Archive (11/3/2009): Prostitution: Should it be Legal?

One of my assignments due next week is about constructing an argument on a woman’s right to her body. With all the emancipations, equality acts and feminist movements, the freedom of one’s body seems to have been lost in the midst.

Now I’m not about to rip my clothes off, throw on a corset and step into some hooker heels (unless I’m dressing up as a pirate), but neither do I think that a woman should not be allowed to sell sex for profit. The fact is that women sell themselves as cleaners, as bar tenders, as waitresses and even as no good Shadow Deputy Ministers, we have the freedom to tattoo and pierce our bodies, we are allowed to sell our clothes, furniture, cosmetics and office supplies but we are not allowed to sell the most basic of human activities; sex.

Prostitution has, since the establishment of the bible and the ever present fear of God’s wrath been dubbed as a below-standard work force. However before then it, believe it or not, was seen as God’s work. Brothels, or “Temples” as they were called, were set up in ancient cities where men would go to cleanse their soul by having sex with one of “Venus’s Priestesses”. Even with the coming of monogamous marriages, these women were still viewed by society the same way we today view nuns and priests. They were seen as “God’s children”. Things have really changed.

As the time went by, prostitutes began to lose their favour with society. By the Middle Ages, they were excluded from society the same way Jews were during the reign of Hitler. If they even touched a loaf of bread, they would be forced to purchase it as it was seen as “contaminated” due to the stigmas they have attached to them.

Having said that, however, I can honestly understand why they were rejected. To be a prostitute some 500 years ago meant you were most likely the carrier of some virulent disease such as Syphilis or Cholera, and I wouldn’t want some dirty bitch touching my bread; but what about now, in the time of condoms and sleazy hotels? Prostitution is far safer than it once was, yet still has that same stigma attached to it.

Personally, I see Prostitution as a form of power, as do most women. You are literally forcing a man to pay extravagant amounts of money for something so basal, for such a basic human instinct. There is literally no greater satisfaction than for a woman to be placed in that position of power over a man. They are literally begging for sex – so much so that they have to pay for it.

But then you have the powers that be in parliament saying that it should be banned for the safety of the woman. I think that is semi-bullshit. Bullshit for the fact that most women can care for themselves, and it is their choice what they wish to do with their lives (and in this economic climate – some don’t really have a choice), but probably safer because of the abuse women have had to face in the name of their profession. The solution is easy: Why not just provide a safe outlet for both the women and men? I have no problem with a government run brothel – but most conservatives probably would, and nothing is so important that votes are risked in the next election.

Feminism has come so far, but it has also contradicted itself. They fought for the eradication of brothels in the 19th Century and for the most part they got it (In the UK, the act of selling sex is legal, but there are so many restrictions that it’s barely possible. It’s like being allowed to eat blue apples... not really possible), but did they really succeed in liberating women? Sure, they got rid of the White Slavery and Sex Trafficking (although underground activities still goes on today), but did they really give full and equal rights to a woman? Do we really have full rights to our bodies? If Prostitution is legalized, it opens doors for regulation, for an input of laws designed to retain the dignity and safety of the workers. Now sex is sold on the proverbial Black Market.

So my point: If stripping is widely accepted, then why not prostitution?

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