This will probabably be a tough subject for us to answer, but here goes. As members of TER, either providers, clients, or watchers, we all have a vote. Well perhaps we have members from countries that do not, but why are we not using our votes to elect politicians who will support legalization and decrimialization for sex work?
Let's all make an effort to take our membership in this community to speak for change! Safety, economic, and career can be protected for all. Just as in our own line of work we have those same rights, imagine if they were also available to sex workers!
It is about time, at least in the US, we need to get over our bible thumping, puritanical ways, and empower a working class within our country and provide them with a means be successful. So I urged all TER Members to use your voice and vote to help make this happen. Please take the PA seriously.
I confess that I have never seen a poll done on the topic, but if the legalization side got even 25% I'd be amazed.
Many, both clients and providers, do fine with the status quo. I just don't see any great reason to invest so much in what would be a Herculean effort.
The effort should be made for the same reason the labor movement used in the 30's to protect a class of workers rights. While I agree some on this forum like the status quo, there are some who need the right to work in a safe environment, have access to basic health services, legal and financial systems support. The list is endless because we view sex work as marginal at best. I truly believe, if the TER members all worked to enact changes in our sex worker laws, it would a wonderful thing! Just my thoughts.
Dream on and read the Catholic New Testament.
It is religion, the conservatives are just conservatives. That is they just don't like change, especially about things that are very old, they haven't thought out the situation and their friends agree with them, before buying condoms on their way to go "play cards" that night.
We came from a Puritan heritage. They weren't the first here. They just terrorized people here, as they did in Great Britan with there ridiculously prude values.
But it's the 21th Century not the 16th.(round heads and puritans) Reasons to stop prostitution were, 1. keeping the family unit in tack. 2. Prostitutes were mostly unmarried women. The outstanding women in a large community never like them.
3. It goes with others listed. Pregnancy. That breaks up and/or stretches marriages. 4. STD's. Other reasons are more recent.
Today we have good condoms (no pregnancy if careful) Birth Control and Abortion lessen the original reasons for the ancient taboo on incest. And nobody is talking about legalizing incest.
The law is here to stay for awhile here in the land of the scarred.
Why should anyone but the individual him or herself decide whether to have sex, with whom to have sex, and for what reason to have sex? I think it's outrageous that people accept a status quo which gives the power of that basic personal decision over to some government. Whatever consenting adults do behind closed doors, and for whatever reason, including financial gain, is nobody's business but theirs. Surely, if there is such a thing as inalienable rights, then control over your own body and sexual behaviour ought to be high on the list.
No matter how logical the argument may be, it's still trying to overcome an illogically based position.
In the real world, there's roughly 30k TER members online at any one time, let's SWAG that's just 10% of the total membership (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) and say there's 300k TER members.
Within the US there's about 235 million registered voters, of whom 130 million who vote.
That means TER members are about 0.23% of the voting populace: 100*(300,000/130,000,000).
We're a minuscule group overall. But I'll still keep trying to change people's minds with every discussion on the topic, using logic to drive home the issue. This may be a generational battle, and I've still got the energy to want to fight it.
The intolerant and hypocritical religious right is still a very powerful social and political force in this country!! As long as they have ANY kind of power they will not hesitate to use it to keep the status quo alive and well!! They are scared to death of open-mindedness---through their positions and policies they want to drag you down to their level of fear, paranoia, and rigid doctrine!!
Most of the hysteria claiming that all sex for pay is rooted in human trafficking comes from the left, not the right.
While I will agree the religious right is a very intolerant and narrow minded group in general, you are absolutely wrong if you think the "hobby" has many supporters from the left side of the aisle. Feminists in particular are against it, and you will find very few right wing feminists.
It's also an ironic fact that legalized prostitution coexists quite nicely with the church in most of the countries where there is not even a hint of separation of church and state. Pick a country in South America, any country that you can think of and every one of them have at least partially legal prostitution, and every one of them are also dominated by the Catholic Church, Go figure, right?
FWIW, I detest the religious right at least as much as anyone you will ever meet, but the facts are the facts.
Right underneath the hypocritical religious right on my "damn I LOATHE THEM" meter would be the so-called "liberals" who talk a good game yet are as closed-minded as their counterparts!! Your post is spot-on regarding feminists vis-a-vis the hobby!! (Me thinks many of those feminists are more than a little bit on the "frigid" side!!)
As far as the South American countries dominated by the Catholic Church where the hobby is alive and well----all I can say is that it's such a classic example of the hypocrisy of religious institutions!!
-- Modified on 2/2/2015 4:02:50 PM
For example, former Mass Congressman Barney Frank, who was as left as any main stream politician once put forward a bill to allow legal prostitution in Mass when he was a state rep there.
It didn't go very far, however.
I wish the political parties in the US were not the current Republican/Democrat divide but a libertarian/fascist assholes divide.
It would make life so much easier.
This two-party system is crap, and half the population of the country doesn't even vote. As Jesse Ventura pointed out, in other countries they'll have 5 or 6 different parties, and 95% of the population gets out to vote. That's when things actually get done. However, there is hope, as some states are now decriminalizing weed. Maybe sex work will be next.
are against this more. These feminist bitches always portray sex workers as all abused sex slaves doing this against their will and living is squalor and poverty. Also using Jesse BS Ventura gives NO credibility to your point! Fuck the hypocritical DemoCRAPS and their BS!
The problem is on the right you have Christians conservatives, on the left you have liberals worried about trafficking. (ironically legalizing would make trafficking easier to catch/stop IMO)
In the middle you have some sensible people but the two sides way out number the middle (including libertarians)
I like the way it's done in the England, it seems like a much safer way all around, but there are some even trying to change it there.
I have been fortunate to have good clients, but I've heard plenty of stories where other providers were not so lucky. If a client ever tried to attack me, rob me or blackmail me, it would be nice to have the option of calling police for help. And, the same goes for girls who are being trafficked. I can honestly say though that I do not know what would be best for them, but I know being too scared of the consequences of police involvement is a problem.
I don't think super regulated legalization is the way to go either unless all requirements to meet the criteria for being a legal hooker were achievable to EVERY hooker no matter her circumstances. So many times providers turn to this work because it is their only option to earn a livable wage.
Before I first started, I remember looking into "legal escorting Georgia" and "escort license Georgia". I thought that maybe there was an option out there for me to be legit and be protected from police interference, but there isn't. What did come up was something for an escort agency licensing on the Atlanta police website.
Escorts and hobbyists are a selfish lot and there is little reason to change the current law. Escorting exists in a state of perfect competition. No one group controls the supply, demand, price, or terms of service. As long as an escort is willing to provide a service and a hobbyist is willing to meet her price, there will be a sale. Legalization leads to regulation, which means limits on service, records, and taxation; none of which either party wants any part of.