Prostitution

[ownedsubgal]

legalizing and taxing prostitution seems to me like it would take all the perversion out of it. but then again i think it's safe to say that no matter what, there will always be a place in society for the $20-a-trick street walker.

 

[FurryFury]

legalizing and taxing prostitution seems to me like it would take all the perversion out of it. but then again i think it's safe to say that no matter what, there will always be a place in society for the $20-a-trick street walker.

That's just too cheap, poor street walker and how much does s/he get to keep?

Also, if the government gets involved? They fuck up everything.

On the one hand I am all for legalization and regulation. On the other hand I work about how bad they will red tape it, how much more money WON'T go to the poor prosti? Of course there will always be illegal prostitution that goes around the law even when it is legalized.

Fury

 

[Jay Davis]

From OSG:
legalizing and taxing prostitution seems to me like it would take all the perversion out of it. but then again i think it's safe to say that no matter what, there will always be a place in society for the $20-a-trick street walker.

I'll go out on a limb and say that I think vast majority of people who patronize prostitutes are looking for physical pleasure and a little bit of companionship. Frankly, I think in many or most cases, it's MORE about companionship and fighting loneliness than it is about having an orgasm--on a pure physical level, most of us can provide ourselves a more satisfying O than could a basically disinterested stranger. From my own experience, and from talking to the girls themselves, it seems that what you're really buying is an hour to pretend that someone accepts you and cares for you as you are.

There are probably a few people for whom the biggest part of the thrill is the fact that it's an illicit act. But I seriously doubt that that's a very common kink--a scofflaw fetish? I think if you took away the legal barrier, there would be a net rise in the patronage of prostitutes, because the people who are currently NOT using the service because solely because of the law far outnumber those who DO it because it's currently against the law.

As for the $20 streetwalker...sadly, you're probably right. Everyone, including the most liberal, sex-industry-friendly progressive among us, should be doing whatever we can to make sure that kind of prostitution is stopped, even if we let them open Whores-R-Us in the malls. Pretending for a moment that there isn't a pimp or crime organization putting these girls out, there's still an incredible risk of violence and disease inherent in the situation. Because such a streetwalker would be outside of any legalized prostitution system, she'd be subject to victimization by pimps, crime bosses, violent johns, and even simple muggers. And since she's operating outside the law, there's nothing to keep her from being forced to work when she's ill, underfed, homeless, and underage.

I don't care if legalizing it kills the thrill for you, OSG. Street prostitution is a completely different animal than the brothels in Nevada or even the incall houses in New York and every other major city in America. It's inherently exploitive, misogynist, and destructive.

FF said:
Also, if the government gets involved? They fuck up everything.

On the one hand I am all for legalization and regulation. On the other hand I work about how bad they will red tape it, how much more money WON'T go to the poor prosti?

We accept--no, we RELY ON government regulation to keep our restaurants, water supplies, transportation system, the food we buy in grocery stores, our schools, the air we breathe, the doctors that treat us, the stylists that cut our hair, just about everything we deal with, safe. Sure, city health inspections make our Big Macs cost a few cents more and traffic cops occasionally give us parking tickets we really didn't deserve. But if we didn't have those sorts of government interventions in our lives and commerce, we'd be living in Bangladesh. Nothing against the Bangladeshis, whom I understand are a very warm and friendly people, but is that what you'd prefer?

Sure, government regulation makes everything a little harder...but it also makes it a LOT safer, and in virtually every aspect of our lives, we've accepted that trade-off. Why should prostitution be any different?

 

[FurryFury]

We accept--no, we RELY ON government regulation to keep our restaurants, water supplies, transportation system, the food we buy in grocery stores, our schools, the air we breathe, the doctors that treat us, the stylists that cut our hair, just about everything we deal with, safe. Sure, city health inspections make our Big Macs cost a few cents more and traffic cops occasionally give us parking tickets we really didn't deserve. But if we didn't have those sorts of government interventions in our lives and commerce, we'd be living in Bangladesh. Nothing against the Bangladeshis, whom I understand are a very warm and friendly people, but is that what you'd prefer?

Sure, government regulation makes everything a little harder...but it also makes it a LOT safer, and in virtually every aspect of our lives, we've accepted that trade-off. Why should prostitution be any different?

Dat true! Good point.

Fury

 

[catalina_francisco]

'Tis true street walkers become statistics far more often than a sex worker in a brothel or working for her/himself and having some smarts about it. The legalisation of the profession is always a risk for government intervention to become too much, but where I came from, it did provide some safety measures for those who work with it and used their brains. The smart customer makes sure they go to a worker who can provide evidence of regular health checks, as well as one who has built a reputation for both good service and ethical business sense. It is true many a person will pay for companionship, quite highly too from those I know of, and some even offer to give the worker something caring such as a massage while asking nothing, even sex, for themselves.

The street walker is more often than not a woman who is not doing it for herself, is abused, and/or has a serious drug problem. It is sad, and it is dangerous, and it is where they get paid the least. I don't think many of those who work in the sex industry actually get the perversion factor osg refers to, though as Jay says, there may be a percentage of people who indulge in it casually (as opposed to a career choice) for the fetish factor they weave in their minds around the decadence and depravity of it all. I guess if getting murdered rings your bells, go for it....if not, take the safer, professional option available if there is one where you are.

Catalina

 

[Jay Davis]

I think what's become fuzzed here is whether we are talking about the real-life practice of prostitution as a means of earning a living, or role-playing an act of prostitution within the context of a controlled situation staged by a Dominant for the benefit (or punishment, as the case may be) of his or her sub.

In the case of real-life prostitution, unregulated streetwalking is right out. It's dangerous to all participants in a variety of ways, and is very commonly exploitive of a young and vulnerable--possibly underage and/or drug-addicted--prostitute. As a real-life situation, prostitution in this form is deplorable, though it is most likely that the chief victim in the scenario is the prostitute, not the john or the pimp. This kind of prostitution should NEVER be legalized or defended in real-life situations, no matter what happens with regard to the legalization and regulation of brothel-style prostitution.

That said, I can understand how some people might have erotic fantasies about such a scenario, possibly romanticized, and certainly divorced from the uglier aspects of reality. I remember reading a Dan Savage response to a young gay sub in an on-going relationship who had hustler fantasies; Dan suggested that the sub ask his partner to arrange for him to service a carefully-selected "client," who was known to the partner but not to the sub, in a controlled but realistically-enacted street hustler scene. THIS I have no problem with--our fantasies needn't be burdened by the serious risks that accompany the real-life scenario which inspired the fantasy.

As a fantasy to play out, this really isn't very different than the rape fantasies that so many people--subs, vanillas, even some Dominants, I imagine--enjoy. When arranged and orchestrated by someone who loves, cares for, and respects the "star" of the scene, and when carried out under the blanket consensus afforded in many D/s relationships, both the streetwalker scene and the rape scene have the potential to be very hot and completely safe at the same time. On the other hand, if your Dominant is REALLY pimping you out total strangers for cash money, he's exploiting you, abusing you, and putting you at great risk.

I guess all I'm saying is that keeping a fantasy hot is hardly a reason to make prostitution legal or illegal. Nor should one put their life and health at risk by having dangerous sex with potentially violent strangers just to get a thrill or to give a thrill to their supposedly loving partner.

 

[snowy ciara]

Before we start speculating on how the government is going to screw up the sex business through regulation, perhaps we should take a look at how various countries handle it.

Nevada regulations

Encyclopervia's entry on prostitution with links...

Lots of links to various regulations worldwide.

While I agree that prostitution is a hot fantasy for some people, and cold reality for for the basic streetwalker, there are a LOT of shades of grey in the middle. While various governments have the potential to fuck this up royally, my vote is for decriminalization of the trade and health regulation. Personally, I like the health checks in Nevada, but the way they treat prostitutes as second class citizens (regulating what they can do on their off time, when they can have on their off time, whom they can see or be seen with) makes me see red.

 

[Jay Davis]

I couldn't agree more, Ciara, on every point.