Keeping Prostitution Illegal: Why Sex Should Not Be Sold

For hundreds of years women have fought to break free from the repressive chains that have been forced on them by the men who founded our country. As the years pass, women continue to achieve numerous goals toward equal rights. Although perhaps seen inferior in many ways, women have leverage over men in a way that no one can deny: sex. For some reason, men will bend over backwards and jump through hoops of fire in return for the promise of sex. Some men will even reach into their wallets.

This brings up the question of whether or not prostitution, the buying and selling of sex, should be legal. In many places it already is, but does this make it morally right? Is it ethical to sell one's body like a product in demand? In this article, these questions will be addressed and the conclusion will be drawn that sex is just too precious an entity to bottle and sell.

The argument can be made that legalizing prostitution will help regulate the industry, making it safer for women and controlling the spread of STDs. The fact is that if prostitution is legalized it will make it harder for the government to regulate it because it will grow to enormous proportions. Once prostitution is legalized, the number of people out there practicing it will grow tremendously. To use an example, if Marijuana became legalized it would be a fair bet to say that around eighty percent of people would be smoking marijuana on a regular basis. We know that although it is illegal, many people smoke Marijuana now. If there were no consequences from the law, you can take that number and double it to find how many people would smoke Marijuana. We can say the same thing for prostitution. Yes, it is happening now illegally, but if you make it legal it will happen on an even greater scale. Anything in massive numbers will only be harder to control and regulate. Being able to put restrictions on prostitution, such as limiting sexual behavior to brothels, is just not feasible. Underground methods of trafficking will continue to occur only in bigger numbers, and it will only make it harder to arrest and prosecute those who offend. STD carriers may not always show up right away in a test. Brothels may be subjecting clients to women with STDs and not even know it, and because prostitution is legal, thousands more men will be engaging with these women than normally would if it was against the law.

Legalizing prostitution is basically telling society that it is morally accepted. By making the buying and selling of sex legal we are saying that this behavior is okay. What about the ideal of monogamy? What about the self worth of women? What is the point at which we draw the line? Along with the legalization of prostitution will come adultery. Why make it easier for men to cheat on their wives and girlfriends? Instead of being punished by the law, cheating men will suffer no consequences. In fact, society will have created a platform for men to take advantage not only of the prostitutes they are having sex with, but of the women waiting for them when they get home. Legalizing prostitution is asking for trouble, by breaking up relationships and leading the way for many other crimes.

Making prostitution legal creates an environment that is harsh on children. How do you explain the difference between love and sex, and money and sex to children who have been thrown into a society that teaches them that money is more important than love and self-esteem? The morale of a community can be greatly affected by legalizing prostitution. As a society we will become immune to the graphicness of sexual images thrown in our faces on a daily basis. It will become harder to understand the importance of a personal and private sexual relationship if it is rarely seen anymore. Women are sending the message to men that it is okay to treat us as sexual objects and that as long as we are being paid we will do anything a man wants. The social and ethical barriers women worked so hard to create to minimize sexual harassment will be broken down, and all women will be subject to the wrath of sexual pressure to measure up to hookers. All the hard work that has been put into fighting for equal rights will have been for nothing. By legalizing prostitution we are saying that women are allowed to be bought and sold by men. Can you really put a price on a woman's body?

Making prostitution legal will turn sex into a full-blown business. Sexual services will be commercialized and tied into other consumer and entertainment goods. In Victoria, Australia, where prostitution is legal, casinos deal sexual favor chips that can be cashed in at local brothels. Such commercializing will happen with sex everywhere if prostitution becomes legal. Prostitution brings casinos and tourism, which all relate to crime rates sky-rocketing. Most prostitutes sell their bodies because they are desperate for drug money. If this is true, then by legalizing prostitution the government is indirectly sponsoring the trafficking of illegal drugs. The government will tax the income of prostitutes, which will only create more underground or street prostitution to avoid paying these taxes. Women will feel that they do not owe the government any of their profits and that they did all the work, so they reap the benefits alone. This will only create more crime and abuse against hookers by putting more of them back on the streets. What keeps the sex industry from being like any other business and welfare agencies requiring that beneficiaries take sexual work before receiving benefits? Again, at what point do we draw the line? Instead of protecting women who decide to sell their bodies, the government will really just be giving pimps a license to sell these women and profit off their vaginas. As with any other business, competition will arise. Women and brothels will be forced to compromise into doing things that another brothel or street hooker may offer, such as not using condoms, anal sex, or S&M, in order to not lose customers. Advertising for sexual favors will pop up everywhere, perhaps even in places that parents and families wouldn't want for it to be. Children may grow up immune to the promiscuity of the society they are living in and turn to a life of prostitution themselves.

It is hard to say whether or not each of the examples given will definitely be an outcome of legalizing prostitution, but the strength of one's morals and ethical behavior should answer the question "should prostitution be legalized?" It comes down to the fact that morally one should not sell their body because a dollar amount cannot be given to it. The body is sacred and probably the only thing in life that you have complete control over. With this control, we should exercise ethical behavior and treat ours and others' with the utmost respect. Sexual activity should remain between loving persons as an interpretation of their passion and respect for each other. To throw away such a beautiful and sacred thing in return for material possessions cannot be upholding the virtues that we were meant to abide by. Prostitution should remain illegal to set an example to society that it is not morally right to sell one's body as if it were a product.