Kenneth Cauthen Copyright 1999. All rights reserved. http://www.frontiernet.net/~kenc/pros.htmIf Ann Landers is for legalizing prostitution, then how far out can the notion be? (1) In 1949, the United Nations adopted a resolution in favor of the decriminalization of prostitution, which has been ratified by fifty countries but not by the United States. Eleanor Roosevelt was among those who approved. Compared to the United States, European countries are generally more permissive, exhibiting a wide variety of practices including licensing individuals and brothels. Several counties in Nevada have legal prostitution with licensing, required medical exams, and careful supervision. In 1973 the National Organization for Women passed a resolution supporting the decriminalization of prostitution. The issue has divided feminists. (2) Anti-prostitution feminists like Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon, and Melissa Farley see it as a vicious form of male domination and oppression. Sex-radical feminists like Susie Bright and Pat Califia, along with Prostitutes's Rights Organizations, consider prostitutes to be liberated women boldly taking charge of their own lives. (3) Many feminists take more nuanced and complex positions that fit into neither extreme. (4) People have strong feelings about this issue. It is also a problem that has no satisfactory solution. Commercial sex can be a sordid enterprise hard to defend. Yet it has always been with us and will always be as long as clients, usually men, can find providers, usually women, willing to offer their services for money. The very notion offends many people - and for good reason. Separating sexual activity from personal relationships of caring and responsibility is an enterprise hazardous to moral health. Yet as bad as legalizing sex for hire would be, the result overall is not likely to be a worse situation than we have now. The same arguments for and against legalization keep coming up all th...
