Introduction
Prostitution is one of the oldest professions in history and no matter its legality, it will always be here. With laws prohibiting prostitution, it may possibly be the oldest illustration of sex discrimination and government interference. In a free society all such laws are out of place due to the violation of the basic rights and liberties of any of the individuals involved. Prostitution should be legal. The actual act, of prostitution, is a very straightforward issue of a rental or voluntary sale of a labor between consenting adults. Mutual agreement on an exchange of money for sex, violates no one's rights, and does not directly or actually harm anyone. In most countries, the exchanging of money for sex between consenting adults is legal.
History
Timothy Gilfoyle, (Gilfoyle, 1991, pg 875) writes about the history of prostitution in an article entitled "Prostitution (in US history) published in The Reader's Companion to American History." The article states that prostitution in the United States started as a European import, due to soldiers being station in the United States, with the most of the imported prostitutes located in both New York and Boston. It was not until after 1810, that "prostitution became both a political and social problem." With the rapid expansion of the male population, the urbanization of the cities, "lower wages for females and discrimination against women", prostitution rose. It was during the 1800s that prostitution was divided into three subcultures, women for money, the "sporting male" which hired prostitutes and brothels, which were found in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Chicago. In 1870, the city of St. Louis passed the Social Evil Ordinance enabling the Board of Health to regulate prostitution. "The Board of Health required registration and medical examination of all known prostitutes as well as the licensing of brothels. The medical examiners were paid by fees collected from the 'social evilists' (prostitutes) and madams. The ordinance was nullified by the Missouri state legislature in 1874" (Gateway Heritage, 1990). The Page Act of 1875 was passed by the U.S. Congress making it illegal to import women into the United States for the purposes of prostitution. In 1857, New Orleans implements the first anti-prostitution ordinance call the Lorette ordinance. The ordinance "prohibited prostitution on the first floor of buildings but was soon after declared unconstitutional. In July 1865, after the Civil War, more regulations were made leading up to the creation of the red-light district of Storyville in 1897" (Long, 2004). In June of 1910, The Mann Act or White-Slave Traffic Act, named after the Republican from Illinois, James Mann, became federal law making "prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose", illegal. "It dealt with forced prostitution, harboring immigrant prostitutes, and the transportation across state lines" (Langum, 1994). Hoke v. United States went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911. The finding held "that regulating prostitution was strictly the province of the states but that Congress could regulate interstate travel for purposes of prostitution or immoral purposes" (Hoke v. United States, 1911). "The state of Nevada began to formally regulate prostitution giving rural counties the option to license brothels" (Symanski, 1974) in 1971. The city of Berkeley, California, voted for decriminalizing prostitution with a vote of 63.51 percent and during the same day, in Churchill County, Nevada with 62.78 percent of the vote, voters voted for keeping brothels legal, even know none existed at the time of the vote.
Present
Prostitution is currently legal in virtually all developed nations. According to the website www.sexwork.com, prostitution is legal, though often surrounded by restrictions and regulations, "in Canada, most all of Europe including England, France, Wales, Denmark, etc., most of South America including most of Mexico (often in special zones), Brazil, Israel (Tel Aviv known as the brothel capital of the world), Australia, and many other countries" have legal and some form of legal prostitution. The website continues to states that most of Asia and even Iran either has legal or "much tolerated" prostitution. It is illegal in only a few countries, including Argentine, India, the United States (except for the ten counties in the state of Nevada, and, by a legal idiosyncrasy, in Rhode Island), and some Muslim and Communist countries. One reason it is legal is the general attitude that prostitution does no harm, has no victims, and is sex among consenting adults. What a person does with their body is an individual right and if they wish to use their body to provide a labor service, such as prostitution, it is only their decision to make of how their body should be used. Paul Armentano (Armentano, 1993), states "As long as the prostitution transaction is voluntary, there is no justification for governmental interference. Indeed, such interference constitutes an infringement of the privacy and personal liberty of the individuals involved."
Since prostitutes must engage in a sneaky fashion, identifying the number of American individuals who engage in prostitution isn't easy. It has been recently calculated that between 230,000 and 350,000, with estimates running as high as 1.3 million men and women in the United States earn a living as full time prostitutes. According to The National Task Force on Prostitution, they estimate that approximately "one percent of all American women participate in prostitution." Some go into prostitution do so out of desperation. Some do so for reasons that have nothing to do with victimization. Within the past five years, it has been reported an estimated one in every six American men has purchased the services of a prostitute.
Alarming, engaging in sex with a prostitute is now the third most common way for an American male to contract the AIDS virus. According to current evidence provided by Paul Armentano (Armentano, 1993), "roughly half of the street prostitutes in Washington, D.C., and New York City are HIV-positive" and "in Newark, New Jersey," it is estimated "that close to 60 percent of all prostitutes carry the AIDS virus. Yet, in the relatively 'free market' of Nevada, where prostitution is legal, not one [as of 1989] of the state-licensed prostitutes has ever tested positive for AIDS." In a study by the Center for Disease and Control Prevention (MMWR, 1987) on HIV on prostitutes, of "835 study participants who were tested for HIV antibody and the 568 study participants for whom an interview form was submitted to CDC before March 10, 1987. The prevalence of HIV antibody in prostitutes so far tends to parallel the cumulative incidence of AIDS in women in the seven research sites, suggesting that risk factors for AIDS in female prostitutes may be similar to those in other women living in these geographic areas. The prevalence of HIV antibody in prostitutes and the cumulative incidence of AIDS in women are highest in northern New Jersey and Miami" the report further states, in Nevada where prostitution is legal "only one woman has been reported with AIDS, none of 34 prostitutes have had HIV antibody." Ironically, with the rising threat of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, it should be evidence enough for the complete legalization of prostitution. If prostitution were legal, government supervised mandatory testing for sexually transmitted infections, would force the prostitute to have safe sex so they could keep their jobs. Again using Nevada as an example, licensed bordellos are required to take monthly blood test. Although, I believe these precautions would still likely occur even in the absence of government regulation. The reason is monetary; bordellos compete with each other, thus creating strong incentives to ensure that any "service", in which they provide, is safe for their customers. Obviously, the spread of AIDS would be reduced by the legalization and testing of prostitution services.
Since prostitution is illegal, in the United States, outside of Nevada, most prostitutes live an illegal life-style and without any type of physical or legal protection. Prostitutes are vulnerable to rape, domestic violence and the high use of illegal drugs. They are vulnerable to these vices because, prostitutes are not protected under the law. Pimps and johns can and have openly beaten and/or raped these women without sympathy. A study conducted by researchers Mellissa Farley and Howard Barkan (Farley, Barkan 1998), interviewed 130 San Francisco prostitutes and found that "eighty-two percent of these respondents reported having been physically assaulted since entering prostitution. Of those who had been physically assaulted, 55% had been assaulted by customers. Eighty-eight percent had been physically threatened while in prostitution, and 83% had been physically threatened with a weapon....Sixty-eight percent...reported having been raped since entering prostitution. Forty-eight percent had been raped more than five times. Forty-six percent of those who reported rapes stated that they had been raped by customers." Many of these women feel as though they have nowhere to go and the result is turning to prostitution as employment. With legalized prostitution, prostitute would have the same rights to police protection as the rest of us when it came to physically abuse.
Prostitution is another battle for the almighty tax dollars. It is estimated that one in every ten police officers works on vice-related activities and as much as one-half of a typical urban city's prison female population consists of prostitutes. The city of Los Angeles alone is estimated to spend over 100 million dollars annually dealing with illegal prostitution and for what reason? History has proven there are no effective ways to close down a market between a willing buyer and a seller. At best, strict local harassment may affect where prostitutes work, but it will never stop them altogether. The real cost is that these public resources could have been used to protect law-abiding citizens from real criminals.
I believe the government should have a legitimate role to play in the prostitution market. As with any and all markets, the government should ensure that all exchanges are truly consensual and voluntary. It should protect the individual rights to property; especially the right not to be force. Legalized prostitution can also bring the government benefits from income tax. If prostitution were legalized in the United States, it would greatly help the country. For example in 2004, Nevada licensing requirements varied from county to county, but license fees for brothels range from an annual $100,000 in Storey County to an annual $200 in Lander County. Licensed prostitutes must be at least 21 years old, except in Storey County and Lyon County, where the legal age is 18. According to George Flint, director, lobbyist and consultant for the Nevada Brothel Owners' Association, "regulating and taxing sex could fill the state budget's gaping hole, no problem. The truth is this: Give me an opportunity to establish a certain area where we can run and operate [brothels] as a legitimate business, and I will produce a kickback to the state in the area of $200 million a year," he says. "People are always asking if brothels pay taxes. Of course, they pay taxes. They pay unemployment compensation on their regular employees, they pay [withholding tax], they pay bar taxes, they pay income tax on their profits, plus in counties like Nye and Storey, they pay enormous business taxes," he says.
Closing
The case for the legalization of prostitution is overwhelming based on individual rights, economics, safety and moral obligations. Keeping prostitutes safe, from abuse, assault, rape, and murder, as well as from sexually transmitted diseases should be the main concern. With government prevention and regulation, it violates a person basic individual right and is economically expensive. Our society's attempt to legislate the country personal morality has come to an end. It has become high time to make a difference, to the oldest profession in the world, face the facts the time is now for the legalization of prostitution.
