Homosexual Marriage Legal = Prostitution Legal?

[Leegal]

Many prostitutes make more than engineers. If paying well is indirectly forcing someone to work then a lot of people are being exploited. As long as a prostitute is being paid a reasonable wage for her services there would be no exploitation. If it was legal you could better set wages to make sure they received a just wage. Even if being a prostitute is a decision brought upon by economic distress, how is that different that someone who ends up a garbage man because of hard luck? That person may not want to be a garbage man anymore than a woman wants to be a prostitute but as long as they are both paid a fair wage there is no exploitation is there?

Obviously if such was occurring it would be illegal. Your assuming of course that all prostitutes are being used against their will or without their consent which is not true. You could actually use this as an argument for making prostitution legal since you could make sure that those who wished to provide the service freely were able to do so, and could crack down on those making women do so against their will much more easily.

Forcing someone to work, by my definition, is not only physical force. Someone who has been sexually abused by a child may be “forced” to turn to prostitution having been previously exploited as a child. She now sees, for her own reasons, that this is the way to earn money. Further, yes, prostitutes can make more money than check out operators. For many reasons women are “forced” into prostitution because they have no better way of supporting themselves. They don’t see the alternatives. By the way, garbage men here make excellent money; they are a uniformed service, it’s hard work and they receive excellent compensation. Garbage men are unionized and work for the government.

I never said we should legalize prostitution. I gave the reasons why we should not and cannot. Yes, they are being “used” in some fashion. See my reply in #21.

 

[Leegal]

I’m trying to get people to realize that the legalization of gay marriage is a moral issue and some of us just like to debate

I understand that. And there’s a moral issue to gay marriage because the Church teaches us so, yet the state legislates in favor of gay marriage.

However, I believe that prostitution is of another problem entirely, so I cannot equate the immorality of gay marriage to the immorality of prostitution – not from the legal sense. You posited that if the state allows gay marriage, then prostitution could then be legalized. I don’t think it would and I gave examples from an article as to how prostitution is exploitive, takes away women’s rights, gives over rights of women to others, makes women into a commodity to be bought and sold, and takes away free will for the women. That’s why we would never legalize prostitution.

While the Church may condem us for taking money for sex, remember that Jesus forgave prostitutes and prevented them from being stoned. Obviously, He understands this better than we do.

 

[Nate13]

Forcing someone to work, by my definition, is not only physical force. Someone who has been sexually abused by a child may be “forced” to turn to prostitution having been previously exploited as a child. She now sees, for her own reasons, that this is the way to earn money. Further, yes, prostitutes can make more money than check out operators. For many reasons women are “forced” into prostitution because they have no better way of supporting themselves. They don’t see the alternatives. By the way, garbage men here make excellent money; they are a uniformed service, it’s hard work and they receive excellent compensation. Garbage men are unionized and work for the government.

I never said we should legalize prostitution. I gave the reasons why we should not and cannot. Yes, they are being “used” in some fashion. See my reply in #21.

This is bogus. You keep pointing to all the reasons a woman who is a prostitute may be exploited to do so. Do you truly believe everyone woman who is a prostitute is being exploited? In other words do you really believe prostitution by definition is always exploitation? If not how can you make prostitution in general illegal? I also have to ask why I should take your opinion as to whether people are being exploited? In a similar fashion to the “born this way” argument for homosexuals who are you to tell a women differently if she says she is not being exploited? I will continue to stand by my position that there are no solid grounds to make prostitution in general illegal unless you use moral arguments. If a woman is being forced to have sex against her will that is rape and is already covered by the law.

I think you give too little credence to the sexual revolution. Sex is about power now which sometimes means loves but many times it doesn’t. I see no reason sex has to be associated with love if moral grounds of arguing are ignored. Society right now might not be quite ripe enough to get majority support for legalized prostitution, but we are getting there.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

The fundamental basis for making homosexual marriage legal is the argument that the government has no business in what two consenting adults do in bed. Prostitution would seem to also fit that same argument. If the legality of homosexual marriage is not a moral concern wouldn’t that also mean prostitution is not a moral concern where you have two consenting adults involved? In my opinion if homosexual marriage becomes legal nationwide and its denied that homosexual marriage is a moral issue, prostitution would be a sure bet to follow closely in its wake in legality. Thoughts?

Theoretically divorce = prostitution legal. All prostitutes have to do is temporarily marry their clients.

 

[Nate13]

Theoretically divorce = prostitution legal. All prostitutes have to do is temporarily marry their clients.

That would be a lot of work and destroys the idea of keeping a low profile.

 

[Christopher68]

You know… this is KINDA off topic, but i’ve always wondered why prostitution is illegal, but being an “adult film star” is perfectly legal… the only difference is one is being filmed and the other isn’t:shrug:

With regard to the illegality of prostitution, I have never understood why it is illegal to sell something that is perfectly legal to give away. It defies all logic and reason. That’s not to say that the act isn’t immoral, just that its illegality is nonsensical.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

That would be a lot of work and destroys the idea of keeping a low profile.

Both of those considerations are irrelevant to the question of legality.

 

[Nate13]

Both of those considerations are irrelevant to the question of legality.

Correct, but if prostitutes all of sudden started trying to use that route as a way to do business it would be easy to put some regulations on divorce and stop it. The only reason there are no laws is because there is no real abuse of it.

 

[Nate13]

With regard to the illegality of prostitution, I have never understood why it is illegal to sell something that is perfectly legal to give away. It defies all logic and reason. That’s not to say that the act isn’t immoral, just that its illegality is nonsensical.

Agreed. As I said the law is based mostly in moral concerns. If you toss morality out the door when considering its legality there are few reasons to oppose legalized prostitution. I hope those who deny morality has anything to do with the homosexual marriage debate wake up.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

This is bogus. You keep pointing to all the reasons a woman who is a prostitute may be exploited to do so. Do you truly believe everyone woman who is a prostitute is being exploited? In other words do you really believe prostitution by definition is always exploitation? If not how can you make prostitution in general illegal? I also have to ask why I should take your opinion as to whether people are being exploited? In a similar fashion to the “born this way” argument for homosexuals who are you to tell a women differently if she says she is not being exploited? I will continue to stand by my position that there are no solid grounds to make prostitution in general illegal unless you use moral arguments. If a woman is being forced to have sex against her will that is rape and is already covered by the law.

I think you give too little credence to the sexual revolution. Sex is about power now which sometimes means loves but many times it doesn’t. I see no reason sex has to be associated with love if moral grounds of arguing are ignored. Society right now might not be quite ripe enough to get majority support for legalized prostitution, but we are getting there.

I think a very high percentage of prostitutes are exploited.

Some work for pimps, and have quotas on how much money to give them for “protection”, some are addicts and work as prostitutes to fuel their addiction.

Even a “high price call girl” is at the complete mercy of whomever “buys” her. If you have a chance google, “Gilgo Beach, Long Island” most victims are sex workers, except for the toddler. The believe she was the child of one of the prosititutes.

Even if it were legal, regulated, taxed etc etc etc…it won’t be “acceptable” work.

And, I’m not convinced that legal brothels in Nevada are free from organized crime influences, nor am i convinced that there are not still street walking addicted prostitutes in Nevada, working off their debt to a dealer.

 

[Nate13]

I think a very high percentage of prostitutes are exploited.

Some work for pimps, and have quotas on how much money to give them for “protection”, some are addicts and work as prostitutes to fuel their addiction.

Even a “high price call girl” is at the complete mercy of whomever “buys” her. If you have a chance google, “Gilgo Beach, Long Island” most victims are sex workers, except for the toddler. The believe she was the child of one of the prosititutes.

Even if it were legal, regulated, taxed etc etc etc…it won’t be “acceptable” work.

And, I’m not convinced that legal brothels in Nevada are free from organized crime influences, nor am i convinced that there are not still street walking addicted prostitutes in Nevada, working off their debt to a dealer.

I was referring to “exploitation” in the legal sense. I would point out that none of the concerns you brought up are inherent to prostitution. Many would argue they are there because its illegal. Of course I believe prostitution is always exploitation in a moral sense though, and that is the sense in which I oppose it. My worry though is that those who have throw their own moral qualms to the wind regarding gay marriage will do so again when the issue of prostitution eventually comes to a head.

I could also see problems are we already are seeing problems with the idea of assisted suicide and right to die ideology. If we forget that our lives belong to our Creator and not to ourselves, I see no impediment to right to die legislation being passed. Otherwise who are we to tell someone what the can and cannot do with their body? The only thing standing in the way of assisted suicide is natural law.

 

[hazmat]

The fundamental basis for making homosexual marriage legal is the argument that the government has no business in what two consenting adults do in bed. Prostitution would seem to also fit that same argument. If the legality of homosexual marriage is not a moral concern wouldn’t that also mean prostitution is not a moral concern where you have two consenting adults involved? In my opinion if homosexual marriage becomes legal nationwide and its denied that homosexual marriage is a moral issue, prostitution would be a sure bet to follow closely in its wake in legality. Thoughts?

i think prostitution should be legal, but as it is, the government already stays out of what two consenting adults do in bed (gay or not)… so that isnt the fundamental basis for making gay marriage legal. many already want prostitution to be legal, but if it becomes legal, it would be through a rationale distinct from what would likely be used to legalize gay marriage. gay marriage would likely be defended by constitutional equal protections, whereas prostitution is more likely to be defended by constitutional due process. maybe they can cite equal protections because of pornography, but thats less likely, imo.