[kira]

Just paying in food, shelter, and other basic needs does not mean someone is a slave. It's a common practice with ranch hands and in other situations. You can still leave whenever you want if you find something you like better or you manage to pull in enough through tips/extra jobs to head off to college. Many people actually like these situations though. No worry about any of the necessities to live. I know some horse trainers that were content in a loft above the horses where they could throw the dishes in the sink from the bed and making well below minimum wage because their housing is paid for. Heat, cold, electric, water, sewer, rent, garbage... all not concerns or costs. Maybe food might be their own expense just because people have different tastes in what they want to eat. Otherwise anything they make is a personal indulgence or savings. Of course such jobs are usually done because the person loves the job and lifestyle which is much less likely to be true of prostitution. Not entirely untrue though. I know many women have sex for free with all the same type of people just to have sex. My husband was using adult friend finder for free sex until I met him. Admittedly some of the women sound like they were rather unstable but they love having sex with random guys so what if they could get paid or having their living expenses paid to do it? It might seem like at least a nice little side job with more security and safety precautions than doing it free with strangers while no one may even know where you've gone.

[rcoreyus]

The boarder between free and slave is very grey. I am very uneasy about situations where a workers "necessities" are included in the contract, because it is a recipe for abuse. The employer provides pay and food and housing - if the employee wants to find a new job they need to find all of these at the same time.

I'm not saying that every such situation is abusive, but they can be. I would like to see this outlawed EXCEPT in situations where food and housing are "naturally" part of the job - working on a ship, or guiding multi-day tours etc. I don't think there is a reason prostitutes need to live at their workplaces, so I would not allow that sort of compensation.

[rcoreyus]

Prostitution covers a very wide range of activities. There are drug-addict street walkers desperate for drug-money. There are virtual (or real) sex slaves imported from other countries, who's papers have been taken, and who somtimes are literally chained to beds. There are strippers, who will sometimes do a trick on the side if they feel like it. There are college students happy to make an extra $1000 for a night's work sometimes. There are high end call girls who go to great efforts to provide wealthy clients with exceptional experiences and who can make $4000/night. Then there are gold diggers who while not prostitutes, are sleeping with men in order to get a future payout.

I think legalization and regulation would eliminate most of the bad versions of prostitution.

[Stillness]

How about ethnicity? If all ethnic groups are required, why not girl on girl or boy on boy action being required?

This is interesting.

The gender discrimination seems no different than a gynecologist refusing male patients. Some discrimination is allowable. I'm curious about other types - ethnicity, religion, skin color, etc.

[Motorguy]

Prostitution covers a very wide range of activities. There are drug-addict street walkers desperate for drug-money. There are virtual (or real) sex slaves imported from other countries, who's papers have been taken, and who somtimes are literally chained to beds. There are strippers, who will sometimes do a trick on the side if they feel like it. There are college students happy to make an extra $1000 for a night's work sometimes. There are high end call girls who go to great efforts to provide wealthy clients with exceptional experiences and who can make $4000/night. Then there are gold diggers who while not prostitutes, are sleeping with men in order to get a future payout.

I think legalization and regulation would eliminate most of the bad versions of prostitution.

Correct it really would the massage parlor would be allowed to be open and not be raided by the police for running a house of prostitution. They doing the city or town a favor by getting the guys who wants to have sex with no strings attached to go and have there fun in legal places. They will leave the dirty drug out street walker alone no johns they will move on.

[Patti-here]

The question I posed here was purely hypothetical, but many of you have brought up some very valid points both for and against the legalization of prostitution, it does have it's good and bad sides to it,, so thank you for your input.

[jns]

They will leave the dirty drug out street walker alone no johns they will move on.

Street walkers usually exist in places with legal prostitution because there is a large segment of the market that cannot afford the prices at the legal brothels. That form of prostitution can be largely suppressed with enough police resources and laws if funding is available and corruption is minimized.

[Patti-here]

Yes, but if prostitution was legal, wouldn't that include the street walkers also ?

[Euphoric]

There is a stereotyped stigmatism attached to businesses that offer massage as a service. Most states require massage therapist to be formally trained and pass a state board examination to secure a license. Because of shady practices and television shows, massage therapists are often viewed negatively. Sadly, due to the misrepresentation and stigmatism attached, legitimate massage therapist sometimes find themselves in precarious situations, which are sometimes downright dangerous! I know up close and personal what it feels like to have a man yank me on top of him and tell me what I was going to do for him because I was asking for it by putting my hands on him. And for the record, I in NO way did anything to lead him to form such a conclusion. (I was also prepared for such ignorance, and not harmed ) Having trained in massage therapy, neuromuscular therapy, sports rehabilitation therapy, etc. (I won't list all of my credentials), I'm appalled by businesses that misrepresent their true nature.

If a person wants to rent themselves out for an hour or for the night, I'd rather prostitution be legalized with restrictions such as age, testing for diseases, etc.

That said, my opinion is based solely to protect legitimate professionals from the guise of people willing to sale themselves.

[Claret]

To the best of my knowledge, the only state with legalized prostitution is Nevada and only in one county of Las Vegas. It is not legal city wide. The brothels are legalized, the workers pay tax on their earnings, must undergo mandatory STD testing and frequently. It is not legal in Las Vegas to hire a call girl that is walking down the strip and in fact when we were there we saw the police picking up many that were soliciting in bars etc. I believe certain out-girl calls can be made but legally only through the brothels. Certainly cars and limos run around advertising their girls and sometimes even have the girls in the vans and cars as they drive around advertising. In this way a girl can quickly get to a hotel or motel. There is not usually a pimp or a madam, but someone is getting a cut (the manager/owner of the brothel?) and the entire fee doesn't belong to the girl. The difference is that most of these girls are there under their own volition and are not being forced into the sex trade by unscrupulous and questionable pimps/madams. The girls are of age and are not teenagers or kids.