Prostitution

Prostitution: Who Cares?


I've paid for sex. I've traded expensive dinners for sex. I've sprung for nights on the town for sex. I've given gifts for sex. I even once wrote a term paper for sex (she got an "A" and I had a fine time, so I'd call that a fair exchange). But had I ever just coughed up cold hard cash for sex, I would have tripped over a legal line that violates the law in most U.S. jurisdictions. It’s ridiculous that the U.S. regulates this victimless crime.
The reasons why prostitution remains illegal in so many places generally boils down to two arguments: Prostitution sets the wrong tone for society, and it degrades the people who peddle the favors.
The first argument can be described as the "conservative" one, and it is held by folks who despise sex outside of marriage. They see commercial sex as a threat to the institution of marriage, which is supposed to be the backbone of society -- a conservative society, of course. The second argument is the "lib...