prostitution
..., I feel like I could live with it.Ideally, I feel that prostitution should not be illegal. In practical application, though, I think I would actually want to check out some studies on the prositution and its effects in places where it is legal vs. illegal. While I am not necessarily opposed to the idea of prostitution in the abstract, or in the best case scenarios, I am abstaining for now on the legalization issue. I know the argument that abuse, for example, should be what is illegal and thus avoid a secondary issue, but it is hard to pull off a conviction against society for pushing its poorer individuals into straits where they have to do whatever they can, regardless of how abhorent it may be to them. Some would argue that legalizing it would clean up the whole industry, but I still withold a ruling for lack of evidence (or time to find it) either way.I've already discussed my reasons for legalization in the virginity thread, which come down to: people have the right to sexual self-determinism. I'm going to address the age of consent concept. I don't think some specific age magically makes you qualified to decide whether or not to have sex. I do think prostitution can be a job with serious consequences, because even correctly used birth control can fail, because unless you're willing to put your clientele through a full medical exam you still can't be positive they're safe. And before someone advocates the medical exams, do you think a guy will go through a full medical exam for a blowjob or will he go to a black market place that doesn't ask so many questions? It makes no sense to set up a system that is already designed to subvert itself. Having pointed out the dangers, I think that we don't really need children doing this job. Around 16 or 17, depending on maturity level, some people are able to make those informed choices intelligently, but many people aren't. Most people *think* they were qualified to make that choice at 12, because they're sure they were rational, intelligent beings, but in reality they only thought they were rational, intelligent beings, and instead they were pretty average adolescents. When I was 12, I thought I understood a lot of the way the world worked, and instead I find now that I understood the way my world worked, and that there were a lot of things I had never been exposed to and didn't yet understand. Adolescents should be focusing on their studies and on getting a good education. Being a good sex worker, I think, is not something you could do well as a part-time after school job and still get your essays written for English class. In an ideal world, I would say that children and younger adolescents should not engage in prostitution, that for some older adolescents it's an option that can be considered on a case-by-case basis, and for adults it's a matter of personal choice. I also believe that in the first few years of developing sexuality, we form our basic sexual identities--not simply orientation and proclivities, but the way we personally express ourselves as sexual beings. Living in a capitalist society, I have a hard time not believing that the most successful sex workers will be the ones who are most talented at meeting the needs of their customers instead of themselves. I wish I could envision temple prostitution and an enlightened guidance towards sexual development as the norm, but I think capitalism will win out, and supply and demand says, "well, you don't really enjoy doing it this...