In Tevendale We Trust

Why haven’t we legalized prostitution yet? It’s 2007 ladies and gentlemen, yet here in Canada, it is still a crime to pay someone for sex.
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson thinks that the best way to handle prostitution is “by focusing on reducing its prevalence.”
What I find ridiculous is that anyone would ever suggest that the prostitution could ever be reduced. In other words, he’s saying that the popularity of the millenia-old industry of commercial sex is now something we can eaisly reduce.
I’ll be damned; it should have been this guy who played the Joker in Batman.
The sex trade is something that will never go away. Sorry Jack, err, Rob, you are not going to do away with an industry that has been around for centuries, no matter how hard you try to sweep the issue under the rug.
Last April, Nicholson also said that prostitution is “often committed and controlled by coercive individuals against those who are frequently powerless to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation.” I have an easy fix for you my friend. Ready? It’s a doozy – something that has never crossed your mind, despite mountains of information and research suggesting it – legalize prostitution.
The benefits of legalization far outweigh the cons, and if you want just one reason as to why prostitution should be legal in Canada, think of the thousands of women who work the streets across this country, and how legalization would positively affect them.
Admittedly, legalization would not get all women off the streets and into brothels, but it’s a start. If men could frequent a brothel legally, then all incentive to pick up a date on the street is pretty much gone. Hell, keep street prostitution illegal, and make the punishments harsher for street pimps, the women, and the johns who use them.
I think there would be a decrease in the number of women who would use the street as a means to sell their bodies. And you would take pimps out of the equation (for the most part). Yes these women would still have to answer to someone, but in a proper work environment they wouldn’t have to worry about meeting their quota or face a beating.
Don’t get me wrong; if prostitution were to become legal, we would still need a police presence to make sure that establishments who deal in this particular aspect of the sex trade played by the rules. After all, what would be the point in making prostitution legal if the women were still being used and abused?
When was the last time someone turning tricks on the street gave a John her latest test results from the clinic? Never? This is yet another reason why prostitution should be legal; AIDS prevention. Moreover, it would help in decreasing the transmission of all STD’s between hookers and their clients. It’s a lot easier to keep an eye out and know who’s clean when you have girls who work for a legitimate business.
Something I’ve never been able to understand is how pornography is legal to produce and distribute, yet prostitution remains an underground business leaving sex workers vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Besides the film crew and the fact that pornography is accessible to almost anyone, there really is no difference. The work environment for most women in porn should be the working model for hookers.
C’mon Jesse Jane, it’s time to start pioneering for the rights of your less equal sisters in the sex trade.
The government stands to make millions of dollars if prostitution should ever become legal. Sure it would remain a primarily cash-only business, but the government would still be able to gain some sort of revenue from it.
Not only would legalized prostitution generate additional revenue in the form of tax dollars, but think of all the tourists who would flock to Montreal for some legalized hookers. It’s pumped tons of money into the Netherlands and Nevada, so why not let some of that proverbial hard cash fly north?
As a society, we are never going to do away with the “problem” of prostitution. Governments have exhausted all other alternatives; it’s time to embrace what has been shunned for centuries.