It strikes me that LE is just doing what they think the community wants them to do. I don't agree with it at all, and do not see how anyone is getting hurt in the hobbyist world. However my thought is what if a resolution was put on the ballot to legalize prostitution ? Something that said something similar to "private negotiations between consenting parties in a private place for sexual activity is legal". I am not a lawyer but something like that. Maintain the illegality of street walking. Seems like it should be a personal choice, and if the issue were on the ballot I think it would pass. Thoughts ?

Oh my...wheeze...snicker...that's a good one... and here I thought I was a dreamer!  People voting a victimless crime into legality!  Tee hee...whoo...chortle!  That is the best laugh I have had in years!  Ah, Lestat, would that it was that simple.  I wonder if you would even get 100% support of TER members, much less the general public.  That there is one state in this country that actually "tolerates" legalized prostitution (Nevada - but only in certain scenarios) is due to a mixture of its history, its culture, its economy at the time it was legalized, and its demographics.  It is highly...HIGHLY...unlikely that any other state would follow suit, especially in our current increasingly conservative political culture.  No mainstream politician would champion it, as it would be political suicide on the line of legalizing cannibas, real environmental protection, or socialism.  Ah, but it was nice to see such optimism in our political process for a change.

I myself find nothing wrong with prostitution in itself when providers do it as a business for themselves and not for a pimp, or to maintain a drug habit. The problem with what you are proposing is that it would become a moral issue and I can assure you that the religious caucus would have a field day.  They would bring up shit like "they spread diseases", "they destroy families", and not to mention that the femenists would get involved as well saying that the hobby degrades women. The hardest thing is to get a politician to back such a bill. We can all guess that there are politicians out there who see providers or have affairs but not a single one would back such a bill. I think the best we can hope for is that prostitution stay illegal but that LE just leaves the providers and hobbiest alone kinda like TJ.

Ultimately, it would come down to the moralists and the feminists standing side by side to defeat it.

Arguments include:

1. It's morally wrong
2. It's not a victimless crime
3. It leads to xyz criminal activity
4. It victimizes/dehumanizes/objectifies women (take your pick)
5. What's next....legalizing pedophilia

and finally.......

6. Just go to Nevada

You wouldn't get any strong campaigning in support, most guys wouldn't want to "out" themselves to visibly support it.


The only viable possibility would be to attach it as a rider to a school funding initiative......Maybe we can get Dufus to seriously consider it as a source of revenue?

ah, to be a dreamer.  to legalize it would require going back in time several hundred years.  better if we continue with the format here and hope for the best.  granted several countries turn a blind eye to such activities, though it is unlikely to happen here in the USA.

I guess maybe I am too optimistic as well because I think *IF* you could get it on the ballot as a proposition along with some decent educational info in the sample ballot that goes out, it just might pass by a small margin. However, the trick would be, as others have mentioned, getting it on the ballot. No politician would back it as there would be nothing in it for him/her and most of them are more about themselves than anyone or anything else. I think the best we can hope for is the cops turning an eye unless a specific complaint was made about a particular provider or location... and even that will likely not come about in California in my lifetime.

I'm not an expert on government accounting but didn't Clinton's cabinet pay (or at least authorize) Monica's salary, who in turn gave our previous prez a HJ/BJ?  (Did that come with a massage and was that a 1/2 hour or full hour session?)  Might consider calling Bill on getting that resolution moving.  What does he got to lose?  He's already been through the scandal and kept his job as top dog (and kept his wife!) to the envy of many a married business exec caught with an escort!  Like I said, just a thought.

buddy55

I think you're trying to take to big a bite. Even in the Netherlands, prostitution became legal only last year. Prior to that, it was decriminalized, not legal. Getting a tiny wedge into the legal framework is what’s needed. It needs to be unprofitable for the City or County to pursue private, one on one, acts of prostitution. Championing the single moms that are strictly trying to provide for their families and not leech off the public tit, is hard to argue with.

Start with one tiny cause and eventually we can push Government out of our lives. But it won’t be done as a “Legalize Prostitution” cause.

Won't happen in Cal.  Unless somehow you could convice the lawmakers they would make a ton by taxing it.
Laws are going the other way. Some of you might recall the last City council tightening MP laws which will lead to most of the AMPs shutting down next year in San Diego.

That's exactly right, and there are activist websites full of people and also attorneys (who are people) in this pursuit. But, as you say, being done in small steps..

Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have legal prostitution.  I know Germany and Austria have regulations and required health checks on the girls.  In the UK brothels are illegal, but individual girls may work for themselves.  The Czech Republic has brothels everywhere, but I think it is technically illegal, but never enforced.  Australia has legal brothels. Spain and Portugal have legal brothels.  I'm not sure about the laws in France but I think it is similar to the UK.  I have heard that Canada is much more lax than the U.S. as well.

hey, isn't that quote from the movie "Contact"?  so, the de-criminalization (or legalization) of prostitution is fit for sci-fi analogies?  cool.  Here's my Philip K Dick rant:

The birth of the internet defacto de-criminalized a few things.  The ability for individuals to freely exchange information without physical boundary or legal restraint was a great "freedom" that is slowly being reeled back in by the powers that want to be.  The growing (and effective) presence of LE on TER is sign of this trend to come, me thinks.  And eventually TER will go the way of NAPSTER, replaced by the equivalent peer-to-peer version.

Sex in it's abstract virtual state (PORN) is commercially acceptable now and available just a click away from disney.com, if not owned directely by Disney.  Politicians talk about sex and it's various dynamics all the time.  It's a topic frequently seen in the Business section of your local paper.  If prostitution were to be de-criminalized, or even for that matter, if marijuana or some other "victimless crime" was de-criminalized, -- the issue becomes "what form of control needs to be established?"  People might agree to legalize it, but the issue of minimizing RISK is too volatile.  Every one has an opinion and politicians wouldn't be able to withstand the failures of each implementation strategy.  It's much easier for Authority to look the other way, keep the extremes at a minimum, let the market regulate itself (ala TER for us hobbyists), and to take all campaign contributions under the table (if your a city council person, ha ha).

So yes, achieving "Contact" has never been an issue, people see "GOD" all the time, but can you prove it?  can you institutionalize it?  can you profit from it?  can you sell it in middle america?  For that matter, is the earth really round?  Heretics, you're all heretics!  The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!  Forget Carl Sagan, where's Philip K. Dick when you need him???  

Dear Dick, are you out there, we need you to tell us how this all works out.

lol, fahrkle, sci-fi inspired rant off

A few years back some woman was trying to get prostitution legalized by going through the courts. She was calling her case Roe V Wade 2 and her theory was that the same "right to privacy" that made abortion legal applied to her body if she wanted to sell and/or rent it, so therefore any laws saying she couldn't were therfore unconstitutional. Does anyone know what happened to this case? It seemed like a novel approach, but I doubt that she will get a court to aggree with her for many of the political reasons allready stated in this thread.

don't you dare!

now i have FD coming over to check that my place is up to code... gotta hang those fire extinguishers... put those 'don't lock' signs over the door... fire alarms.. and damn.. now i have to maintain a 'public' restroom?... ass gaskets and disposable towels...

the irs sniffing my panties.. have to increase rates to compensate for the taxes.. the audits.. the accountant..

osha is all over this one.. bbbj's.. gone.. hj's with gloves.. daty with dental dams... sterile sheets?

licensing... certificates... seminars... schools.. got your PA?

all the titty bar and agency girls are hustling more than any girl ever should... got to though... what with all the bj happy hours and tgi-fs specials...

and guys with the s/o... the innocent stop after work at the local hooters... could you imagine the frustration..

well... i gotta move... cause the association here doesnt allow client based biz's in your home... red lights in the suburbs.. decrease in property values... too much traffic.. strangers.. neighborhood watch is pointless.. or is that C-2 Zoning?

i vote Nay!