This Valentine's, Consider a Hooker

Recently I was scrolling through my Facebook "newsfeed" (feed trough) looking for some mindless feel-good stories, when a story about a prostitution sting caught my eye because it's much more interesting than your stupid kids and pets.  It struck me as odd that prostitution stings designed to catch would-be customers rather than those running the prostitution rings still take place.  In fact, it's startling to think that we live in a society which any number of sexual acts between consenting adults are perfectly fine, but as soon as there's any mention of money everyone involved becomes a criminal.

Opponents of prostitution argue that it leads to the abuse and sometimes even slavery of the sex workers, which is obviously a very serious and valid complaint.  However, keeping prostitution illegal does not solve that problem, it intensifies it.  By keeping it a criminal activity, we force prostitutes to associate with pimps rather than legitimate business owners, we give them no legal recourse if abused or cheated, and we give society another excuse to not care about their well-being.  The way we handle prostitution right now is equivalent to trying to prevent abuse of racing greyhounds by arresting everyone involved, including the responsible owners, the dogs themselves, and anyone who shows up to place a bet.

Of course there's also the moral "argument" that prostitution and is a degenerate activity which destroys families and communities.  You know, just like gambling.  This line of thought is so puritanical that it was the basic argument used by the Temperance movement to pass prohibition.  We live in a world in which hundreds of websites, dozens of apps, and most bars exist for the express purpose of finding people to have relatively anonymous sex with.  If your will is really so weak that you'd devolve into a life of debauchery simply because the option is suddenly available, then you may as well start enforcing burkas.

The United States has a multi-billion dollar industry that revolves around just watching other people have sex; the amount of revenue they could bring in with legalized prostitution is astronomical.  They could regulate the industry to significantly reduce STD transmission, abuse, payment disputes, ensure that registered sex workers stay within designated areas instead of just walking the street.  Legalizing prostitution would also take money out of the hands of criminal organizations and prevent treating otherwise productive members of society like criminals for engaging in a consensual recreational activity.

There isn't a single good reason to continue enforcing our current prostitution laws.  Every dollar spent by our police on stings to arrest customers or close down brothels is an affront to your rights as a consenting adult.  This Valentine's Day, consider a hooker and tell your legislators that you're sick of the current system generally screwing everybody.