Sex worker rights affect everybody

Prostitution isn’t much of a problem for Ottawans. The last time I drove down Main Street I didn’t see anybody soliciting sex. Of course, business isn’t really booming for downtown anyway. ‘ Either way, prostitution may not seem to directly affect us, but the effects it passes down onto women of all ages and backgrounds is paramount; subtle, yet pronounced. ‘ Have you ever sat down and thought about the constructs of prostitution? Not the simple act of selling sex for money, but the reasons for it. Have you ever considered who gets compensated for it? Who gets punished for it? ‘ The reasons for prostitution are many; there is a demand, and there are women in dire circumstances who have little other choice. These women aren’t intellectually inferior, most aren’t criminals, and they’re not all drug addicts. They are people just trying to survive, and like most down-on-their-luck people, they’re being exploited. ‘ Prostitutes are exploited by gangs, pimps, and even law enforcement. They’re used primarily for bringing in money for their ‘bosses’ and traded off like animals until they’re no longer profitable. ‘ What’s worse, because prostitution is illegal no prostitute wants to come forward with the abuse she’s suffered because she’d be turning herself in along with her abuser ‘- imagine that, a world where a victim is a criminal. ‘ The same legalities that allow real criminals to get away with controlling and abusing women also allows STDs to spread faster and easier. With an unregulated system of sex workers comes a lack of structure. ‘ No regulation, no rules, no protection. ‘ Sex workers may contract STDs from their clients and pass it onto another client who passes it onto a family member, and so forth, further escalating America’s struggle with venereal diseases. ‘ We have a problem that gives power to criminals, strips women of their freedoms, and allows unregulated sex to spread disease, just to name a few. The problem is that we have criminalized prostitution. In a failed attempt to protect ourselves we have created a bigger ethical issue. ‘ The most obvious solution would be to decriminalize prostitution and allow it to be regulated with certain codes of ethic and employee/employer standards. ‘ So why isn’t anything being done about this problem? ‘ For one, in its current state it’s profitable to far too many people. Prostitution is a multi-billion dollar industry, it’s almost like telling oil companies to devote research towards finding a new energy source ‘- they’re making so much money, why stop now? No matter how harmful something is, if money is involved you’d be surprised to see how low humans stoop. ‘ Another reason comes from the fact of who is the victim of prostitution. Women are by and large the victims of prostitution and its effects, and America is known for dragging its feet when it comes to women’s rights ‘- all the way down from voting to reproduction rights. ‘ Sadly, prostitution is such a taboo topic that many women don’t even feel like standing up for prostitute’s right ‘- the misplaced fear that standing up for something means you associate with it. Men are even less inclined to advocate decriminalizing prostitution, and a lot of the people pulling the strings to keep prostitution illegal are men. ‘ Decriminalizing prostitution will not solve all of the problems that come with the industry of sex, but it would make things much safer and fairer to the victims trapped in the deplorable system we now have in place. ‘