While I don't live in Jamaica nor have I ever visited, this discussion comes up regularly across the globe and in American where I do live. As a prostitute, I must respectfully disagree with the above assessment and here are my reasons why.


While prostitutes in Jamaica may experience a higher rate of STD infections, this does not hold true in all countries, particularly among many so-called First World nations. In more developed nations where prostitution has become more "sophisticated" over time, condoms are regularly used and STD rates may be lower than among the general population.


My major concern is with formalizing the idea that it's all right for governments and the public to exploit prostitutes further. By leveraging taxes and effectively controlling prostitution, have we created a system any different than sanctioned sexual slavery? Is this really our best bet for reducing the exploitation that's currently run amok? To me it seems little more than transference where the State and public now have a vested interested in promoting prostitution as a means of generating tax revenue.


This is truly scary, from one prostitute's perspective anyway. Not because I'm opposed to paying taxes (I do) or because I think that public campaigns for STD prevention are irrelevant (they certainly are sorely-needed for ALL groups of people), but because I don't trust the State in ANY country to focus near enough attention on the interests of the sex workers themselves and see much room for potential abuses. Prostitution can be difficult enough without additional hassles and constraints levied on the prostitutes.


Besides this, the system seems unfairly biased. Female prostitutes may come into this line of work for a variety of reasons and from all walks of life, but most who do so aren't rolling in dough. The clients are the ones with expendable income and who create the demand. Policies for legalizing prostitution always focus their attention on depriving the sex workers of their income through taxation while saying little if nothing about the male clientèle who are the ones financially capable of shouldering this additional tax burden. But is there a way to tax the clients without regulating the industry? Not to my knowledge.


Another concern is the poor conditions typically offered in brothels where many legalization advocates say prostituted women ought to work. In Nevada brothels, prostitutes are often required to sign a contract with the agreement that they will not leave the premises during the contracted period. This can be weeks or months. By keeping the women on premise, the brothel is in the unique position of gouging prices for goods and services that must be delivered. They also have been known to charge high rents, effectively creating a situation where the women owe debts to the House. Also, without freedom to come and go, the prostitute's finances are often handled by people on the outside whether that be a husband, boyfriend, or family member, which strips the woman further of her financial freedom and independence. This setup has been abused plenty already and there's little reason for me to think that the government's involvement would improve matters.


And finally, it seems to me that our public understanding of what actually constitutes prostitution remains severely ignorant. How does one go about regulating something of this nature? How do we police the private lives of our citizens to ensure they aren't accepting money in exchange for sexual behaviors, and where do the lines blur? Policing efforts have only been marginally successful thus far in rooting out prostitutes, so why should we assume this will improve? If policing improvements are possible, in what ways will they violate our collective right to privacy? It's not as if all prostitutes are standing on a corner somewhere, advertising their status.


Prostitution is a much more complicated matter than we give it credit. I do agree with the author that programs do need to be established to encourage condom use and STD testing simply for the sake of general public health. Perhaps a grassroots effort could accomplish much of the necessary training, though that would involve us as individuals choosing to interact with prostitutes, which I personally am in favor of. It would help if the public actually knew the people they claim to be trying to help. But legalization for the purposes of taxation and regulation is not something I personally can support.

Please excuse the typos in the previous post. I thought I had caught them all.


The author states:

Let's face it; such approaches have not typically had a strong history of success in protecting the lives and liberties of vulnerable groups, who by their very existence challenge the status quo.

Exactly my point. So we do agree more than my previous post implied.


As for alternative approaches...I've been wondering about this one for years. I used to be in the Decriminalization camp but after years of experience in this industry have had to abandon that position. You too may find it to be quite unpopular among prostitutes. The only approach likely to be effective is providing public education on these matters, not just on prostitution per se but also on gender relations, power and corruption, and encouraging critical thinking in terms of social, economic and political hierarchies that we all are born into. In other words, prostitution isn't the real problem but instead a persistent symptom born out of deep-rooted inequality within a patriarchal social system. I've come to believe there isn't any other way to combat the negative effects of prostitution without giving serious consideration to the social underpinnings that perpetuate the demand throughout the ages.


The problem isn't merely sex, and it isn't money and commerce. I'd say the problem is directly related to corrupted power and a lack of respect for the roles of women in all societies. That sounds so simplistic but I would argue that it's anything but. These concepts are interrelated with virtually all of our social ills, deserving more in-depth exploration from all members of the general public rather than remaining reserved for theoretical discussions among academics.

Dear AM,

Decriminalization of Sex Work comes before anything else, no matter what. Sex Workers are real people, not academic subjects.