Prostitution : Should It be Legal?

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Its the oldest profession in the world. You can walk down just about any major sidewalk and find women selling their bodies on the corner.  Although, most women (not in the profession) find it disgusting, I myself along with many others actually feel the total opposite when it comes to prostitution.

Ok, maybe I do find some of it degrading and gross. Here you have this woman walking the streets trying to make a buck. Chances are, she has a pimp, who takes all of her money. He “protects” her, gives her what she needs for clothes and maybe a little bit of food and that is it! That man walks off with over half of the cash she makes. Runaway girls and boys alike, surrender to the quick buck of prostituting themselves for money to eat or for drugs. Picking up a man, woman, boy or girl off the street is dangerous. Not only for the prostitute but for the John as well. There is a dark side to prostitution. Cars parked in ally ways or going off somewhere “private” can be a vulnerable moment for either party, especially if one of them has a weapon and started the night up to no good. Once that person decides to get in a car, they don’t know who this person is, or if they will even be coming back. It’s a scary situation.

However, these are some of the very reasons I feel prostitution should be legal. Sometimes just regulating a situation can make more of a difference than just trying to stop it altogether. We have seen with prohibition over the years, this simply does not work. Since first and foremost, it is up to the individual what they do with their bodies, why can our law makers step in and say, “NO, you can’t do that!” Law makers decided it is ok for a woman to choose to have an abortion or not, so why can’t our government also let a woman decide if she feels she should be paid to have sex with someone? It’s still HER body, right?

I know, I know, just look at my first paragraph and there is your answer right? All these people walking the streets, selling their bodies to whomever is interested and has cash. Never know who obtained those services before you and a pimp on the side giving you drugs and taking all the woman’s money. Clearly, prostitution spreads diseases and breaks up marriages. Of course it should be illegal, right?