Arguing against legalizing prostitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Arguing against legalizing prostitution - Essay Example On the other hand, Sweden has taken a different legal approach, decriminalizing the women in prostitution while at the same time penalizing the buyers. Prostitution should not be legalized; it should be treated as sexual exploitation and violence against women, and not as ‘sex work’. The arguments against legalizing prostitution apply to all state-sponsored forms of prostitution including the legal operation of brothels and pimping, decriminalization of the sex industry, regulating prostitution through registration and health checks for women, recognizing prostitution as ‘sex work’ or advocating it as an employment of choice (Raymond 315). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is argue against legalizing prostitution, taking into consideration the various adverse outcomes for women in the domain. Prostitution Should Not be Legalized Raymond (315) argues that â€Å"legitimizing prostitution as work makes the harm of prostitution to women invisible, exp ands the sex industry, and does not empower the women in prostitution†. ... Legalization and decriminalization of the sex industry also converts brothels, sex clubs, massage parlors, and other sites of prostitution activities into legitimate venues where commercial sexual acts are allowed to thrive, with few legal restraints. Countries which criminalize women for prostitution activities, should advocate for the decriminalization of the women in prostitution. Such exploited women should not be punished by criminalization. However, pimps, buyers, procurers, brothels, or other sex establishments should not be decriminalized (Raymond 316). Legalization/ Decriminalization of Prostitution Promotes Sex Trafficking One of the root causes of sex trafficking is legalized or decriminalized prostitution industries. An argument supporting legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that legalization would help to end the exploitation of desperate immigrant women who had been trafficked to the country, for prostitution. However, the Budapest Group (1) argues that 80% o f women in Netherlands’ brothels were trafficked from other countries. The International Organization of Migration (IOM 4) stated that in 1994 nearly 70% of trafficked women were from the Central and Eastern European countries. Dutting (16) observes that although the government of the Netherlands presents itself as a champion of antitrafficking policies and programs, it has eliminated every legal obstacle to pimping, procuring and the running of brothels. In the year 2000, the Dutch Ministry of Justice argued for the authorization of a legal quota of foreign sex workers, because the Dutch prostitution market called for women of different nationalities. Further, in