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Isabella Parker

Mrs. Tatum

4th AP Language and Composition

3/26/2020

The Legality of Prostitution in America

Introduction

Countries across the world have started to legalize prostitution, or have considered

legalizing prostitution. Indoor prostitution, such as escort services, increased to 85% of the total

sex work industry. Sweden has a system of legalized prostitution where the selling is legal, but

the purchase is illegal (Zeugma). In Australia, the different provinces have different rules for the

legalization of prostitution and the protection of sex workers. Countries like Singapore and the

Philippines, are considering legalizing prostitution in order to collect revenue and taxes (Velasco

2018). If the government is allowed to collect revenue from prostitution, they would be gaining

millions of dollars each year. These millions of dollars can be funneled into research or

government programs (David and Kola 2017).

If prostitution is legalized, reported rape rates and female STI/STD rates decrease. In

some countries, the rates decreased by as much as 40%. There are many benefits to legalizing

prostitution, both economic and social.

In America, most states do not allow prostitution. However, some states do not view

prostitution as a crime to be punished. Yet, America is just now starting to punish the rapists and

assaulters who have been hurting people for years. The President of the United States even had a
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scandal involving a Stormy Daniels, a known adult film star, over a non-disclosure agreement

(NDA) (Luckhurst 2018). Jeffery Epstein, a known sex trafficker, died while imprisoned for sex

trafficking, a common occurrence of illegal prostitution. Why does America continue to punish

the victims of these crimes by keeping prostitution illegal (Rhetorical question)? When illegal,

prostitution causes harm to many demographics, such as impoverished people, minority groups,

and people of different sexualities.

I do not have a personal experience with being a prostitute or knowing a prostitute, but

the way they are cast out by society and arrested without just cause is something I cannot stand

behind. If these people are arrested for their jobs, then policies need to change. America should

legalize prostitution for the health, economic, and social benefits.

Literature Review

Many people believe prostitution should stay illegal, but others believe it can have an

economic and public health impact. Scott Cunningham, an economics professor at Baylor

University, and Manisha Shah, Ph.D. in Economics and a recurrent writer on the topic of sex

work and the economy, coauthored a paper about how legalizing indoor prostitution can lower

reported rape rates and the rates of female STIs/STDs. Cunningham and Shah bring to light how

the prostitution market, previously mainly run outdoors (street-based), runs now mainly indoors

(escorts and online services) (Cunningham and Shah 1683). Prostitution constitutes 85% of the

indoor sex industry, and it continues to thrive in the United States, even though it is illegal

(Cunningham and Shah 1683). They concede that if indoor prostitution was legalized, yes, the

sex work industry would increase; however, in countries where it is legalized, “reported rape

offences fall by 30% and female gonorrhoea incidences decline by over 40%” (Concession)

(Cunningham and Shaw 1683). A similar study in the Philippines explores the economic merit to
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decriminalizing prostitution. Venus C. Velasco, a member of the City Council in Cabuyao,

Laguna and the governor of Cabuyao, Laguna, fights for the legalization of prostitution because

the Philippines “ranks fourth out of nine” in the most children involved in prostitution (59).

Velasco believes that poverty in the Philippines causes the high prostitution rate throughout the

whole population (59). If the Philippines legalized sex work, it would allow the government to

collect revenue from the acts and use it for the betterment of the country (Velasco 62). People

have begun to rally for Articles 202 and 341 to be changed in the Filipino Republic Act No.

3815. The amendment of these articles would allow “women, men, and even Transgender

groups” that partake in the sex industry to escape poverty (Velasco 59). If the amendments pass,

the articles would have similar legislation to that of Sweden or Australia.

In the different provinces of Australia, each have their own rules. In New South Wales,

solicitation of sex workers on the street is illegal near a school, church, or hospital, and in all

other provinces, street based work is illegal (Australian Institute of Criminology Table 1). Some

policies have neutral status within the Australian government, such as escort agency work and

private work (Australian Institute of Criminology Table 1). Similar to the implied powers in the

United States constitution, these neutral policies become decided upon by each province. By

comparison, Sweden has an explicit policy about how to deal with prostitution. Sweden enacted

a law that “criminalizes the purchase of sexual service, but not the sale of them by prostitutes”

(Lord 611). In this system, the prostitute is not punished, though the man buying the prostitute

can be imprisoned for up to six months. Sweden employs this method to help stop the spread of

sex trafficking (Lord 611). The implementation of this change could have a global impact by

criminalizing the demand of sexual services from unwilling participants.

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Much of the current day sex market occurs online. A bill known as FOSTA-SESTA

sought to protect online sex worker presence. FOSTA-SESTA stands for Fight Online Sex

Trafficking Act and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (Markowicz 1). In New York, the

FOSTA-SESTA bill went into action, almost a year after a close to unanimous passage in the

Senate. With this almost unanimous agreement, the Senate hoped FOSTA-SESTA would help

stop online and real life sex trafficking by holding websites accountable for the sale of sex work

on their websites (Markowicz 3). Instead of holding sex traffickers accountable, this act made it

harder for sex workers to communicate the people to avoid, and it made sex traffickers harder to

catch (Markowicz 3). In another point, Markowicz brings up how taxpayer money pays for this

act, and because there is no proof of this act working, Markowicz again proves FOSTA-SESTA

as a fail.

The legalization of prostitution can create revenue for national governments in the

millions. Mosima M. David and Kola O. Odeku, two economics professors at a South African

university, argue that instead of spending millions on arresting sex workers, the South African

government should start gaining millions of dollars in revenue from legalizing prostitution

(9691). In addition to the economic aspect, Mosima and Odeku offer the idea that legalizing

prostitution would allow for public healthcare to become more accessible to sex workers: “Such

protection would make sex workers…far easier to reach with information on…HIV prevention,

treatment, care, and support services” (9691). The sex workers in South Africa are currently

prosecuted as harshly as felons, and they currently lack the accessibility to health services

without fear of prosecution (9691-9692). South Africa joins the list of countries that should

consider legalizing prostitution to better their economy.

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In contrast to the many benefits of legalizing prostitution, individuals, such as Rev. Dr.

Que English, a minister from New York and founder of Not On My Watch Inc., do not support

the topic. She cites the incidences in Germany, once prostitution was legalized, where no

evidence was found that shows “the sex industry was made better for women after the enactment

of this law” (8). English continues by comparing New York in the 1970s, filled with pimps and

traffickers, to the possibility that it will happen again if prostitution is decriminalized (5-6).

Making prostitution legal, according to English, would further perpetuate the ideology that

prostitution can be a viable and safe source for living (15). She believes prostitution needs to

stay illegal for the safety of New York and all of America’s business hub cities.

Argument

Prostitution, a moral quandary that has plagued the world since biblical times. Countries

and societies have had different approaches to dealing with prostitution since then, too. The

American national government has a no-nonsense policy when it comes to prostitution; all

aspects are illegal. By creating this policy, America criminalized the victims, the women and

children who were sold, or felt like they had no choice but to become prostitutes. Some states,

like Nevada, have legalized prostitution despite the national law. Additionally, many countries

across the world instill the same type of policy within their governments. However, some

governments, like the Netherlands and parts of Australia, have legalized prostitution in order to

keep their people safe from sex trafficking and rape (Lord 2015 and AIC 2017). People steal

young girls and women from school and the streets every day, and they often never found. The

Swedish government decided to legalize parts of prostitution, and their methods have been

successful in curbing the amount of sex trafficking and sex work related crime within their

country. Sweden views the sex workers as the victims. Sweden legalized the sale of prostitution,
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by the prostitutes, but did not legalize the purchase of prostitution. By creating this method,

Swedish justice systems only punish the purchaser of the sexual work and not the victim. By

keeping the sex workers out of the punishment, Sweden made an interesting situation for

possible sex traffickers. The sex traffickers realized, that by punishing the buyer, a lack of

demand was created, and a “300% increase in arrests” occurred. Since these results were so

successful, other European countries decided to adopt similar models as well (Lord 2017). In

other countries, sex tourism and tax intakes to the government increased and benefited the

economy.

Ivanka Trump created a bill that would, in

theory, protect sex workers known as FOSTA-

SESTA. FOSTA-SESTA, if it had been successful,

would have held websites accountable for sex work

they allowed or had a part in creating. Instead of

helping, however, the acts wasted taxpayer money.

Sex workers disagreed with the acts’ premise

because they could no longer share information

about dangerous clients with each other. And even

though the bill “shut down 90% of online sex

trafficking business and ads,” the sex trade seems to

have not been affected and the law made no

noticeable impact after passage (Markowicz 2019).

Because of the lack of difference, legalizing

Figure 1: A young mother, recently
prostitution would be a better alternative. arrested for prostitution. She was trying
to provide for her young children, ages 3
and 5.
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Additionally, the government could benefit from legalization. Prostitution, when legal, actually

gives the government millions of dollars in taxes and revenues. Governments, like the

Philippines, Singapore, and South Africa, spend millions of dollars unsuccessfully trying to

arrest and keep prostitutes and pimps in prison. These people are assaulted in the prison system

for a job they were forced into because of poverty (Velasco 2018). Legalizing prostitution

increases the sex tourism industry as well. This increases the economy of the whole country

where the legalization occurs, and in a country like the Philippines where “33% of the population

live below the poverty line,” the benefits would be tremendous. Their government would be able

to take the money and put it back into the economy, and wouldn’t waste money trying and failing

to keep prostitutes in prison.

Even though most governments still prohibit sex work, the sex market has shifted

dramatically from outdoor to indoor. The indoor sex market can be anything from online sex

work to escort services. With the decriminalization of prostitution, the indoor sex market could

grow, and yes, many people would see that as a bad thing; however, many benefits occur from

legalization (Concession). In countries where prostitution was legalized, instances of reported

rapes fell by 30%, an important step forward regarding the safety of prostitutes. Female STD/STI

rates, specifically gonorrhea, also decrease by 40% (Cunningham and Shah 2017). Since females

make up a majority of the prostitution community, both of these improvements show a brighter

future if prostitution is decriminalized in the United States. In the Netherlands, prostitution has

been legal since 2000. In the years between 2005 and 2015, the rate of violent prostitution related

rapes and assaults has dropped from 15.3% to 7.1% (Knoema 2019). As a 53.6% decrease in

violence, more reasons pile up to assert legalizing prostitution is better than not.
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In the United States, states are given rights by the 10th amendment to make their own

laws, or ignore the national laws and replace them with their own laws. Nevada legalized

prostitution in counties with less than 400,000 inhabitants. Certain rules in place to keep the

prostitutes safe such as age restrictions and consent rules (Nevada State Law 2015). Compared to

the national average, Nevada’s rape rates dropped from 5% to 3%, whereas the national average

stayed at 13%. This small of a difference is still an improvement comparatively, and should

make some consider the national implications if similar changes occur.

I do not have a personal anecdote or even a connection to prostitution. But I care about

people and the way they are treated. I have seen women in cities be afraid, and I have seen men

feed off of the fear they can instill (Anaphora). Prostitutes are people, and some live in fear of

others, and some live in fear of not being able to provide for their families, if they have one. It is

a basic human right to be given life and liberty. Why then, are these rights being taken from

people who feel they have no other choice in jobs? There are crimes that deserve punishment,

like murder and sex trafficking, but the victims of those crimes don’t get punished. Bad things

can occur as a result of prostitution, but that does not mean it is a crime worthy of 10 to 30 years

in prison (Concession).

Conclusion

In America, there is a 1 in 6 chance that women will be raped (RAINN 2019). That might

not seem like a large chance, but that rate puts America at the 10th most dangerous country for

women. Being the only western nation in the top 10, that serves as an eye opening fact (Strait

Times 2018). Legalization lowers the amount of fear perpetuated by lowering the rape rates. In

addition, legalization stops punishing the victim of crimes. All too often, prostitutes are arrested

after revealing they were assaulted, the assailant walks away with a slap on the wrist, and the
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vicious cycle of punishing the victim continues (Anadiplosis). If prostitution were legalized

across the United States, the safer the streets of cities would become. People do not want to be

scared walking down the streets. And prostitutes do not want to be arrested. The legalization of

prostitution would benefit the economy by providing federal revenue and taxes on the salaries.

The economy of impoverished countries would receive a necessary boost and possibly be able to

distribute the revenue to areas of the country that need basic utilities and infrastructure. All of

these positive outcomes can occur because of a change in the legal status of prostitution. As a

country, America is $23.6 trillion dollars in debt. If prostitution were legalized, it could aid in

recovering some of that money. Prostitution needs to be legalized in America to protect its

citizens of the present and citizens of the future (Amplification).

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Works Cited

Australian Institute of Criminology. "The Australian Sex Industry." Australian Institute of

Criminology, 3 Nov. 2017, aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/rpp131/australian-sex-industry.

College of Urban Affairs. "Rape and other Sex Offenses in Nevada, 1990-2007." University of

Nevada, Las Vegas, 2008, www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/page_files/3/Rape-in-

Nevada-1990-2007.pdf.

Cunningham, Scott., and Manisha Shah. “Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for

Sexual Violence and Public Helath.” Review of Economic Studies. vol. 85, no. 3, July

2018, .1683. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1093/restud/rdx065

David, Mosima M., and Kola O. Odeku. “Revenues and Taxes from Sex Work: A Critical

Perspective.” Gender & Behavior, vol. 15, no. 3, September 2017, pp. 9691-9707.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=127517766&site=eds-live&scope=site

English, Que. “Legalization of Prostitution in New York? Not on My Watch!” New York

Amsterdam News, vol. 110, no. 11, 14 March 2019, p. 12. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db&fth&AN=135669989%site=eds-

live&scope=site.

Knoema. "Netherlands Rape Rate, 2003-2019.com." Knoema, 5 Aug. 2019,

knoema.com/atlas/Netherlands/Rape-rate.

Lord, Emma. “Stop Punishing the Victim: Why California Should Reform Its Current

Prostitution Laws and Adopt the Swedish Approach to Combat Sex Trafficking.”
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Southwesrtern Law Review, vol. 44, no. 3, March 2015, pp599-619. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lgs&AN=10470981&site=eds-

live&scope=site.

Luckhurst, Toby. "The President and the Porn Star: Why This Matters." BBC News, 3 May

2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43334326.

Markowicz, Karol. "Congress' Awful Anti-sex-trafficking Law Has Only Put Sex Workers in

Danger and Wasted Taxpayer Money." Business Insider, 14 July 2019,

www.businessinsider.com/fosta-sesta-anti-sex-trafficking-law-has-been-failure-opinion-

2019-7.

"Nevada Prostitution and Solicitation Laws." Findlaw, 14 Dec. 2015,

statelaws.findlaw.com/nevada-law/nevada-prostitution-and-solicitation-laws.html.

RAINN. "Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics." RAINN | The Nation's Largest Anti-sexual

Violence Organization, 2019, www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence.

Strait Times. "Which Are the World's 10 Most Dangerous Countries for Women?" The Straits

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Velasco, Venus C. .. “Sex as a Legal Commodity: Decriminalizing Prostitution in the

Philippines.” Annual Conference on Law, Regulations & Public Policy, January 2018,

pp. 59-62. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5176/2257-3809_LRPP18.44

Works Consulted
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Davies, Jacqueline M. “The Criminalization of Sexual Commerce in Canada: Context and

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