Legalizing Prostitution Argumentative Essay

When it comes to talking about the legalization of prostitution, one should acknowledge that those who advocate for such a legal avenue must be ready to let their daughters opt for this so-called profession and take pride in their professional ‘attainments’. While a great part of the modern world’s democratic society talks about the legalization of prostitution as about the next step in advancing democracy itself, they should, probably, start understanding that selling women into slavery, as there is no other way to call it, has nothing to do with democracy. Prostitution, even in the most legal of the forms possible, was, is, and will always be nothing else but the continuous act of women’s declassification and exploitation. Prostitution emerged as the social institution that was meant to establish a disrespectful treatment of women as the behavioral role model to follow what automatically means that legalizing it would simply mean that modern society has nothing against treating women disrespectfully.

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Those who state that legalizing prostitution entails a whole list of benefits as for the prostitutes so for the “customers”, may we call them this way, are simply ignorant and not far-fetched people. I would like to talk to you about the myth that is the most widespread in terms of talking about the legalization of prostitution. The pivotal argument in the sleeve of the prostitution legalization is that such a decision will secure women from getting assaulted, abused, and killed “at work”. Nonetheless, the facts continue stating that the truth is contradictory. In accordance with Janice G. Raymond, one of the most famous in scientific circles opponents of legalizing prostitution claims: “Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution and the sex industry promotes sex trafficking” (Raymond 1). Indeed, while talking about how legalized prostitution shall defend the prostitutes from violence suffered at the hands of pimps and customers, the society seems to forget that once something gets legalized it does necessarily mean that it becomes controllable.

Nowadays, when someone starts discussing the scrutinized topics, the example of the Netherlands comes to mind as the one to follow. People think that the Netherlands have simply passed the law the legalized prostitution and everybody in the country obeyed it. In accordance with Post et al., “Enforcement of criminal law was no longer seen as effectively regulating prostitution in order to call a halt to it, and to solve public and social problems related to prostitution” (Post et al. 11). As soon as prostitution becomes legalized in the countries that are not that developed as the Netherlands, the problem of human trafficking will become even more exacerbated.

Just imagine, a woman who has been deprived of personal documents, gets beaten by the pimp into signing the official contract of employment which automatically takes any possible charges down and decriminalizes the very fact of her being abducted and used as a commodity. For example, the situation is quite lamentable in Ukraine, as one of the country’s most renowned lawyers stated that in his rapidly-developing Eastern European country a lot of women are being abducted and transferred overseas into sexual slavery to the countries of the Middle East and Asia (Radutniy 157). Prostitution is not legalized there and it is the only reason why the pimps and human trafficking criminals are being prosecuted by the law.

Of course, changes for the better are plausible and possible as the examples of the Netherlands and Sweden may show us. However, it should be stated that the legalization of prostitution may only bring dividends if the global community comes as one in the battle with this disease of morality. According to Mathieson et al., “No country will fully address the issues of prostitution and trafficking without the cooperation of an international community that shares a vision for a world that views the lives of all humans as equally valuable” (Mathieson 427). It has been long established that developing a singular and united global law on prostitution is impossible.

However, even if it was it would have had no effect on the level of security of the prostitutes that all the legalization advocates like to brag about. A group of law and sociology researches, led by Seo-Young Cho, claims that: “While it has been established that the legalized status of prostitution is associated with a higher incidence of trafficking inflows, a cross-sectional analysis cannot provide a conclusion as to whether legalizing prostitution would result in decreased trafficking after legalization” (Cho 74). While covering the legalization of prostitution under the disguise of economic development, it should be stated it is nothing else but a country’s government statement on its incapability of providing women with decent educational and employment opportunities.

In conclusion, I would like to state that legalizing prostitution is a step backwards and not in the direction of a brighter future for the modern world. Prostitution has come into this world as the social recognition of its helplessness. Countries and local communities have deliberately deprived women of rights, educational, and professional perspectives in order to leave them with only one probable avenue of supporting themselves, that is selling their bodies. While the vapid talks about the increased level of security that legalized prostitution shall entail, keep on brooming over the global community, we shall understand that legalizing prostitution means acknowledging that treating women like dirt is a normative act in the 21st century. Thus, may we all stand together in fighting with prostitution by contacting our local politicians so they could reach out to the top of the political iceberg and relay our message that we do not want to legalize what was founded as the institution of diminishing the value of people.

Works Cited
Cho, Seo-Young et al. “Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?”. World Development, vol 41, no. 1, 2013, pp. 67–82., Accessed 30 July 2019.
Mathieson, Ane et al. “Prostitution Policy: Legalization, Decriminalization And The Nordic Model”. Seattle Journal For Social Justice, vol 14, no. 2, 2015, pp. 367-428., Accessed 30 July 2019.
Post, Che et al. “Regulation Of Prostitution In The Netherlands: Liberal Dream Or Growing Repression?”. European Journal On Criminal Policy And Research, 2019, pp. 1-20., doi:10.1007/s10610-018-9371-8. Accessed 30 July 2019.
Radutniy, Oleksandr. “Legalization of Prostitution and Decriminalization of Related Activities in Ukraine”. Criminal Law And Criminology (Kryminal’ne Pravo Ta Kryminalistyka), 2016, pp. 152-165., doi:10.21564/2414-990x.133.66962. Accessed 30 July 2019.
Raymond, Janice G. “Ten Reasons For Not Legalizing Prostitution And A Legal Response To The Demand For Prostitution”. Journal Of Trauma Practice, vol 2, no. 1, 2003, pp. 315-332., Accessed 30 July 2019.