Great article over at Reason, The FBI Rebrands Its Sex Worker Harassment Campaign.
The primary objection to prostitution, in the eyes of the government, is essentially the exchange of money, not the act itself. But a prohibition on that simple exchange has ruined countless thousands of lives, be it the workers themselves, or the desperate “Johns” that get entrapped by thugs in law enforcement who surely have better things to do. Because they are sex workers we are told not to care. “Their lives don’t matter” is the unspoken assumption. We’re told that they engage in “child sex trafficking” and bring disease and crime into our communities. But this isn’t a result of their profession, but of the prohibition on their profession. Outlawing prostitution has created a black market, with all the same side effects of drug prohibition. Sex workers, denied access to courts of law, marginalized, harassed, locked up, etc., operate outside civilized society, and so the crime, violence, and disease naturally follow. Legalizing the profession would bring it into the light, afford it legal protection, thereby making it safer and cleaner. The black market would evaporate. Legalizing it would heal one aspect of society that has drawn in too many of the most vulnerable in our society. It would also eliminate the bloated jobs program that dedicates its time to harassing these people, people who, unlike the badged parasites who waste tax dollars by spending their days and nights ruining others’ lives, are engaged in voluntary, consensual exchange. It’s a business transaction, and it should be treated as such.
The legalization of prostitution is the only way to save and empower those engaged in it.
