What makes prostitution illegal

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Market Your Law Firm. Lawyer Directory. Call us at 1 Prostitution Laws. The History of the Oldest Profession Informally dubbed the "world's oldest profession," prostitution is an American institution. A Victimless Crime? Talk to a Lawyer Need a lawyer? Start here. Practice Area Please select Zip Code. Frequently, arguments against prostitution center around concern for the health and safety of women, and those concerns are not unfounded.

Prostitution is an incredibly dangerous profession for the mostly women involved; sexual assault, forced drug addiction, physical abuse, and death are common in the industry. For the women who work in this field, it is often very difficult to get help or get out.

Many sex workers were sold into sex trafficking at a very young age and have no resources with which to escape their forced prostitution, or started out as sex workers by choice only to fall victim to sex trafficking later on. Moreover, since prostitution is illegal in most places in the United States, there are few legal protections in place for prostitutes; many fear that seeking help will only lead to arrest, and many who do seek help are arrested and then have to battle the stigma of a criminal record while they try to reintegrate into society.

So why is the response to such a dangerous industry to drive it further underground, away from societal resources and legal protections? When people argue prostitution should be illegal, in many cases their concern comes from a place of morality , presented as concern for the health and safety of women.

People believe that legalizing prostitution will only lead to the abuse of more women, will make it harder for prostitutes to get out of the industry, or will teach young women that their bodies exist for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation by men. However, legalizing prostitution has had positive benefits for sex workers across Europe. The most well-known country to have legalized prostitution is the Netherlands , where sex work has been legal for almost twenty years. Bringing the industry out of the black market and imposing strict regulations has improved the safety of sex workers.

Brothels are required to obtain and renew safety and hygiene licenses in order to operate, and street prostitution is legal and heavily regulated in places like the Red Light District. Not only does sex work become safer when it is regulated, but legalization also works to weed out the black market that exists for prostitution, thereby making women safer overall.

And you can stop it. Sign up to receive our email updates. No buyers, no business. Name First Last. Evidence For Holding Buyers Accountable The idea that legalizing or decriminalizing commercial sex would reduce its harms is a persistent myth.

After the war, the prostitutes were seen as conspirators and dragged into the street by angry mobs who shaved their heads and carved swastikas onto their face.

Afterwards, the French leader Charles de Gaulle, along with Marthe Richard, former prostitute turned politician, worked to close all brothels in France, and soon the rest of Europe and America followed.

Today, prostitution is legal in several countries including New Zealand, where Amnesty International argues that the prostitutes have a much better quality of life than in places where sex work is criminalized.