Legalize pros

Given the prevalence of slut-shaming and the victimization of hookers as sexually abused runaways, the idea of prostitution as a profession is laughably radical to almost everyone.

But this largely overlooks the fact that sex means different things to different people.
Prostitutes in Argentina, where paid sex is legal without pimps, are currently working to shift societal perceptions of their careers. Their attempts to create unions and secure protection from police harassment were bolstered this summer when they graffitied images of hookers leaning seductively around corners of buildings. A child or baby carriage was then spray painted on the other side.

This was to illustrate that 87 percent of Argentinian sex workers are single mothers. These prostitutes aim to question why their profession should be stigmatized when construction workers and maids are not berated for the “bodily” work they perform.

Their point alludes to another double standard.

Just as with any people-oriented job, tolerance of rude, drunk and unhygienic clients necessitates a certain type of person. Not just anyone could be a prostitute, and not all prostitutes are irreparably traumatized. That’s why there’s a rigorous application process in legalized brothels.

Alexa Albert’s 2002 book “Brothel” covered her decade of research in Nevada’s legal whorehouses where she discovered the self-aware, self-respecting employees provided sex as a social service to a varied clientele.

Men could act out their “shameful” fantasies without judgment — all with expert women who are privy to weekly medical exams and a clean, controlled environment.

And, of course, condoms.

Condom slippage and breakage was accounted for by frequently checking the integrity of the protection during sex and renewing rubbers.

Isn’t that already safer than most college student encounters?

Additionally, the women must obtain licenses, submit to criminal investigations, and provide their birth dates, aliases and medical information. They’re taught to screen client genitals before every session, recognize signs of STIs and send infected clients away with educational pamphlets.

When prostitution is illegal (aka seedier), it is more likely to lead to abuse, injury and transmission of diseases. And because the demand for paid sex is never going to fade, wouldn’t legalization at least do more to discourage sex trafficking?

In fact, prostitutes can actually teach men to be respectful of partners.

Hear me out. When there are safety regulations in place, including mandatory condom laws and intercom systems within brothels, wouldn’t that incentivize the customer to be more careful?

People tend to receive commercial sex with a singular consciousness. But people fail to realize sex is a commodity in more ways than one. Sex can achieve relationships, objects, status or revenge. Just because there isn’t money involved doesn’t mean there isn’t already a trade.

It’s not enough to legalize prostitution if the employees — men or women — are to continue to experience discrimination. Prostitution has the potential to open the public dialogue surrounding sex and expand ideas of what it could be: art, leisure, an addiction, a joke. As long as whatever it is proves consensual, it shouldn’t be political.
I’m not arguing everyone should be a prostitute, just that the people with a desire to be should have a safe way to pursue that career goal.


­— ashhendr@indiana.edu