An Uncomfortable Proposition

In polite company, the topic of prostitution seems to be best talked about when it is never talked about at all, but it occurs and more often than one would think. So I would invite you to pause and know that in this given moment, there are forty million prostitutes being subjected for money. That population is roughly the size of Argentina and more than Sweden's ten million, Australia's twenty-one million, or Canada's thirty-three million (Horowitz 15). Theoretically if they wanted to, prostitutes could inhabit Antarctica and start their own country. The number is overwhelming, but very few fall under governmental scope. In America as well as in other countries, the typical approach has been abolitionist and has criminalized the three types of prostitution (street prostitution, brothel prostitution, and escort prostitution). The newer but less popular approach has been to decriminalize prostitution and completely remove all governmental policies concerning sex workers. But the safest and most practical alternative to prostitution should include the government through legalizing brothels and escort-based institutions that are nationally sanctioned and locally regulated.

The primary concern to this proposal is the degradation of the female and her safety. While there are some male sex workers, over seventy-eight percent are female and count as the resounding majority (Jennings 1236). Without holidays and definitely without nights off, prostitutes are reduced to mere vessels of cash to their pimps and vessels of pleasure to their johns, the numbing name for their clientele. They have no identity, only a body - a concept that directly defies conservative interpretations of the Christian Bible. As well, this dehumanization amplifies the prostitute's vulnerability to violence, rape, and abuse. Many surmise that prostitution exacerbates these injustices and call for the abolishment of this social monster.

At its very core, prostitution maintains gender inequality. As a politically active group of former prostitutes, WHISPER (Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt) describes prostitution as a "crime committed against women by men" (Peterson-Iyer 25). While the majority of prostitutes are female, many of their pimps and johns are male, and unfortunately in the "business," both pimps and johns hold higher positions, enabling them to abuse or otherwise mistreat the women. They are the boss and the clientele. Pimps exercise a strong emotional hold over their "girls," simultaneously able to abuse them and reap their earnings to often fund their drug dependencies (22). For example, in one of the interviews from the San Franciscan study, one unnamed prostitute remembered refusing to testify against her "daddy" so she could protect him from a domestic battery charge (Lutnick 42). Most often a pimp provides security to a prostitute in an admittedly sick and twisted way. Because of his need for an influx of money, he remains constant in his attendance to his girls. Johns posses a different power over the prostitutes, a monetary one. Since there is only an informal contact, the forum is extremely volatile, and an unhappy customer most often results in a bruised provider. There is no current check to the masculine dominance. In each relationship, the man maintains power, and this entangled inequality undermines egalitarian society (Anderson 206).

Conservatives often invoke the Bible for support of abolishment. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, the apostle Paul states that "the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit." Prostitution with its implications of the thrust and the bust clearly is not the most Sunday school appropriate. It puts a per hour value to the human body instead of conjoining it to the worldly manifestation of God. Moreover, prostitution makes a special appearance in Ten Commandments, the basis of all Biblical laws. "Thou shall not commit adultery," or have sex outside of wedlock, is the dogma of prostitution. Not only is it a sin, it also coincides with other immoral deeds among the list, like "thou shall not covet" and often "thou shall not take the LORD's name in vain" (Exodus 20:1-17). The greatest Christian criticism is the loss of humanity. Former prostitute and current Christian, wanting to only be identified by "J" speaks personally about the worst part for her: "you're obliged not to sell sex only, but your human dignity... it's selling your soul and not selling a service.... It involves a type of contempt, a kind of disdain, and a kind of a triumph over another human being" (Peterson-Iyer 34). The loss of dignity results in more than the degradation of the body - it results in the loss of personal identity.

Possibly the greatest concern is the excessive violence and exploitation that occurs in prostitution. During an interview with Karen Peterson-Iyer, the author of Prostitution: A Feminist Ethical Analysis, a former prostitute and current member of WHISPER commented that "every time a prostitute climbs into a car or walks into a hotel with a strange man...she risks her freedom and her very life" (25). She is referring to the perils of street prostitution, the most dangerous of the three types of prostitution. On average, a street prostitute is beaten twelve times a year - or once every month - most often by their pimp or a john (Jennings 1238). Many believe this violence is directly linked to the gender imbalance of prostitution. Furthermore, because the sex industry has a constant demand for service, some miscreants coerce women into involuntary prostitution. These women tend to be immigrants and enter into the "life" with misinformed ideas of success. Much like the pimps, these miscreants exercise a mental hold over these women in a new country and frequently punish them for perceived cultural misdemeanors. These punishments often result in death (Peterson-Iyer 23). In fact, prostitution maintains the greatest homicide rate with 204 deaths per 100,000 workers. This is over twenty times the national average in America, officially making prostitution the oldest and most dangerous occupation (Horowitz 15).

But many abolishment laws end with their establishment. Most often authorities condemn it and assume the involvement ceases. Rarely is it followed by preventative policies that take into account the longevity of prostitution and previous trials of abolishment (Anderson 205). Prostitution is called the "world's oldest profession" for a reason - it is unlikely that, in the near future, the sex industry will be "fixed" though using the same, tired method of criminalization. So, yes, currently it is evil, but it has been left out in the sweltering heat of human cruelty by the authorities to sour and