I've been thinking: it's only a matter of time before marijuana is legalized in the U.S.. It's legal in several states already, so it just needs to be recognized on a federal level. Also, gay marriage has been legal for several years now. Gay marriage and weed: two things that were once criminalized and demonized now considered normal parts of society.

Bearing that in mind, do you think a time will come when prostitution is legalized and normalized in the U.S.? If so, when?

I don't think so even in Nevada the only state to actually legalize it has it so tightly controlled (not legal in vegas or reno) that people just see girls illegally anyway because of availability. I saw one girl in Vegas who still escorts (btw is preg now https://twitter.com/DiamondEscortlv) and use to work at the legal brothels in pahrump she said she makes more doing hotel incalls than she did working above board with less hassle. We may see the Canadian model where prostitution is legal but patronizing one isn't that really doesn't help fetishists tho.

I think slut-shaming and puritanical nonsense is too firmly-ingrained in the US for such a thing to change any time soon. We are so, so, SO weird about sex, and even weirder about policing women's bodies. I wouldn't hold out much hope for sex work becoming more accepted above-board.

This is a multifaceted issue with no solid answer for academics in my field. On the one hand, a lot of criminal justice researchers believe that decriminalization of prostitution can lead to lower violence and crime. But others believe this will be counterintuitive by actually propping up a legal-front for all prostitution, making it harder for investigations to figure out what’s going inside the business behind closed doors. It’s similar to investigating white-collar-crime, and the reason why that form costs the economy billions of dollars each year.

The dark figure of crime is all that stuff that goes unreported and is never found, but can be inferred upon by anonymous tips and reports. Instead of cops trying to figure out who isn’t wearing their seatbelt all the time, they’re looking out for gang-activity, domestic/international terrorism, burglaries, theft, acts of revenge, things like that. The legal system is literal in its construction in order to protect citizens. So, fourth amendment rights still have to be upheld if prostitution was legal, but a lot of cops will see these brothels and companies as places where crime could be happening and they might not be able to do anything about it unless they directly see something wrong. It’s paralyzing for them. This is fine with markets that aren’t associated with crime to begin with, but it isn’t when the market is inherently violent by nature. It shows the effectiveness behind the tactic of money-laundering and using fronts. Thorough audits are needed for those, or infiltration. People think this conundrum of eliminating the crime in a market like drugs or prostitution is solved by decriminalization. However, crime doesn’t totally fall away if you decriminalize the use of drugs, for example. There are still organizations and dealers competing with each other, often times violently. To answer this, there would have to be heavy-regulation and perhaps some kind of monthly checkup by experts, say with restaurants being inspected by the FDA for example. And the shady people out there will still buy people as sexual commodities. It’s investing in human-capital, but in a callous and immoral disregard for human life.

I personally think this is a “maybe” situation. STDs aren’t as much as a worry since I could definitely see companies being proactive about it with staff and customers signing waivers or requiring tests, but that will be for escort companies that have the legal resources. Your joe-schmoe pimps on the streets? No, they’ll use what they have. The worst parts of prostitution is the trafficking, violence and intimidation of the prostitutes, as well as the organized crime resulting from it.

Plus, I can’t see sex-trafficking going away just because prostitution is legal. Hell, even prospective workers aren’t safe. Sometimes they get fooled into signing legal documents they don’t understand, especially with immigrants and then it’s a form of slavery because of the legal contract or debt. I can definitely see that sex-trafficking will start to take advantage of prostitution being legal if it ever happened. After all, seeing prostitutes would be more common and less people would question whether this was a decision on their part.

I tend to see more of the negative in this, and I hate it when the government has to be heavily involved in something that might be best left to the people to regulate themselves. But if this were to maybe become legal, it would have to be scrutinized and evaluated thoroughly by investigators in some form or fashion and make sure the workers weren’t being coerced, held against their will, and are being taken care of. Insurance might be another story though. Like I said, this has so many variables. The US would need to utilize comparative justice and economics to see what works else where and what has failed. I can’t faithfully say Yes or No on this one. But I can still say Maybe as long as it is thoroughly discussed and planned out instead of just passing a Bill to decriminalize prostitution. It could be best that the individual states make their own independent rulings, but the federal government would need to step in due to the nature of the market heavily relying on trafficking for their business.

I’d say we would need to listen to sex-workers, law enforcement, academics, researchers, sociologists, legal experts, and others on this matter. No reason to go out half-cocked and cause another crisis, like we did with the War on Drugs and criminalizing mental illness.

(May 7, 2021, 3:09 am)Avarics I tend to see more of the negative in this, and I hate it when the government has to be heavily involved in something that might be best left to the people to regulate themselves.

Anything involving humans cannot be trusted to self-regulate.

(May 7, 2021, 3:47 am)Feunski

(May 7, 2021, 3:09 am)Avarics I tend to see more of the negative in this, and I hate it when the government has to be heavily involved in something that might be best left to the people to regulate themselves.

Anything involving humans cannot be trusted to self-regulate.

100% this.

And yet at the end of the day, fundamentally, if two consenting adults wish to exchange money for sex, that shouldn't be such a big god damn deal...

(May 7, 2021, 10:52 am)Akhenaten And yet at the end of the day, fundamentally, if two consenting adults wish to exchange money for sex, that shouldn't be such a big god damn deal...

When there's money involved, then it becomes a big god damn deal. There's a obvious difference between giving a woman a couple hundred to suck you off in a hotel room and some free random tinder meet n fuck. Even if you decide to bring a camera and play it off as making porn, you're still dancing on thin ice.

(May 7, 2021, 10:52 am)Akhenaten And yet at the end of the day, fundamentally, if two consenting adults wish to exchange money for sex, that shouldn't be such a big god damn deal...

I mean, yeah. I agree with you there. At the micro-level, prostitution doesn’t seem like a big deal. But at bigger scales, that’s the real danger like I mentioned in my post. There’s already a shit ton of issues in the sex-industry already. So, sex-workers, law enforcement, legal teams, and the government need to come together and try to solve current problems already as much as they can before legalizing prostitution.

I very much prefer the OnlyFans setting until that point. That’s essentially online prostitution and most models probably won’t do meetups, especially during a pandemic.

I’m all for giving the people more liberties as long as we’d be prepared for any sort of harm that might come from it. A good idea might be to unionize sex-workers, and especially prostitutes, in some way. Get them the legal resources they need so they can run the industry instead of money-grubbers who just objectify them. I mean, it’s going to happen when involving sex. I’d just want people to be prepared before legalizing it fully.

It’s never going to happen in the U.S. because there are far too many moral Jesus fearing people led by big mouth Karens who will not be able to contain themselves if prostitution is legalized so if we want a buffet of all the pussy we can fuck and no trouble from the cops we will have to board a plane bound for Colombia. There will be girls waiting for us in and around the airport and pretty much in all other places you wouldn’t expect to see prostitutes competing for clients. Seriously sometimes I feel I was born in the wrong county.