What the F*CK???

[Theocrat]

300,000 to 400,000 prostitutes in Spain?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4560143.stm

Is it 'ok' to tax these people?

Talk about unionizing extreme 'exploitation' itself...

Well they say "it's the oldest job on the planet"?

BNW here we come!

[MrEntropy]

Call me a man, but as long as it's something that's done with full consent I don't see anything wrong with prostitution. I'm not for sex slavery or anything, so I see a union being a good thing. Actually, anything that protects these women (and men, I suppose) from being abused is a good thing. Making it illegal hasn't done anything in the last couple of thousand years.

What's the population count of Spain these days? What percentage would 400,000 be?

[Mikey_C]

as long as it's something that's done with full consent I don't see anything wrong with prostitution.

Unfortunately, that's a big 'if'. I'm undecided on this point. There's been moves by British unions (namely the GMB) to organise 'sex workers', and that can only be good - but seeing the proven harm that prostitution does to women, do we really want to see it become normalised or respectable? But then, maybe it is normal already, and these people's rights are being ignored due to society's hypocrisy. If only we could do away with the pimps and traffickers.

For some strong arguments against legalisation, check this: http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/Farley.pdf

[Doc]

I see both sides, too.

In industrial and postindustrial societies, it seems that prostitution can be a relatively equal exchange. I will always say "relatively" because it would be hard to convince me that a fundamental inequality always typifies these exchanges, and the positive side of the balance cannot fall on the supply side. There is always an element of exploitation. However, one can easily argue that is the case any time you sell your labor. My apologies to Marx.

In these societies (and in North America, western Europe, and Japan, particulary) unionization makes sense as protection for "contractor" and client alike. Sometimes a little regulation is a good thing.

However, the more underground sex trade (which is also quite active in supposedly "advanced" societies) represents nothing but exploitation. If validating prostitution in general degenerates the underground sex trade further, I would have a hard time condoning any prostitution, tacitly or not. I could distinguish the acceptable and the taboo, but I don't trust everyone else to do the same, especially when it opens governmental doors to hypocricy.

By the way, glad you're posting, MrE.

[Mikey_C]

A recent 'Panorama' documentary about migrant workers from the new EU accession states in Eastern Europe interviewed a gangmaster in charge of a group of immigrants working for below the minimum wage and other employment protection laws. He said that now immigration from those countries has been legalised, his job has become easier, as noone stops to question what his workers are doing. So maybe legalising prostitution could have a similar effect and actually make life easier for the traffickers?

[Doc]

A recent 'Panorama' documentary about migrant workers from the new EU accession states in Eastern Europe interviewed a gangmaster in charge of a group of immigrants working for below the minimum wage and other employment protection laws. He said that now immigration from those countries has been legalised, his job has become easier, as noone stops to question what his workers are doing. So maybe legalising prostitution could have a similar effect and actually make life easier for the traffickers?

I think that may be accurate. I'm constantly amazed at what we normalize and ignore. And why.

I'm running the risk of a rant. Again. :D

[Miqque]

Armageddon cometh...
:P