Is the world going crazy or is it just me? Apparently, there are moves afoot to decriminalise prostitutes selling sex and instead make it illegal for 'customers' to buy it. That's just like decriminalising dealers selling drugs, but making it illegal for addicts to buy them. What's wrong with it being illegal to buy or sell sex and drugs and thereby have a two-pronged approach to wiping out both of these societal ills? After all, if it were illegal to buy sex (or drugs) what would be the point of it not being illegal to sell them? What am I missing here? This proposal just doesn't add up and, hard as it might be for you to believe, I'm a reasonably intelligent person.
And before anyone says drugs should be legal so the government can tax them and take them out of the hands of criminals, that's an example of woolly thinking. Making drugs legal and taxable would only give criminals a 'lawful' business by which to launder the proceeds from their other criminal activities. And as for taxing the proceeds of prostitution (if punters were still allowed to use the 'service' that is), do we really want our government (of whichever political party) to be little more than pimps? It wouldn't necessarily make it safer for prostitutes as has been claimed, as there are always those who would avoid paying tax by operating outside of the 'system'.
Like I said - just how could it be illegal to buy something that wasn't also illegal to sell? Any thoughts (intelligent ones), then feel free to comment.
(No comments? Nice to see that everyone obviously agrees with me.)
4 comments:
Let's just make prostitution legal - if women want to sell sex and men want to buy it what's the problem? And as for drugs - the drug barons WANT drugs to be illegal just like organised crime was delighted when America banned alcohol in the 1920s. If people are determined to buy drugs why not let them buy drugs legally?
I think you need to read the post again, CJ. The proposal is to decriminalise selling sex (prostitution), but to make it illegal to buy it. They're even talking about voiding criminal convictions of prostitutes. What's the problem? Well, let's assume that prostitution (buying and selling) was legal. If you had a daughter, would you really like her to view selling her body to strangers as a legitimate and perfectly acceptable career choice? Drug barons are only interested in making money. If drugs were legal, as I said in the post, selling drugs would just be a 'legitimate' front for them through which to launder the profits from any other criminal activities. And drugs ruin lives, not only the lives of those who use them, but others too. Do you really want to live in a society where people 'legally' out of their heads on drugs can get into a car and drive around without being fully in control of their actions? That way lies madness. Sometimes people need to be protected from their own folly, not just for their benefit but also for the benefit of others.
Kid, if drugs were legal it would obviously be ILLEGAL to drive a car while on drugs just like it's illegal to drive a car while drunk. And it's irrelevant whether I'd approve or disapprove of my imaginary daughter being a prostitute - I might disapprove of her being a porn actress too but being in a porn film isn't illegal so why should prostitution be illegal? Banning prostitution and drugs has been a complete failure so why not try legalising them? Only a tiny, tiny minority of people take hard drugs and drug-use is actually a much smaller problem for society than alcohol.
Do we really want to compound society's problems with giving our 'approval' to yet another vice, CJ? And just because alcohol is legal, does that mean we should legalise even more things that are harmful for society? Why should prostitution be illegal? Because it demeans those who participate in it and reduces sex to just another 'commodity'. Surely human beings should aspire to higher than that? And, from my point of view, you seem to be arguing backwards. Rather than ask why prostitution is illegal when porn films aren't, I'd be asking why porn films aren't illegal when prostitution is. And I wouldn't say banning prostitution and drugs has been a COMPLETE failure, but it could certainly be more effective. I could argue that trying to prevent shoplifting, rape, and murder hasn't been a total success, so should we just allow those things as well?
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