Editor’s Note: A version of today’s bit, titled “Human Trafficking Turned On Its Head,” was originally published February 2016, at The Roots of Liberty.
What if it is? No one's forcing anyone to participate, on either side of the transaction. You and I might object, but how is it our place to do so?
The benefit of legalization, from a practical perspective, is to protect victims. Sex work is happening anyway, in myriad ways, and that's not going to change. The question then becomes about which path works better, and if the goal is to reduce harm, i.e. rescue victims of coercion and trafficking, then legalizing is the way.
Morality cannot be legislated. It can, however, emerge from societal and cultural discourse and trends. Tobacco smoking has been in steady decline, even where it isn't punitively taxed, and that's a result of evolving social preferences. Where will sex work go if it's fully (rather than partially, as is the case now with porn of various forms) legalized is hard to say, but it's not for us to mandate.
When you legalize something then you open the possibility of more participation. Considering how legalizing prostitution could weaken the bonds of marriage then I could see a society treating it as a corroding influence. I would certainly say that case is much clearer when you consider legalizing drugs. Drugs have been used to weaken societies such as alcohol with native Americans and opium with the Chinese. I have seen with my own eyes how otherwise good and productive members of society go downhill thanks to drugs. Legalizing drugs would make a bad situation even worse from the perspecitive of society. We forget that the behavior people may want to engage in may not be the behavior that preserves that society.
Another great column! However, what about the point that legalizing something makes it more likely to be engaged in?
What if it is? No one's forcing anyone to participate, on either side of the transaction. You and I might object, but how is it our place to do so?
The benefit of legalization, from a practical perspective, is to protect victims. Sex work is happening anyway, in myriad ways, and that's not going to change. The question then becomes about which path works better, and if the goal is to reduce harm, i.e. rescue victims of coercion and trafficking, then legalizing is the way.
Morality cannot be legislated. It can, however, emerge from societal and cultural discourse and trends. Tobacco smoking has been in steady decline, even where it isn't punitively taxed, and that's a result of evolving social preferences. Where will sex work go if it's fully (rather than partially, as is the case now with porn of various forms) legalized is hard to say, but it's not for us to mandate.
I appreciate your thoughtful reply but legalizing prostitution seems to be another way in which we corrode society in my opinion.
Is the risk of "corroding society" worse than all the harm done to women across decades and more of futile prohibition enforcement?
When you legalize something then you open the possibility of more participation. Considering how legalizing prostitution could weaken the bonds of marriage then I could see a society treating it as a corroding influence. I would certainly say that case is much clearer when you consider legalizing drugs. Drugs have been used to weaken societies such as alcohol with native Americans and opium with the Chinese. I have seen with my own eyes how otherwise good and productive members of society go downhill thanks to drugs. Legalizing drugs would make a bad situation even worse from the perspecitive of society. We forget that the behavior people may want to engage in may not be the behavior that preserves that society.
Technically, prostitution is the world's 2nd oldest profession. Agriculture is #1.