Since the dawn of time, people have been trading goods and money for physical
pleasure. It was practiced by the Sumerians, the ancient Israelites, the
Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans. In the Middle Ages, Augustine of Hippo
said, "If you expel prostitution from society, you will unsettle everything on
account of lusts." Even people in the Middle Ages recognized that when compared
to rape, prostitution was the lesser of two evils.
It wasn't until the early 1900s--when the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
made drugs, alcohol and prostitution their pet projects on things to ban--was
the act of prostitution and everything having to do with it made illegal in the
United States.
Only in the state of Nevada is prostitution and the owning of brothels legal
and regulated (although prostitution is still illegal in certain counties, such
as Clark County, where Las Vegas is located). There you have many brothels to
choose from to satisfy your needs: the Bunny Ranch, Sheri's Ranch, the Chicken
Ranch and more are at your disposal.
In these brothels, the prostitutes work as what some may call "independent
contractors." They don't receive any health, unemployment or retirement
benefits, but do give a cut of their earnings to the brothel owner. Because
prostitution is legal in the state, Nevada is able to charge brothel owners a
yearly fee depending on the county, how many prostitutes it employs, or how
many rooms it has. They also require regular STD testing of prostitutes.
This system apparently works well for Nevada, as it is a win-win situation: the
state gets a cut from a regulated, legalized business. The brothels make a good
deal of money with no fear of being prosecuted (unless they evade taxes or
participate in some other illegal activity). The prostitutes get checked
regularly for diseases without fear of repercussion, and the clients can go
somewhere to get their rocks off without being arrested. And yet in the rest of
the United States it's verboten.
All one has to do is look at the case of Heidi Fleiss, ex-Hollywood madam to
the rich and famous, to see how ridiculous it is to uphold prostitution laws
and see how your tax dollars are spent. The LAPD undoubtedly spent an obscenely
large amount of money and a significant amount of time investigating and
prosecuting her. Last time I checked, Los Angeles had more severe problems than
a woman pandering, and yet the police went after her?
Fleiss was found guilty of attempted pandering, money laundering and tax
evasion, and spent 21 months in jail (note: she is now out of jail and is
setting up Heidi's Stud Farm, a male brothel, in Nevada). It's ludicrous that
they initially went after her because she was pandering.
The police involved in the case called the women who worked for Fleiss
"victims" because they were selling themselves. These women made a minimum of
$1,500 per "trick." Out of that, they got to keep 60 percent of what they made,
and gave Fleiss 40 percent because she set up the job. These girls made more in
one night than many of us make in a month. How can something that people do
willingly be considered victimization?
The only people who were victims were Fleiss and taxpayers. Charlie Sheen, a
client of Fleiss', only had to testify--and out of court. None of her clients
were prosecuted. Equate drug dealers and drug users to madams and callgirls. If
you deal drugs, you are prosecuted. If you use drugs, you are prosecuted. But
in the case of Fleiss, the dealer got busted, but the user was let go. This
doesn't make any sense.
You may be saying, "But Kasey, prostitution is wrong. It's illegal." Yes, it is
illegal. But it is illegal for the wrong reasons. Laws are supposed to be in
place to produce an orderly society and protect its citizens. But this one in
particular does nothing of the sort. What exactly is disorderly about
prostitution? How exactly are people in danger? There is nothing harmful about
the act (I am not talking about sex trafficking or forcing someone into
prostitution). It is an act between two consensual adults (or more, depending
on the client's fancy). Why is it OK to have sex or give a blowjob for free,
but add money to the equation and it's illegal? It's downright absurd.
By making prostitution legal, the government could make it a taxable business.
It could regulate it, it could require the workers to regularly be tested for
STDs and therefore make the practice safer for the workers as well as for the
clients. By making it legal, the money that is spent on enforcing prostitution
laws could be spent on getting drug dealers, murderers, rapists and people who
are a genuine threat to society off of the streets and keeping them in jail.
Honestly, who would you rather have running amok in society: a callgirl or the
next potential Jeffrey Dahmer?
The only thing that I can think of as to why prostitution is illegal is because
of the people who create the laws, and traditionally, that would be the white
male. Imagine if a girl could freely charge for sex. She goes into a bar, and
an asshole hits on her. She needs some money and she was going to give it
freely, but if she could charge, then why not? He asks her to his place, she
holds out her hand and says, "You got $1,000 on you?"
Sex has always been a powerful tool. If the above scenario happened, who would
be in control and holding the power?
