It's a pretty detailed investigative piece by the Telegraph, one of the Britain's Tory-associated newspapers. As is usually the case, the wildly enthusiastic expectations of progressives turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, and some of the consequences are nothing to be proud of: increases in human trafficking in countries where prostitution is legal, and higher murder rates of prostitutes in those countries compared to where it is illegal. Pimping remains a significant problem -- in spite of all those wonderful theories explaining pimps as a consequence of prostitution being illegal.
Why, of course, is an interesting set of questions. At least part of the increase in human trafficking is pretty simple: when something is legal, it is a lot easier to hide something illegal in the larger stream of legitimate commerce. Higher murder rates are more curious, but perhaps because there is an increase in prostitutes. Nonetheless, there is a real sleaziness that comes out of this, and even the big businessman of legal prostitution in Germany reacts with horror when the wrong question is asked:
Would he be happy for either of his two daughters to work at Paradise, the interviewer asks. Rudloff turns puce. “Unthinkable, unthinkable,” he says. “The question alone is brutal. I don’t mean to offend the prostitutes but I try to raise my children so that they have professional opportunities. Most prostitutes don’t have those options. That’s why they’re doing that job." He pauses and looks away.
“Unimaginable, he repeats. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
Places where prostitution is legal and it has not become a social problem tend to be highly regulated situations, like some counties in Nevada, and even those have not been without some political corruption problems. An ounce of experience is worth a pound of theory.
For some reason blogger is not allowing this quote from a newspaper article for violating illegal activities content.
