The oldest profession in the world should be legalized, according to Amnesty International, and given the benefits of regulation.
And this editorial board agrees.
The human rights organization voted on Aug. 11 and though “there are no plans for a global focus,” board member Sarah Beamish said Amnesty International is shaping future action concerning sex work around this decision, according to the New York Times.
The debate for or against prostitution has existed for about as long as the profession.
The simplistic and misogynistic fear of loose women tempting and tainting innocent men and women with their bodies has been an argument against prostitution for years, but has no grounding in the reality of sex work.
Many people involved in this type of work are doing so out of desperation.
Survival sex work is and has always been, a last resort.
This desperation makes the work dangerous because workers become vulnerable to exploitation and removed from lawful society.
On Amnesty International’s news page, Secretary General of Amnesty International Salil Shetty said, “Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world who in most instances face constant risk of discrimination, violence and abuse.”
Without protection from the law, sex workers are exposed to STDs, dangerous clients and unsafe conditions.
Pimps and bosses exploit their desperation and isolation, forcing them to enter into situations no one would choose for themselves.
Legalization would be the first step toward bettering working conditions for these women and men.
Once legal penalties are removed, sex workers would have access to work benefits. Possibilities include health care, protection under the law from violence in the work place and drug and alcohol counseling.
Legalization would eliminate the need for pimps.
Along with legalization, there would, of course, have to be regulation to benefit the sex workers as well as the general public.
Legalization of prostitution does not include legalization of harmful acts like pedophilia.
It does not mean legalizing sex trafficking, which is a traumatic and disgusting practice that is aided by the secrecy and corruption inherent in black market sex work.
It would possibly allow confidentiality clauses to protect clients and sex workers.
The point of legalization is not to glorify sex workers but to instead combat their vilification.
Today’s sex workers did not create the sex market and the burden of its morality should not be placed on them.
Sex workers are real people with rights, and it is the humane decision to protect them from an industry that so far has been perfectly content with abusing them.
For these real humans, it isn’t a moral issue but a public health and safety issue, one that has been ignored and demonized on a global scale.
The psychological and societal reasons for these markets should be called into question.
The people who demand sick and harmful acts from strangers for money should be held responsible, but that crime does not lie with the sex worker.
Let the law punish those who demand to take place in perversion instead of those who are forced to.
Margot Wallstrom, Sweden’s foreign minister who stood against the policy said, “It is a myth about the happy prostitute who does this as a free choice.”
This is true, but instead of standing as a reason against protecting these individuals, it instead gives greater incentive.
Access to health care and protection from abuse will save their lives.
Sex work is not a choice.
It is a means of survival when there are no other choices.
Everyone has a human right to survive, and, therefore, it is Amnesty International’s place to lobby in defense of it.
