To the delight of civil libertarians and libertarians alike, the Canadian courts have been leading the world in dealing with conflicts between privacy principles and morality legislation. I am serving as an expert in the review of Canadian polygamy laws in British Columbia. In the meantime, the Ontario Superior Court may allow three prostitution laws to die this Saturday.
In September, the Court struck down the laws. The federal government is charging that this is nothing short of a “social experiment unprecedented in this country.” However, it is also a frank acknowledgment that consenting adults came engage in sex for money as a consensual choice. Currently, an individual can have sex with any number of partners but can be arrested if they accept anything of value in exchange for sex. They can receive gifts as part of a “relationship” no matter how fleeting but not as payment.
The Court previously noted that criminal laws force prostitutes in the shadows where they are easy prey for abuse and even homicides. Once legal, protections and regulations can apply to the world’s oldest profession. With the demise of the laws, street walking will be legal.
Source: Star
Jonathan Turley
I don’t want to participate in this discussion or the poly one again. As I said exploitation is an issue for me.
Tony C I think for the most part women view prostitution differently than men. I think it is different than hooking up at a bar. The couple might have some chemistry going on in the bar. I understand why men that could not find a partner in another setting would go to a prostitute. I just don’t find it appealing. I don’t really care if it is legal or not to tell the truth. I am not on a crusade for it or against. Exploitation of children is an issue for me though.
“The main reason prostitution is an ugly business is the same reason drugs are an ugly business, when moralists try to criminalize it then criminals run it, and the victims cannot appeal to law enforcement without admitting wrong-doing, and then only the desperate will resort to it.”
Well said, Tony C.
Prostitution is not an inherently ugly business unless one finds sexual activity an inherently ugly business. Prostitution can be entirely voluntary and is not inherently different in any way from a guy hooking up with a girl he met a few hours ago in a bar, the only fundamental difference is the exchange of money. How the prostitute *feels* about prostitution is up to him or her, and a voluntary choice to earn money that way seems like it should be a civil liberty to me. Certainly strippers have the civil liberty to engage in sexual titillation, as do actresses, and stage singers, and I suspect the majority of them do so without any shame. Not even all prostitutes are ashamed of their profession.
Prostitutes should be protected from exploitation (like all of us) and coercion (like all of us) and fraud (like all of us) and robbery (like all of us) and violence (like all of us).
The main reason prostitution is an ugly business is the same reason drugs are an ugly business, when moralists try to criminalize it then criminals run it, and the victims cannot appeal to law enforcement without admitting wrong-doing, and then only the desperate will resort to it.
kay It’s an ugly business.I am glad you have reminded people of this. The pedophiles want the child prostitutes, and they will pay up for it. I think even if prostitution is legal that market would still exist. Some people go to Thailand for it.
“I don’t understand why prostitution is illegal. Selling is legal, f***ing is legal. So why isn’t it legal to sell f***ing? Why should it be illegal to sell something that’s legal to give away?” – George Carlin
kay,
Legalization won’t prevent abuses, but criminalization creates just another class of criminals who are engaged in consensual adult behavior. Prostitution has been around since the first time Ulla the Gatherer offered to trade Ogg the Hunter a lil’ somethingsomething in exchange for a larger piece of meat around the dinner fire. There’s a reason prostitution is called the world’s oldest profession (although in a technical sense it has to be second or third after hunting and/or farming). If the behavior is that ingrained into human behavior, no amount of criminalization will stop it. This doesn’t change that regulation and monitoring can help to mitigate the damage caused by abuses.
USDOJ.gov has 252 listings for “prostitute” AND “Nevada”
“forced her to engage in prostitution to earn
money…. organized prostitution enterprise
in … the District of Columbia, California, Florida, Nevada, Texas, and … The 13 High Intensity Child Prostitution Areas were: (1) Los Angeles, California;
(2 … York City; (11) Washington, DC; (12) Las Vegas, Nevada;”
You see even the legal prostitution in Nevada didn’t keep children out.
“The estimated age of entry into child prostitution is 12 years old, while girls as young as 9 years old have been known to be recruited for prostitution.”
http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0908/chapter4.htm
Even in the case of high end brothels there are associated crimes.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=85982
Denver Players/Denver Sugar was an escort service that catered to high-end clients across the state, according to the federal search warrant served on Jan. 25. Escorts told 9NEWS their clients were lawyers, doctors, professional athletes, politicians and judges.
“Lots of attorneys it seems” said the escort.
27 escorts… every 30 minutes or one hour… “performed hundreds, if not thousands, of (sex) acts.”
Thanks for your comments, Canadian EH. The sex trade business you describe is not much different than it is in the US. Most of the prostitutes are victims of sexual abuse as children. The minors are runaways from abusive homes. The money they earn goes up their nose or into the needle.
Canadian,
Sometimes revenue is not the only thing raised….It is good to see you around….
teen boys have long been victims of coerced sex
red light districts aren’t great neighbors
prostitution has many hidden costs
where is the edit option on this blog?
teen boys have long been victims of coerced sex
red light districts aren’t not great neighbors
prostitution has many hidden costs
Good night to you too, Canadian Eh!
And to every one else as well.
Thanks Buddha, I’ll try to see through the fog more often if it brings me that kind of reinforcment 🙂
For now however, I bid you good night 😉
It is good to see you, brain fog or not. 🙂
I’ve been lurking and waiting for a topic that I could comment on despite my hazey brain of late…tonight I found it 😉
Hey there you Canuck you.
Long time no see in these parts. 😉
You are all giving us Canadians WAY WAY too much credit here. Make no mistake about it, the vast majority of prostitutes in Ontario, like in most places, are young drug addicted and/or emotionally disturbed women. They have pimps ( sometimes called ” escort services ” ) and FYI at this point sex for money is illegal through these ” Escort Services ” as by any other means. The province of Ontario is in deep debt and our politicians are merely looking for new ways to generate revenue by way of taxing prostitutes.
It may seem very liberal and progressive but in reality our government will now be collecting their cut from exploiting women. Way to go McGuinty
http://youtu.be/SQU4torUz-Q
My last try…
Heard an NPR story on Sam Cooke just the other day. Thanks for posing two of my favorites… Not sure that this will work, but here’s another:
youtube.com/watch?v=SQU4torUz-Q