD be paying whom, but rather whether or not one COULD pay another. Women can and do pay for sex/company as well.

2. I hear this a lot, but Im pretty sure its a myth. I base this on having heard sex workers talk about it. Regardless, this is a reason to legalize it as opposed to keep it underground. If it were legal, there would (generally) be no need for anyone to force others into sex work and any such acts would be easily scrutinized and addressed through official channels. Its precisely because it is illegal that victims feel unable to seek help from law enforcement.

3. I'm not sure I quite follow your point here, but perhaps something I heard once relates: people whondo manual labor (and even memtal labor) are literally selling their bodies in exchange for a wage. The differences with prostitution are the immense issues of reproduction (not so much since the advent of the pill), sexuality, and relationships. Even still there are direct parallels to these issues within other forms of work

Weird...why are the bullets in different font sizes. Hmm.

@Timharding

1. Point taken, however, you and I both know that women paying men is hardly representative of the reality of the situation. Obviously, this is just conjecture, but the thought of a brothel full on men as a business idea is hilarious to me.

2. One need only look at places where is has be legalized to see this is not true. I defer to an article about Germany's legalized prostitution. But do you really think there wouldn't be shady recruitment just because it was legal?
   [google.com]

3. The issues with prostitution as a trade are far more serious than a pill can fix. A trade is something for which you can increase prowess through practice and education. For sex work, more often than not, it's based on age, looks, and let's call it the level of depravity that's on the menu (forced or otherwise). I think it likens it more to selling parts of your body than it does to work you do with your body or mind. That's subjective though, I guess.

and they are moving away from that