Running head: LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

Legalizing Prostitution Will Improve Americas Healthcare.

Daniel A. Olivo
Hunter College
May 2016

Authors note:
Daniel A. Olivo, Department of Psychology, Hunter College psychology student in
medical related studies.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to:
Daniel.Olivo30@myhunter.cuny.edu

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

Abstract
This research paper explores prostitution being legalized through an analysis of a number of
mostly journal articles to try to make health care better. The articles vary from different journals
and this paper also includes some references from the Bible. Prostitution has reached it's time to
be brought out to the light. Human sexuality has grown so much in the world since the first
civilization and has become so diverse that the legalization of prostitution will benefit the society
since it would provide healthy solutions and not punishments to prostitutes (Leigh, 2012), make
Americas economy better since nearly every man is a client of the business (The Economist,
1991), and will give us better healthcare as we can better monitor diseases and acquire more of
an understanding (Campbell, 1991). Besides health issues and preventive measures, it also
includes topics such as slavery, sexual crimes, government, policies, and Christianity. Ultimately
it will bring light to this controversial behavior, practice, act, or occupation that many call
prostitution. It is possible some future work would come out of it such as more studies relating to
health, psychology, and deeper understandings of religious perspectives and behaviors for God.
Keywords: Prostitution, rights, health care, diseases, protection, Christian, economy

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

Legalizing Prostitution Will Improve Americas Healthcare

Whats the worst that can happen if we legalize prostitution in the United States? This
has been a controversial underlying dark topic for a long time but if we are not quick to judge
and without bias, weigh the pros and cons, ultimately we would see the point that nowadays,
prostitution has reached it's time to be brought out to the light. Human sexuality has grown so
much in the world since the first civilization and has become so diverse that the legalization of
prostitution will benefit the society since it would provide healthy solutions and not punishments
to prostitutes (Leigh, 2012), make Americas economy better since nearly every man is a client
of the business (The Economist, 1991), and will give us better healthcare as we can better
monitor diseases and acquire more of an understanding (Campbell, 1991).
Slavery has not yet been abolished as the late great president Abraham Lincoln has
fought so hard against slavery to try abolishing it completely; we still have slavery today in the
form of human trafficking (Clay, 2011). Human trafficking is the hidden version of the slavery
that many people in power either refuse to acknowledge it or secretly condones it, which either
way is a problem that needs to get fixed fast. If the government actually cares about the victims
suffering psychologically or physically from being forced into sexual acts, then instead of
quickly arresting the victims up for the action, they should try to gain a better understanding of
why and how they got involved in the sexual acts. As Fisher has stated, in some situations, police
officers may refuse to investigate acts of violence perpetrated against women who they know
engage in prostitution. Even worse, there appears to be a double standard that influences the
enforcement of laws against prostitution. The prostitutes are harassed and arrested while the
'johns,' or consumers of the service, are largely ignored, according to an article in The Guardian.
Apparently selling sex is a crime, while buying it is not. If society is concerned about the

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

wellbeing of the individuals in this profession, then it will remove the status of 'outlaw' from
prostitutes. Then workers can come forward and receive help if they want to leave a profession
that can otherwise be difficult and dangerous to escape (Fisher, 2013). Some women may be
lucky to be able to escape the sex trafficking organization but continues to sell themselves on
their own without the pimp to try to make a living because the emotional distress they have
suffered. As Brents (2014) states, his research found that women came to the legal brothels from
a wide variety of situations. Some were supplementing low paying service jobs. Some were
escaping the hustle, offensive verbal abuse, slut-shaming acts, and dangerous illegal sex work.
Some were looking for ways to supplement their erotic dancing or film careers (Brents, 2014).
Females are the leading gender victims within sexual crimes in the United States and they
continue to get hurt or arrested (Alli, 2016). Victims may be trafficked abroad or within their
own countries. The Department of State, for example, estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 individuals
are trafficked into the United States each year. Thats in addition to internal trafficking of both
U.S. citizens, such as teenagers being sold into sexual exploitation, and foreign nationals targeted
for trafficking or retrafficking (Clay, 2011). Some victims suffer so much emotional abuse
besides physical, biological, and lawful abuse that they can't help themselves and feels like the
government is not on their side (Greenhut, 2016). How can individuals who feel like the
government is not on their side seek any help from the legal organizations? So these individuals
would go to others that have had the same experience and continue to have illegal sex but now in
brothels (Reisenwitz, 2014). Nearly every victim of human trafficking goes out and find a
brothel for protection or place where more men would pay women directly to just survive (Fisher,
2013).

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

There a few brothels but so many not reported human trafficking victims, sex abused
women, and tax-free businesses that are still going on while our economy is getting worse (Alli,
2016). It is possible that if the government legalize prostitution, there will be more brothels, safer
sex, and we can monitor the activity which would be taxed then create huge revenues for our
economy. This would cause great advancements to businesses such as brothels, such as the
development of employee health benefits, unions, and random testing (Kuykendall, A., & Zavala,
G., 2016). The federal government should have a great idea if not know exactly what is going on
within these types of businesses so we can speak up about it and create improvements, not more
ways to destroy it. As Reisenwitz (2014) stated, some estimate that police actually abuse
American sex workers more often than clients do. Illegality also forces sex work outdoors.
Craigslist and Backpage should be havens for workers to connect with and vet clients from the
safety of their homes. Instead, cops monitor such sites to ensnare workers and their clients. Sex
workers traded safety tips and rated clients on My Redbook until the FBI seized the site,
destroying the data and forcing sex (Reisenwitz, 2014).
The government is trying to not get involve with brothels because they feel it is not
conservative with the constitution to protect sex workers or they simply just rather not focus their
attention on issues that are about sexual development such as paraphilias or STI's. In other words,
the constitution does not speak much about workers rights except for one amendment, the
thirteenth amendment (Constitutioncenter.org, 2016). The thirteenth amendment is about
restricting slavery and involuntary servitude (Constitutioncenter.org, 2016) in the U.S. but as
mentioned some workers are forced into undesirable behaviors. It is possible the government is
not as strong on protecting people that works as law abiding citizens may expect. The other
amendments are about freedom of religion, guns, military security, courts, and taxes but again

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

very little on the working people, specifically slavery (constitutioncenter.org, 2016). The
majority of laws are filled with discrimination on women and still too constructed on gender
roles. As Kuykendall, A., & Zavala, G. (2016) stated in regards to passing a law that would help
give women more rights and protection, Rep. Elizabeth Edwards of Manchester said her bill was
written in light of Amnesty Internationals recent call to legalize prostitution globally and protect
the human rights of sex workers. Edwards from Amnesty International to local news station NH1
states that sex workers are one of the most disadvantaged groups of people in the world, often
forced to live outside the law and denied their most basic human rights. Sex workers are not able
to negotiate and organize for their rights, or for access to the justice system when their livelihood
is a crime, (Kuykendall, A., & Zavala, G., 2016). Sexuality gender role bias is greatly hindering
generally the sex workers but more particularly women, to gain rights just so that men can be in
charge as gender inequality continues to grow. As Chon (2015) stated, in regards to gender
inequality with connections to legalizing prostitution, in addition to attitudes toward gender
equality, previous studies suggested that other factors may be related to a persons attitudes
toward prostitution: age, gender, marital status, educational level, income level, employment
status, and religiosity. However, the results are somewhat inconsistent. For instance, Stack et al.
(2010) reported that younger individuals and males are more tolerant toward prostitution than
older aged ones and females. Basow and Campanile (1990) also found that women are more
likely to exhibit an unfavorable attitude toward prostitution (see also Cosby et al. 1996; May
1999; Rsnen and Wilska 2007). Prostitution may facilitate infidelity among married couples in
which the husband patronizes prostitutes, which may account for womens more negative
attitude (Cao and Stack 2010; Cao and Maguire 2013). Additionally, women may be more
conservative toward sex in general than men (Basow and Campanile 1990). Another possibility

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

is that fewer women than men may conceive that prostitution is inevitable to meet mens sexual
urges (Cotton et al. 2002). Marital status also may be related to attitude toward prostitution: A
married individual is more likely to have an unfavorable attitude toward prostitution because
they believe that prostitution threatens a traditional marriage system. In his study of 1500
subjects in the United States, May (1999) found a negative relationship between attitudes toward
legalization of prostitution and married status (see also Jakobsson and Kotsadam 2011). Mays
study directly targeted legalization, however, instead of a general attitude toward prostitution.
Finally, Cao and Maguire (2013) uncovered that those individuals with higher educational and
employment status are more likely to possess a favorable attitude toward prostitution than those
who are less educated and unemployed (Chon, 2015).
If our government becomes more open-minded and try what small brothels had done
which led to successful and more peaceful outcomes then our country can also possibly become
more peaceful. Prostitution, which includes men and women, has been a topic for many and led
to healthcare studies such as those with HIV (Carr, R. & White, R. 2005). If we can document
sex activity, sex positions, usage of condoms, arousal, and the communication between sexual
partners then we can collect much more information for greater studies. It has not only been
women to become victims, men, and even children were victims of sex trafficking (Greenhut,
2016). We cannot let this activity continue to be unmonitored as we become more scientific
literate and continue to have tremendous technological advancements that can help us record
data.
As Chon (2015) stated, the results of all other demographic variables were consistent
with the hypotheses of the current study. Individuals with high social status (high income, high
education, and economically active) and who are male, younger, and non-married are more likely

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

to hold accepting attitudes toward prostitution. These results are partially consistent with Cao
and Stacks (2010) findings on employment status. The current cross-national study found that
individuals with higher social class and/ or younger age groups are more likely to maintain a
liberal view on prostitution, and conceive of prostitution as a choice of occupation by an
underprivileged woman than those with lower social class and/ or older age groups, a factor of
sexual liberalization present in certain societies (Cao and Maguire 2013, p. 189). The positive
relationship between educational level and acceptance of prostitution may imply that educational
level can be used as a measure of liberalism (Stack et al. 2007). Finally, married people generally
have an unfavorable attitude toward prostitution, which supports the findings of May (1999) and
Jakobsson and Kotsadam (2011) (Chon, 2015). Ultimately, due to the studies on legalizing
prostitution being supported by more educated people, it seems to be the side that is better since
they are more informed. One way to prevent these abuses and fatalities is by simply lifting the
prohibition on prostitution. During the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s it has caused more
damage than good as anyone can see on the constitution related to the eighteenth amendment
which had prohibited alcohol but then decided to legalize it (constitutioncenter.org, 2016). After
scientific results show that legalizing prostitution has been favored by the more liberal (Chon,
2015) without experience on it, people such as brothel owners in America with years of
experience promotes it so strongly (Hof, 2012). People in other parts of the world, for instance,
in Africa, they are greatly considering legalizing prostitution (Cauvin, 2016). There are countries
like Central African Republic which had Catherine Samba-Panza (June 26, 1954), who was a
female president (Associated Press, 2006). Why cant we let go of our psychological egos and
break free from our sexuality confinements?

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

Lastly another important aspect, related to religion, specifically for Christians, is how
God gave us free will so if we legalize prostitution we can show greater faith in God by not
giving in to temptation. According to Pewforum.org, Christians populate about 70.6% of
America (Pewforum.org, 2015). As Preston (1987) stated, bureaucracy is a necessary and
important part of our personal and collective lives. An authoritative system of decision, the
predictability of established rules and fixed jurisdictional areas, and technical division of labor
make it possible for relevant expertise to resolve complex social and technological problems. But
bureaucratic organizations is also thought to deny freedom (Preston, 1987). If men are so
sexually active but can control themselves if given the opportunity to not get arrested for paid
sex then men can show God that they are truly are faithful. Again as Preston (1987) stated,
freedom is more than the absence of observable interference, yet freedom need not to be
incautiously identified with notions of self-realization. We exercise freedom as individuals, and
to do so, the choices we make must genuinely reflect our own purposes (Preston, 1987). Sex is
such as huge driving motivator for our actions that if it is much more easily accessible such as
being legal, then our control over temptations will be strengthened in the eyes of God to not
commit the immoral sex sin, adultery, or rape. This is similar to Genesis 3:3 as Adam and eve
were told not to eat from the forbidden tree to show their control of temptation (The Holy Bible,
Genesis. 3:3). Prostitution is one of the oldest professions as King Solomon may have had a few
domestic encounters with them and during the Victorian era, where a lot of health officials
started to blame prostitution for the causes of many spreading diseases (The Slate Group, 2016).
Why must we continue to act as if the relationships between people that leads to harmful effects
from prostitution is not as important as the relationships between people that leads to harmful
effects from domestic violence is not as important? America has greatly made prostitution a

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

10

shameful act more than the women in the bible has displayed such as from Genesis 38:15 when
Judah seen a woman trying to hide her identity (The Holy Bible, Genesis. 38:15).
Psychologically, if it was legal, people would feel stronger; have better self-esteem, and closer to
God. In general, I believe that legalizing it will cause so much more good than harm in many
different aspects.
In conclusion, I believe that this underlying dark topic of prostitution being a need to
punish rather than treat type of crime similar to addictions, has come to reached its time to be
brought out to the light. Sexuality has grown from just one person having sex with another to one
person trying to force people to have sex with others so with the legalization of prostitution, it
will benefit the society (Leigh, 2012), make our economy better (The Economist, 1991), and
lastly but not least, give us better healthcare (Campbell, 1991). As we continue pack our jails
with sexual offenders, bury women, lack the revenue that can generate millions of dollars, and
not have accurate statistics sexual encounters, do we still want to not swallow our pride? We
need to end human trafficking and legalize prostitution to protect womens right, gain better
understandings of sex, and show our true faithful strength to not give into temptation.

LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS BETTER

11

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