Prostitution & Persecution
A Crime Against Prostitutes

Crack whores. Wild West brothels. High-class escorts. Julia Roberts. Prostitution can bring different and conflicting images to the minds of those who likely never have met a prostitute. Whether we're beating up "street hookers" in video games, worshipping self-proclaimed pimps like Ice-T and Kid Rock, or incarcerating prostitutes for what many would call a "victimless" crime, we obviously have little respect for these women. Prostitution isn't a victimless crime, and prostitutes aren't called "women." They're whores, tramps, sluts, pieces of meat - names for what society perceives as less than human. Despite the reasoning behind anti-prostitution laws, we are not the victims of prostitution in need of protection. The victims are those who, under the current law, are punished for the very crimes committed against them.

Is prostitution a choice?

Many agree that the criminalization of prostitution does not accomplish its supposed intent. Prostitution has hardly been slowed, much less stopped, but a rift exists on the anti-criminalization side of this debate. The breaking point is the definition of prostitution: Is it a valid means of income that a woman can and should freely choose for herself, or is it sexual slavery no matter how willingly the woman seems to have entered the profession?

Those who advocate prostitution as simply another job think of prostitutes as individuals who rationally considered the alternatives and chose prostitution over other means of making an income. Prostitution advocates assume much in determining this. They assume that women, absent coercion or drug addiction, can choose the type of prostitution they wish to practice. There is a hierarchy to prostitution. The escorts and call girls we see in movies of the week do exist, and they can live extravagant lifestyles with minimum risk of abuse or arrest. This is hardly how most prostitutes operate, however. Activist prostitutes in particular argue from an elitist viewpoint that they should have the right to do as they wish with their bodies without considering those who do not have similar opportunities. This type of prostitute is blind to the plight suffered by many of her "colleagues." She cannot grasp that a prostitute who can write and publish an article about her profession is, in reality, in a class above most prostitutes.

Prostitution proponents tend to work from the viewpoint of liberal feminism - men and women start out on a level playing field, and any law that doesn't keep the field level is discriminatory. Proponents believe that laws criminalizing prostitution unfairly discriminate against women, who make up the majority of prostitutes. Many liberal feminists treat the right to prostitution as they do the right to abortion - women's bodies, women's choice. But prostitution and abortion are not so similar. Abortion involves women gaining control over their bodies. Prostitution involves men purchasing control over women's bodies.

This is the view held by many prostitution opponents. Unlike liberal feminism, radical feminism identifies women as an oppressed class. Under this view, there is no equal playing field - if left unchecked, patriarchy will favor the rights of men at the expense of women. As with pornography, radical feminists find themselves linked at the hip with their usual enemy, the Religious Right, on this issue. But instead of fearing social corruption and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, many radical feminists see prostitution as a form of sexual slavery and a human rights violation.

To radical feminists, prostitution is not a "choice." Studies consistently place the average age of girls entering prostitution to be in the early teens. Many prostitutes were sexually abused as children and escaped the violence by running away from home. A Toronto study once found that 90 percent of prostitutes questioned wanted to get out of prostitution but felt they could not. The presence of pimps, who control the actions of prostitutes and take most, if not all, of their profits, contribute to this belief. Feminist scholar Catharine MacKinnon even proposed that prostitutes sue pimps and Johns under the Thirteenth Amendment for indentured servitude.

Can we rid society of prostitution?

The criminalization of prostitution has its roots in Victorianism - prostitution was seen as morally wrong from a religious standpoint, but nonetheless a necessary evil to keep men's "uncontrollable" desires from being taken out on "respectable" women. Hence, prostitutes were not considered to be in the same sphere as these women, and eventually not in the category of women at all. This attitude prevails today, justifying the belief that prostitution will always exist in some form.

Radical feminists don't buy this attitude. Cities spend millions of dollars each year to arrest and incarcerate prostitutes - money that could instead be used for education, job training, housing, and counseling. If fewer women felt that they have no choice but to sell their bodies to survive, the supply necessary to sustain prostitution would diminish.

Prostitution - a man's crime

One must wonder, however, if eliminating prostitution is, in fact, the goal. Prostitution is often more about control than about sex. The ability to purchase a woman's body gives men affirmation of the power they have in our society. No matter how powerful they may already be - CEO's, politicians, judges - purchasing a prostitute allures many of them.

Prostitutes, especially those working on the streets, are the most raped of any class of woman. They are regularly raped by clients, pimps and policemen. Clients also hold power over prostitutes through the ability to pay (or not to pay). Pimps hold the power to intimidate while appearing to care and coddle their victims, a talent they share with abusive husbands and boyfriends.

Society is responding to ineffective anti-prostitution laws by making the penalties more strict, but typically only for the prostitutes. Texas went so far as to pass a three-strikes law in 2001 making a third conviction of prostitution a felony. Technically, working on the "level playing field" theory, most states have adopted laws that allow the equal punishment of prostitutes and Johns. But police and courts hardly enforce these laws equally. In many states, prostitutes make up the majority of participants who are arrested, whereas Johns are typically given a citation. Johns who are arrested are less likely than prostitutes to be convicted, and when arrested, are more likely to be fined instead of incarcerated.

If eliminating prostitution were the goal, the government would focus on rehabilitating current prostitutes, as well as preventing future ones. Those who make the laws seem to have no desire to stop the pool of women who become trapped in prostitution. Men benefit from this never-ending supply of desperation.

Decriminalization vs. legalization

An issue distinct from why prostitution shouldn't be criminalized is how it should be treated. Legalizing prostitution allows the government to control the types of prostitution allowed and to enforce health and zoning regulations. Decriminalizing prostitution removes all laws against it, essentially making it a laissez-faire business.

How legalization can go wrong

Nevada is the only state to have legalized prostitution, and only a few counties in the state have actually done so. Prostitution, solicitation, pandering and living from the earnings of a prostitute are still illegal in Nevada, but an exception is made for prostitution that occurs in a licensed brothel.

Many have called the governments of these counties pimps, and rightly so. Laws vary depending on the county, but women in these brothels usually must work 14-hour days, seven days a week, for three weeks straight. They have no control over who their clients are and must give a reason considered satisfactory by the brothel management to refuse a customer. The prostitute must give up approximately half of her earnings to management. They are often not allowed to leave the brothel except under limited circumstances. Many counties do not allow the prostitute to live or socialize in the same area where she works.

Mandatory health checks are the most commonly touted advantage to legalizing prostitution. They also can cause the most problems for the prostitute. While the prostitute is tested regularly for HIV and other STD's, their clients are typically not tested beforehand. Once a prostitute has become infected by one of these untested Johns, her career is over. Because the requirement to register with her local government also causes her to indirectly register with the FBI, her chances of getting another legal job or health insurance for her new disease are slim.

Legal prostitutes in Nevada are not treated as employees. Instead, they are considered independent contractors.

Why complete decriminalization hurts women

The goal of decriminalizing prostitution should not be to make it easier for women to enter and continue in the profession. Prostitution will not become less demeaning to women when it is legal. We can rid ourselves of this crime against humanity, despite what we have been told, if we are committed. We must not only cut the supply of prostitutes through educational and other social programs, but also cut the demand. Laws against pimps and Johns should not be abolished, but strengthened. They are the true antagonists in this piece.

Decriminalizing all crimes associated with prostitution will do nothing for the prostitutes who are held as virtual prisoners by their pimps. And it will do nothing to stop the purchase and abuse of women's bodies. In order for prostitution to cease, our laws must recognize that prostitutes are not criminals, but are a class of people in need of protection.