Should Prostitution Be Legal?

By: Kylie Wallace

        Prostitution should be legalized with regulation in the United States because prostitution is a very dangerous, unregulated, unclean “profession.” There will always be prostitution whether it’s legal or not, that’s just the way it is. However, if we legalize and regulate it maybe the women involved wouldn’t be put at such a high risk! Girls usually begin prostitution at the age of 13 years old.[1] If we regulate it, that could potentially save these young girls from starting so young. Another shocking statistic is that 80% of women involved in this profession have been raped.[1] I know that if this was a government regulated profession this number would not be as high. I think that because people already know that the government says it’s an immoral profession therefore illegal, no one really thinks that raping these women really matters. Hell, 85% of these women have already been sexually abused as a child and are now dealing with the same problems![1]  Contrary to some beliefs, raping and abusing these women is wrong at it does matter. They experience higher raters of alcohol and drug addiction, as well as other physical and psychological effects including depression and suicidal tendencies.[1]

I do think that legalizing this profession will help because it’s been going on for a very long time and won’t stop anytime soon however, by staying illegal it’s putting these women at risk. Whether this is moral or immoral doesn’t matter because that’s a personal opinion and if you feel strongly enough you won’t be involved in the industry! It’s as simple as that. If we can create regulations or even taxes it might help the economy and help these women to get out of MOST, not all because that’s an irrational goal, of their dangerous situations. Some strip clubs make revenues over 5 million dollars.[1] Imagine if we could safely regulate the sex industry. 

Also, maybe the number of children forced into pornography and prostitution would decrease because this is now ok. Not to mention the decrease in sexually transmitted diseases. Legalizing prostitution would definitely lead to regulations because there isn’t a profession without regulation. The government could potentially decrease this by maybe saying you have to make known any STD’s you have and must take precaution. Or maybe if you have certain STD’s you’re out of business until it’s taken care of. We then could create free clinics to get tested to keep this as clean as possible. I do believe it is possible and a good idea to make it legal if well thought out and the regulations  were clear as well as fair. 

Moore, Crystal. “Sexual Commerce in Contemporary America.” Powerpoint. 2014. 19 March 2014.