Prostitution: Exposing The Truth

I hope this article brings more attention to the fact that prostitutes and escorts are human beings and the lives of prostitutes and escorts are worth as much as everyone else. It makes me sick to hear people say that "escorts and prostitutes are below everyone and that they deserve what happens to them because they are in this line of work" I say fill rights for everyone!

Whenever discussion ensues about how best to advance the rights and well-being of people working in prostitution, the suggestion most people come up with is to legalize prostitution. Legalization of prostitution means that the government regulates both sex workers and prostitution; and can involve laws that prohibit certain prostitution related activities (such as Sweden, who in 1999 legalized the selling of sexual services but criminalized the buying of sexual services ), which create poor and/or even dangerous working conditions (Ericksson, 2005; Jacobsson, 2006).

Although legalization of prostitution in places like Germany, the Netherlands and Nevada (in the United States) have improved the health and safety of sex workers, they have still not afforded sex workers the same rights as other employees, as sex workers are often subjected to exploitive working conditions, as well as being required to pay special taxes in addition to regular income taxes (Klinger, 2003). It is because no form of legalization has ever benefited the rights of sex workers as workers that sex worker rights activists and organization call for the decriminalization of prostitution, rather than for its legalization.

In Canada prostitution is legal, although many of the activities surrounding prostitution are not.