The legal status of prostitution around the world

[Jana]

I welcome prostitution to be legal in Germany. It's simply a question of freedom. Two adult individuals do something that is done all over the world (sex) and the only deviation is that they agree on doing it for money, which is even simply honest compared to a number of marriages and being a couple all around. A lot of these things are ultimately also done for money. Or why exactly do women prefer a rich guy compared to a poor guy? I consider the criticism on prostitution a little bit hypocrite. I wouldn't be surprised if those who express the most criticism are those who use prostitution the most. (I don't state that this is the case, but often it is that way.)

Someone here said that it destroys families.

But is this really the case? I always hear of divorces and separations because someone has found another partner, had sex, emotions and the whole program. But I never heard that someone separated because he got into a prostitute.

Afaik the German army in WWII promoted the availability of brothels to the soldiers for preventing them from really getting into other women, which would have much more endangered their families and relationships.

Agreed. I'm pro-legal prostitution because it protects sex-workers much more (afaik they have medical and pension insurance, pimps are to a much lesser degree influential etc) and also I agree with other part of what you said - I'd be much less upset if a man cheated me with a prostitute for purely physical reasons than having an actual affair with emotions involved.

Just my view but I respected other side as well. Prostitution is kind of disgusting.

[Jana]

Compared to other controversial issues such as drugs, abortion and gay marriage, prostitution doesn't really fit into the "libertine West vs traditionalist Rest" model. Many Latin American and even some MENA countries (namely Turkey, Lebanon and Tunisia) permit it; conversely the US, Sweden, Norway and to a lesser extent Britain and France take a tougher stance on it. N.B. Although it is stated that prostitution is illegal in Iran, they permit a very similar practice called 'temporary marriage', where a man gets to marry a woman for sex for any length of time he chooses.

Funny how prostitution is illegal in countries like Ukraine, Russia or Moldova and so many prostitutes in Europe come from these places and prostitution is widely spread there resulting in very high HIV infection rates etc .
It's illegal in Croatia but ofc it's available here, women are just much more abused than in places where it is legal and state gets no tax from that either.

[Jana]

Btw when my parents visited Israel their host told them that it's allowed for a married Jewish man to have sex with woman that is not his wife only under 2 circumstances:

1) he must be in other city (there's even minimal distance that is written)
2) he must pay in money

I was kid when I heard that and found it super odd but now I understand. Paying in money implies it's purely for sex and there are no emotions involved and being in other city I guess applies to men that travel a lot for work and are often away from their families so they may have sexual needs that they can't fulfil with wife who is away but they can visit a prostitute and not get emotionally involved with other woman.

Kind of sarcastic but pretty well in line with complex living human nature and morality that is not black and white (unless you're a saint, that is, and average people are not).

[oszkar07]

Compared to other controversial issues such as drugs, abortion and gay marriage, prostitution doesn't really fit into the "libertine West vs traditionalist Rest" model. Many Latin American and even some MENA countries (namely Turkey, Lebanon and Tunisia) permit it; conversely the US, Sweden, Norway and to a lesser extent Britain and France take a tougher stance on it. N.B. Although it is stated that prostitution is illegal in Iran, they permit a very similar practice called 'temporary marriage', where a man gets to marry a woman for sex for any length of time he chooses.

They dont call it the worlds oldest profession for nothing.

Legal is better for all the logical reasons already mentioned.

As for the moralising , well I think its just one of those things that some humans do like smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol.
You can ban but these things will carry on anyway.
The trafficking and drug addictions is all not nice but the truth is there are many prostitutes in 1st world countries that do this out of choice because it suits them at the time. There are ofc the people that dont like to hear that or believe that or the fem nazis who will say its all the evil mens fault etc but it doesnt change it being true... there are those that do that job from choice(like it or not).

So legalising it should hopefully be a way of stopping or reducing the trafficking etc.

BTW personally i tend to think modern society is very over sexualised unaturally so, and probably mostly for commercial reasons. And im far from being a prude. Still i think legalising the sex workrs makes sense.

[rothaer]

Agreed. I'm pro-legal prostitution because it protects sex-workers much more (afaik they have medical and pension insurance, pimps are to a much lesser degree influential etc) and also I agree with other part of what you said - I'd be much less upset if a man cheated me with a prostitute for purely physical reasons than having an actual affair with emotions involved.

Just my view but I respected other side as well. Prostitution is kind of disgusting.

It was legal in Germany most of the time, but what they did a couple of years ago was to open the social systems for "sex workers" (they are good payers btw.!) and also recognise a number of contracts, which in earlier times were considerd invalid in civil laws because violating common moral (Sittenwidrigkeit). The main result is that the whores didn't need pimps anymore and could get rid of them. Which in turn means that they can keep most of the money themselves. However, also a lot of abusing conditions were eliminated.
A whore can rent a room or flat in a brothel or whereever and do her own legal business.

[Hektor12]

some MENA countries (namely Turkey

I bet you created this topic just to write this part.

[rothaer]

Btw when my parents visited Israel their host told them that it's allowed for a married Jewish man to have sex with woman that is not his wife only under 2 circumstances:

1) he must be in other city (there's even minimal distance that is written)
2) he must pay in money

I was kid when I heard that and found it super odd but now I understand. Paying in money implies it's purely for sex and there are no emotions involved and being in other city I guess applies to men that travel a lot for work and are often away from their families so they may have sexual needs that they can't fulfil with wife who is away but they can visit a prostitute and not get emotionally involved with other woman.

Kind of sarcastic but pretty well in line with complex living human nature and morality that is not black and white (unless you're a saint, that is, and average people are not).

Funny, didn't know for that.

Btw. paying in money also means that you are even. Nobody owes the other one something, there are no obligations, no ties, no more connection, over.

[rothaer]

(...) the truth is there are many prostitutes in 1st world countries that do this out of choice because it suits them at the time. (...)

Yes, and even if there would be some constraint of life to do so, that would be acceptable.

Eventually I also out of the constraint of life go to work, only because I need the money. By going to work for money, I in fact prostitute myself by selling my lifetime for money. I try to do it as little as possible and keep as much life time for myself as I can but, however, the life is not a pony farm, as we say in German.

[Hithaeglir]

I prefer legal for the reasons already stated above. But it also depends on the country, the level of corruption and how much the authorities are able to perform regular and thorough checks on these businesses. This article is quite informative : https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/...ex-trafficking

[Aldaris]

My counter is simple:

The family is already destroyed in the west.

That's just a stupid generalizing statement. And even if it was true, legalizing prostitution would just add fuel to the fire.

Women for the most part here have no “dignity or loyalty”

Yeah, but it's not entirely their fault either. Men not setting proper boundaries did its own damage. Of course you can handle this on an individual level.

So none of those are valid reasons, we have moved past those traditional values in the west. It’s clear already. Old outdated arguments

We have not moved beyond anything, you can't trick me, much less evolutionary psychology. But since you're a self-admitted troll, this conversation ends now.