[blind-democracy] Re: Beyond Amnesty: The Battle Over Sex Work Decriminalization

It's interesting that once we put a label on an industry, we see it
differently than other industries. Maybe instead of Prostitutes, we
should substitute, Hotel Workers. The hotel industry is
regulated...sort of...and employees have certain expectations for
regular fair pay, working hours, safe working conditions and whatever
fringe benefits are negotiated. Then there are those of us who are
private contractors. We sign an agreement, called a contract, saying
what work we will perform and what our contracting agency will
provide.
If prostitution were legalized in the manner of any other industry,
regulations could be drawn up and hopefully, enforced. Brothels would
be inspected regularly and fined for non compliance. Those
prostitutes who desired to run their own business would sign a
contract with their state, and would be regulated in the same manner.
Pimps, if any, would become the employee of the prostitutes rather
than their Masters. Maybe instead of calling them Pimps, they would
become PR Representatives.
It doesn't matter if you agree with prostitution or not. Many
industries exist that we don't especially like, but tolerate because
there is a legitimate demand. Would I want any of my children selling
sexual services? Hell no! But neither do I want them risking their
lives in many existing industries that fudge the laws in order to
profit the owners. The answer is not to make such work illegal, but
rather, to make it even handed with regulations and strong
enforcement.
And finally, what is it with these, "Do Good er" folks who don't want
government telling them what to do, but think nothing of telling other
people what they can and cannot do with their bodies?
Here's a News Flash for those folks who think that if we return to the
"Good Old Days", everything will be fine:
There Are No Good Old Days!!! Never were. Each time period was just
as messed up and full of stress as the next one or the previous one.
Only in our minds were there ever any good old days. And guess what,
fifty years from now, folks will long for these good old days. So
let's stop trying to force old beliefs and standards on today's
people. Let's legalize prostitution and set up rules and
enforcements. If it doesn't work, we cn always return to....you know.

Carl Jarvis


On 8/18/15, Bob Hachey <bhachey@verizon.net> wrote:
> OK, so to clarify, you are against taking legal action against-+ the clients
> of prostitutes?
> Bob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 9:35 AM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Beyond Amnesty: The Battle Over Sex Work
> Decriminalization
>
> Bob,
>
> Actually, I agree with you. I was remembering our past discussions which
> were based on an article that Chris hedges wrote. I agree that sex work
> should be decriminalized. There is a distinction between decriminalizing
> an
> activity and legalizing it and acdtually, that distinction is made in this
> article. When sex workers talk about, I think they call it, the Nordic
> solution, and say that they are opposed to that, it is that kind of
> legalization that they are opposed to. It puts the power in the hands of
> brothel operators. But I do agree absolutely withDoogan.
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 6:44 AM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Beyond Amnesty: The Battle Over Sex Work
> Decriminalization
>
> Hi Miriam,
> Thanks for sharing this one. Based on past discussions, you and I are on
> opposite sides of this issue. I do believe that doogan and Cirkin have it
> right here and that the best approach is to decriminalize this activity on
> both sides of the street.
> Perhaps what we do need are laws that put more limits on managers of
> brothels such that the majority of the money earned by the prostitute is
> kept by the prostitute. And, I'd continue to outlaw street pimps.
> I think we can agree that we want to put an end to violence and children in
> the sex trade. I was going to say we agree on the elimination of
> exploitation, but I'm thinking that you believe that any kind of sex for
> hire relationship is exploitation. . Would you argue that women like Doogan
> have been exploited for so long that they do not see the error of their
> opinions?
> One of the great things about this list is that we can have intelligent
> discussions about extremely emotional hot-button type issues and still
> remain friends.
> Bob Hachey
>
>
>
>
>