Legalization of Sex Work Free Essay

Sex Trafficking and Sex Tourism in a Globalized World

This research paper will plunge loyal readers into the world of the sex industry and enlighten them on the legalization of elite prostitution. This story began a long time ago when ancient peoples invented tradition of hospitable prostitution. The essence of tradition was to invite a guest to have sex with the owner’s wife or daughter. In those times, a woman was like a thing or a gift for guests. The ancient people did not care about women’s feelings, and moral values were something unknown to them. The history also recorded that the Asian peoples sacrificed women’s virginity to their goods. Clerics tricked naïve and foolish Asian peoples. They convinced Asian peoples that virginity of their daughters could appease the wrath of goods and only they should deflower girls. Priests even made ceremonies just to satisfy own sexual desires and get offerings (Sangers, n/p).

The commercial credit of Athenian politician, Solon, inspired him to build brothels and impose a tax on prostitution. In ancient Rome, sex workers were treated as mentally ill women. They wore special clothes and were deprived of legal and proprietary capacity. The government even put every courtesan on the list. The Middle Ages was marked by the spread of the disease known as syphilis. In the 19th century, Governments made attempts to improve the situation by the imposition of punishments and bans. However, these attempts were not successful. It is all because sailors and soldiers were willing to pay the obscene amount of money for sexual favors. More importantly, it was very hard to fight against the spread of venereal diseases due to a huge number of hookers, who worked independently.

Well, people call the prostitution the world’s oldest profession for a good reason. Over the years, prostitution has evolved and remained the popular type of entertainment. In the 21st century, expensive hotels, massage rooms, fashionable bars, sex clubs, and brothels are the places, where men can purchase exclusive sexual entertainment.  The year 2002 has witnessed the legalization of prostitution in Germany. Many tourists are thrilled about the brothel in Stuttgart. This is the biggest brothel in the whole of Europe. The building consists of thirty-one private rooms, restaurant, spa, and cinema. The value of this property is more than 6 million Euros. The owner of this brothel has created a paradise for men, which brings enormous profits. The German government planned to ensure the safety of women, who provide sex services and improve their working conditions. It was expected that legalization of prostitution would protect sex workers from the violence of their clients and pimps. The idea was to reduce the risk of sexual violence and the number of venereal diseases. The legalization of prostitution means that call girls cannot provide sex services without an appropriate license. Sex workers can purchase this license from the government and money will come into the public treasury (Luthnick & Deborah, n/p).

The German economy benefited from the legalization of prostitution because the sex industry brings enormous profits. However, sex workers are still deprived of their human rights and treated as sex slaves. The registration of such activity makes women outcasts of social community. The reason is apparent – people consider it morally wrong to sell sex for money. However, the prostitution law failed to protect sex workers from violence. Clients still beat these women and force them to do what they like. Pimps take away their extra money and intimidate them. The legalization has resulted in unpleasant consequences for sex workers. Hookers earned more money working behind the scenes, but legalization has increased the supply and reduced the demand. More importantly, pimps and owners of brothels are invincible now because their business is legal. Laws do not exist for them. Consequently, owners of brothels began to steal even more women and force them to provide sex services. The traffickers get women hooked on drugs, take away their documents and send them abroad to provide sexual favors.

The legalization of prostitution has only increased the number of abductions. Human trafficking has reached a new dimension. Young girls and women became even more desirable good for pimps and owners of brothels. Women were simply deprived of their right to choose their profession voluntarily. Pimps treat them as human commodities. Mostly, pimps and owners of brothels steal women from developing countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Sex workers are kept in locked up brothels. Pimps closely monitor their actions. The police officers receive bribes for silence and report on possible raids. The working conditions of hookers have not improved as hoped for. The social insurance system does not provide women with proper health insurance. The prostitution has not become an accepted profession because it is still immoral in the eyes of many people. Thus, one can conclude that the prostitution law has failed.

Sex tourism drew the attention of many people and the German government again benefited from it. According to Erotik Gewerbe Deutschland, there are more than 840 legal brothels in Germany (Spiegel staff, n/p). These brothels bring enormous profits and owners pay income taxes. Therefore, the world is returning to the tradition of hospitable prostitution. The International Labor Office reports that approximately 40, 3 million people were abducted and forced to work in the areas of agriculture, construction, and the sex industry. This information relates to the year 2016.

Traffickers are more interested in women and girls (Brooks & Heaslip, n/p). It is very difficult to trace such criminal activity that is why no one can provide accurate statistics. More importantly, children became victims of sex trafficking, and pimps joyfully take them to overseas brothels. The U.S Department of State believes that more than 1 million children worldwide were abducted for the provision of sex services. Teenagers between the ages of 14-17 from developing countries are the primary good for overseas brothels. However, there are still women, who can voluntarily choose to provide sexual favors in exchange for money. Currently, many gentlemen’s clubs hire attractive girls and women for a position of exotic dancers. The producers of porn movies offer big bucks to actresses of the exotic genre.

In this case, every woman can freely choose whether to provide sex services in exchange for money or refuse. The majority of women agree to provide sexual favors or star in porn movies due to family issues, financial constraints, and many other reasons. However, the number of these women is insufficient for the satisfaction of the demand. That is why pimps and owners of brothels abduct women for sexual slavery. The development of the Internet has made it even easier to recruit new sex workers. According to the information collected by the European Commission, pimps and owners of brothels abduct young women and girls from Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Nowadays, sex trafficking is a new form of slavery and women feelings and rights are not relevant. The world was reverting to the past when women were sex toys without rights and freedoms. Pimps tricked women by giving them false information about the type of work and opportunities. Some of the European States try to combat human trafficking. In particular, Sweden banned the purchase of sexual favors. The government considered prostitution as violence against women and a clear sign of inequality. Sex for money has become a crime and people, who use sex services of courtesans, are subjected to fine or even 5-year prison sentence. This policy has a positive effect on Sweden. First of all, the violence against sex workers has significantly decreased. According to statistics, none of the hookers suffered at the hands of clients or pimps in Sweden in 2016. By contrast, more than 70 hookers were killed in Germany. More importantly, the refusal to legalize prostitution contributed to the reduction of human trafficking. The prostitution still prospers in Sweden, but it became so disgraceful to purchase sexual services that the majority of men abandoned this practice. Also, fines and prison sentence have served as a good motivation for abandonment. However, there is always sex tourism, and Swedes can satisfy their sexual desire in Germany or any other country, where the prostitution is legal (Bramham, n/p). Iceland and Norway followed in the footsteps of Sweden and also banned the prostitution.

In the modern world, sex is mainstream entertainment, and that is just the way it is. Millions of tourists from the United States, Japan, and Europe travel to the Netherlands and Thailand in order to get mainstream entertainment. The sex industry is one of the most profitable for Thailand and the Netherlands. In particular, Thailand earns more than $25 billion per year. The perception of women and children as a sex object without rights and freedoms will inevitably result in severe psychological traumas. More importantly, young women and girls, who were abducted and coerced into sexual acts, can become carriers of venereal diseases. Bearing in mind that they are illegal immigrants, do not know the language and scared to death, one can conclude that it will be difficult for them to get healthcare services. Thus, this will lead to an increase in the number of venereal diseases.

Finally, the legalization of prostitution is economically beneficial for the country and owners of brothels, but it returns the world to the times when women were treated as a thing but not a human being. Consequences of legalization will do more harm than good. It is a sort of path to lawlessness because ownership of human beings has nothing to do with democratic rights and freedoms of individuals.

 

Works Cited

Bramham, Daphne. “Outlawing the purchase of sex has been key to Sweden’s success in reducing prostitution.” 2016. Retrieved from https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/outlawing-the-purchase-of-sex-has-been-key-to-swedens-success-in-reducing-prostitution

Brooks, Ann & Heaslip, Vanessa. “Sex trafficking and sex tourism in a globalized world.” 2018. Retrieved from http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/30603/3/Final-Sex-Trafficking-Sex-Tourism-in-Globalised%20World-19.3.18.pdf

Lutnick Alexandra & Deborah Cohan. “Criminalization, legalization or decriminalization of sex work: what female sex workers say in San Francisco, USA.” 2009. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40449616_Criminalization_legalization_or_decriminalization_of_sex_work_What_female_sex_workers_say_in_San_Francisco_USA

Reed, Jim. “Mega-brothels: Has Germany become ‘bordello of Europe’?” 2014. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26261221

Sanger, William “The history of prostitution: its extent, causes, and effects throughout the world.” 2013. Retrieved from http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-History-of-Prostitution-by-William-W.-Sanger-24grammata.com_1.pdf

Spiegel staff. “Human trafficking persists despite the legality of prostitution in Germany.” 2013. Retrieved from http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/human-trafficking-persists-despite-legality-of-prostitution-in-germany-a-902533.html

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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