When I was in the Navy I visited a number of places where prostitution was legal, places where it was technically illegal but not enforced, and places where they spent as much time and money as we do here in the USA trying to prevent it.
I found that the social disruption associated with prostitution, and the negative effects on the hookers themselves, were directly proportional to the government’s efforts to Put A Stop To It. In places where prostitution was legal and the government reasonably honest, I never saw a pimp. Not one. I never saw underage runaways kidnapped, enslaved, and forced to turn tricks for fear of their lives. I saw very few girls who spent all their money on a drug habit.
All those things, and worse, are rampant in places where the government has “cracked down” on prostitution, including right here in the good ol’ USA. There is not any less prostitution, but it is more expensive and dangerous (for all parties). Violence, drug abuse, and unmentionable diseases abound.
Based on all that evidence, any rational person would conclude that outlawing prostitution is counterproductive, dangerous, idiotic and futile.
Unfortunately, the world is filled with self-righteous assholes. They choose to be offended by things other people do that don’t affect them directly, and are really none of their damned business. They are eternally tormented by the conviction that Somebody, Somewhere, is Doing Something They Don’t Approve Of, and driven by a compulsion to Do Something About It At Any Cost. They get together and campaign to have the government ban (some) drugs, gambling, guns, prostitution, nudity, Rock-N-Roll, Naughty Words, gays, and anything else that upsets their tiny little minds. Ban The Bad Things!!
While I agree that alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, and even prostitution can be harmful both to individuals and to society, the consequences that arise when the government attempts to Stop Them From Doing That are easily a hundred times worse. It took our grandparents 13 years of Hell to figure out that banning alcohol was a bad idea, but they never learned the whole lesson. They chose to believe that alcohol was somehow special, that even though prohibition hadn’t worked on booze, it would work on everything else, and maybe it would work on booze if they could just figure out what went wrong. Even today there are idiots that would reinstate the Volstead Act if they believed they had half a chance of pulling it off.
It takes a special kind of stupid to persist in pushing for prohibitions after such a long history of failure and futility, but there is no shortage of busybodies. “It’s For Their Own Good! We must Protect The Children!” they cry. I say the effects of hiding sex from the kids are far more damaging than allowing it to be open, normal, and No Big Deal could ever be. I want to ask the anti-gay crusaders: “Have you ever seen them doing those “unnatural acts” that you are so inflamed about? No? So, you feel offended by something you believe they might do? For this, you would violate their rights?"
I don’t see how other people doing things I don’t agree with harms me, or limits my rights. That should be the only standard for taking the extreme step of getting the government to infringe on their rights. I’m sure we all do things that are important to us, that SOMEbody would object to. Should they have the right to take away our rights?
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Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!
