Never had anything to do with it personally, but just like with drugs it should be legal and regulated because it's impossible to prohibit it.

It should be legal, safe, and taxed

Sex work is just work, as long as it is all between consenting adults.

So long as everyone is able to legally and safely consent I don't see an issue.

As a former prostitute its work and legitamite work but it needs more protection

Looking at the pros and the cons, it must be the opposite of CONstitution.

...I'll see myself out.

Absolutely should be legal and taxed, with rules and regulations in place to protect clients and workers.

I pretty much do have moral objections to it, its fundamentally gross to me, but its not going to stop and id rather these prostitutes work in a safe place and pay their taxes like the rest of us than get their passports taken by a guy named The Scorpion with a spider Web tattooed on his neck.

If the individual selling their services is doing so freely and isn't being exploited in any sort of way then I don't have a problem with it.

As long as all parties involved are consenting adults it’s none of my business what they are up to. Except that prostitution should be legalized in a way in which they get equal rights and protections to other professions. The only reason it’s illegal in many countries in the first place is likely based on religious Puritanism, which I do not think laws should ever be based on.

The only thing more certain to exist till the end of time than prostitution is people complaining about it. I like it because it makes something explicit that is implicit in so many apparently non transactional relationships. There are so many people who say prostitution should be banned, who are also in relationships/marriages where they expect sex for shelter, food, safety or whatever. Prostitution makes the transaction clear. People point to the exploitative nature of it, but then reveal their real agenda by also rejecting the idea of making it safer for the people selling access to their bodies. The whole thing is a massively hypocritical pile of double standards. Mix into that cultures with backwards patriarchal religious doctrines and that's where you get the really angry people who talk about dishonor and stoning and all that jazz. Prostitution has been around since there were people and will always be around. When the puritans are in charge it just hides for a bit. This has been my TED talk, thanks lol

I'm fine with either, i understand why some countries ban it and why some don't. However if legalised, it absolutely has to be regulated very seriously. People working on that field need to be protected against abusive workplace conditions that can occur. If the govt cannot provide that protection, it's better to outright ban it.

Your body, your choice

Many complaints against prostitution also apply to trading labor for money/shelter in general. People just have a stronger emotional response.

Emotional responses are rarely a good foundation for policy.

Prostitution should be legal with safety regulations. All labor should have protections, unions, and such, to protect them from being abused by the wealthy.

Some specific things would probably remain illegal or disallowed, in the same sense that you're not allowed to work construction without safety gear. People can wear condoms as easily as hard hats and hi-viz vests.

Whatever two consenting adults do between them shouldn't be anybody else's business

Its an acutely exploitative labor relation that should be heavily regulated within a capitalist system in order to reduce the amount of abuse the people engaging in it experience. Ideally I want a system where no one feels a need to sell their body for a living. No one should be coerced into sexual relations.

I think it should be legal, monitored, and taxed - like cannabis and alcohol. Between consenting adults, not a problem.

I think there’s a lot of mental health issues, and there’s a lot of abuse not all of which will be addressed by legalizing prostitution, but that’s not unique to sex work.

So long as it's regulated and all parties are safe and consenting then it's none of my business. It's not something i'd be interested in however. To each their own.

I have friends and love ones who have done survival sex work, there is nothing wrong doing sex work and I'm happy to fight people who say othrrwise

As a dude, i sucked a dick for big money to some rich old guy. With inflation, over 900 dollars for like nothing. So im biased

I think it needs to be legalized world wide to give it an opportunity to be regulated. If its already happening might as well capitalism the industry. Its going to happen either way, or the world will continue to have deep state sex clubs.

Regulated with provisions for safety. I'm all for the idea it should be in a specific license location, like love hotels or massage parlors or something like that. No going to someones house or a different hotel.

Im old school and think humans should not legally be able to do this. But since they will do it anyway, without legal support, the issue is more complicated.

I guess its better if they have legal support if they are going to do it anyway.

I'm not going to read through to find where Carlin was already quoted, but I stick with "selling is legal, f****** is legal, why isn't selling f****** legal?

Even in countries were it is legal and has some kind of regulation, it still has exploitative character. Not for all but for many. And I think forced labor, of different degrees, is more common then you think.

Even when regulated and legal, we need to think about the careers after sex work. Can those people freely transfer into a new position without discrimination?

And since there is discrimination, worker rights, and often women and gay rights, are neglected.

To establish a safe working space for sex workers it is not enough to regulate and make it legal. You need to actively support each group individually and make it clear, that as for every other form of employment you have rights and someone else is actively fighting for it. It is not enough to tell people they have rights and they have to fight all by themselves. Especially when we have established that human trafficking, exploitation, femizide, and so much more are common.

So I think the answer should not be: just make it legal and write regulation. It should be: what actually is a safe working space for all, no matter if selfemployed or working in a brothel.

I have no opinion. Never tried it.

I do worry more than a few prostitutes may not be that willing to do that, though.

think it should be legal, properly regulated, taxed and viewed as a profession.

A hesitant yes to this. I have two main concerns (I'm in the US). First is that protection for the workers should be paramount, and I'm not sure how that gets enforced with all the corporate fuckery that goes on. I'd give it perhaps three seconds before someone Ubers the idea, making everyone on their list an "independent contractor" and enshittifying the entire thing.

My second concern is that "game of telephone" story several years ago. Someone pointed out that in Germany, job agencies could technically require women on unemployment to apply for jobs in brothels. Again, with the current state of things, with red-pilled incels on the rise and fringe elements suggesting the government should assign them a girlfriend, I'm not sure this is something I would feel safe implementing at this time.

Legalise and tax it.

I've not done any research but generally making anything illegal is worse for everyone involved.

As long as the industry has regulations that help keep the prostitutes safe ( generic things like STD testing and time off to clear that all up, ways to deal with rowdy, rough customers, etcetera ) In have zero problem as long as the workers are consenting and at least in their mid to late 20s to keep the creepiest of people out.

I think its quite necessary profession and also extremely compassionate one. Those doing it should be protected and appreciated better.

Kind of conflicted?

I'm fine with the idea of exchange of money for sexual services. I don't have any moral qualms with that practice.

My concern is that, even in some legal structures, it tends to encourage the preditation of some sex workers for the benefits of others exploiting people's sexual labor.

Same as my opinion on walking though the self checkout line. My body my choice.

I'll preface this by saying I'm broadly in favour of decriminalising prostitution, it's interesting to note that in the UK, prostitution itself is not illegal but operating or working out of a brothel (anywhere 2 or more prostitutes work) is illegal. So one of the main ways prostitutes in the UK are made less safe is by preventing them from legally grouping together into a property forcing them onto the street or into the seedier parts of the Internet.

One of the major problems with legalising prostitution in areas where it's been done (such as Amsterdam, Germany and Australia), is there seems to still be issues around trafficking women and using them as effective slaves to their pimps/handlers and there doesn't seem to be enough to tackle that issue and the normalisation of sex work does forster an environment where the victim isn't able to reach out to people like the police as well.

It's legal and regulated. Seems to work fine. I don't know anyone who wants to outlaw it.

You know what would give women power over men? Allowing them to charge money for sex. This is why it's so demonized. It should be legalized so it can be regulated with health standards, and standards of engagement that protect everyone, like condom use, and having to do monthly or weekly STD/HIV checks. Make it 21+ ID is required to buy and sell services.

I was never personally a sex worker of any stripe, but I've known a few, and they've told me stories of their old work friends. I'm fine with it. One of the people I knew liked it enough to keep doing it even when money got tight, all but one of the rest I personally knew were about as fine with it as I was working retail. The other one had done it intermittently as needed for food.

It's work. It should be legalized, and regulated, like most other work is. One of my friends ran a brothel for a while (while working in it as well), and from what they said, they ran a good ship there. Had in-house regulations similar to OSHA's, workers were all well-paid, had benefits, etc.

Depends if you count porn as prostitution. They are doing it for money but not with you as the final customer.

Not a fan of actual person-to-person prostitution, however it shouldn't be illegal. That being said, forced prostitution is a huge problem that must be addressed.

One of the commenters said it was fundamentally gross to them..

It's fundamentally depressing to me: intimacy's .. unending.

There's no such thing as "a 1-night stand", or "just a fuck" .. you'll never be unmixed with that someone..

& doing it as mere-transaction, or mere-physicality .. ??

but apparently that view that most of a someone isn't physical, & most of sex isn't physical either, is deemed to be nonsense,

& pretending that merely-physical is "all that exists" is actually common ..

so, my perspective is deemed lunacy or idiocy by this world.

But seeing women being used for mere-physical sensation by random strangers, as a purchased-transaction .. that's depressing..

I wish the world didn't work that way.

I'm with all the people who want prostitution not-criminalized, who want it taxed & regulated, & I'd add that I want pimping criminalized: let women form cooperatives, or something, but nobody should coerce anybody into the biz of being used bodily.

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I’m in Australia where it is legal and regulated. Each state has slightly different laws, but generally I understand they are about the same. I haven’t studied the law around it, but things like pimping is illegal because it is exploitative, as is anything that resembles sex trafficking. Brothels are much safer than the streets and have to be registered with stringent health checks. They are not allowed to directly sell sex services, rather the sex workers work out of them and the brothel charges room rent, which amount to 50% of the fee. The girls are in charge of what happens in the room, which by law includes a health checks. There are also massage parlours and spas, which provide erotic massage with a happy ending. I occasionally attend a nearby spa place which is really nice, you have the traditional one by one introduction to the girls, then the manager comes over to ask who you are interested in, you pay them, and the girl comes over when ready and takes you downstairs to the private spa rooms. Besides the spa, there is a massage table for the happy ending if you choose. They can offer “extras” which you pay them directly for, it never involves the house. There are also escorts, the same as anywhere in the world, they come to you, good for the travelling businessman in a hotel.