Criminalized Prostitution Isn’t Working

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a fascinating debate on the question – “Is it wrong to pay for sex?”

I went in a firm believer that prostitution should be legalized, but with an open mind on the question of the debate. I left convinced that it is wrong to pay for sex, but even more sure of my conviction that legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution is the way to make progress against human trafficking, exploitation and sexual assault.

Last week, NPR aired the debate, which was hosted by Intelligence Squared. With three well-spoken experts on each side, it’s well worth a listen.

There has also been a great and lively discussion over the last few days on the End Human Trafficking blog about legalizing prostitution, and I wanted to throw in my two cents here.

First, on the question of whether it’s wrong to pay for sex. I believe that in 99% of cases it is indeed wrong. Some argue that sex for money can be a contractual agreement between consenting parties, but I tend to think that this is very rarely the case. The vast majority of the time, the seller is a woman, and she isn’t selling a product, she’s selling her body and control over her life. While many jobs are demeaning and dangerous, I believe prostitution is in a league of its own and leaves a scar on the seller not unlike that of an abuse victim.

That said, I believe this is one of the few areas where we should separate our morals from our laws. Prostitution may be wrong, but it’s not going away, and we’re not doing a very good job of controlling it with criminal punishment. Human trafficking is rampant and it’s very hard to have a law enforcement presence in an occupation that happens behind closed doors. Standardizing and overseeing a legal side of sex work will allow us to focus limited resources on trafficking, underage prostitution and abuse.

In the IQ Squared debate, Economics Professor Tyler Cowan pointed repeatedly to the example of New Zealand, where prostitution was decriminalized in 2003 and a parliamentary report found last year that prostitutes were now more likely to report violence to police and that officers would take their complaints more seriously. In a legalized system, prostitutes can form unions and the state can enforce strict work conditions and age limits and require that employers provide health care.

Abolitionists have cited the example of Amsterdam in recent months, which is closing the majority of its brothels while keep prostitution legal. This is a sign, however, of a city opting for increased regulation, not a city regretting its decision. “It is not that we want to get rid of our red-light district. We want to reduce it,” Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen said in December.

The side of the IQ squared debate arguing that it was wrong to pay for sex also felt strongly that prostitution should be illegal. They pointed to the Swedish model, where pimps and johns are criminalized and prostitutes are not. End Human Trafficking blogger Amanda Kloer argues that legalizing prostitution only opens new opportunities for trafficking and exploitation. I disagree. Like with drugs, I think criminalizing many activities increases the possibilities of violence and abuse.

Prostitution is called the ‘world's oldest profession’ for a reason. It isn’t going away, and fighting it with police and punishment has been a losing battle for hundreds of years. We need to throw all of the resources we have at violence, human trafficking and coercion. In order to do that more effectively, we should create strict guidelines under which legalized prostitution can occur. We can control activity much better when we can see it.