Background

• Prostitution has occurred since antiquity, and the debate about whether or not it should occur has been around for just as long. It is sometimes referred to as "the world's oldest profession."
• Prostitution is illegal in the United States except in the states of Nevada and Rhode Island. Nevada state law prohibits prostitution in counties with over 400,000 residents, and counties with fewer residents are given the right to decide whether or not to have prostitution. Eleven of the fifteen counties hat can have legal prostitution do. In Rhode Island, prostitution is legal if it happens indoors, so street prostitution is illegal. However, an ABC News poll found that overall 15% of men had paid for sex, while 30% of single men over 30 had. (Source: ABC News)

Debate

• • Supporters of legalizing prostitution believe that doing so is in the best interest of the prostitutes and the public, as well as recognizing that prostitution will exist in society. In countries where prostitution is regulated, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), is reduced through the encouragement of safer sex practices and regular STD testing. In developing countries, where this regulation does not occur, prostitutes serve as an active vector for all STDs, including HIV/AIDS. (Source: PubMed)

  • Proponents of legalized prostitution argue that the number of rapes and sexual assault may decline in the U.S. by up to 25% (Source: Prostitution ProCon). Their views of prostitution are not just an exchange of sexual favors, but as a financial exchange and an extension of the free market.

  • Others see prostitution as part of a "sex industry" that is for better or worse, part of society, and which should have the right to exist, but should have to do so under regulations similar to the way the pornography industry currently operates.
• • Opponents of legalized prostitution cite that prostitution is immoral and that the prostitutes, as well as their customers, should be persecuted to eventually eradicate prostitution.
  • Many in favor of prostitution claim that it is a victimless crime in that prostitutes are not committing an inherently harmful act. Opponents see that being a prostitute will likely involve abuse, exploitation, harassment, and possibly forced participation in "sadomasochistic sex scenes." (Source: Prostitution ProCon)
  • Opponents of prostitution sometimes claim that it is a means of oppression, and a cause of the trafficking and exploitation of women. They also use the argument that it can take up to 12 weeks for an HIV infected person to produce enough antibodies for a test to find them HIV-positive. Even if testing for STDs is mandatory and often, this delay puts unacceptable numbers of people at risk if prostitution was legal and practiced freely.

Country Comparison

• Africa
  
  • Egypt forbids prostitution and punishment is up to three years in prison.
  • Ethiopia allows prostitution, though has outlawed brothels and pimping. Prostitution is on the rise, partuicularly in the capital, Addis Ababa, where the growth is believed to be the result of destitution in many parts of the country. (Source: Prostitution Policies Around the World)
  • Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda forbid prostitution.
• Asia
  
  • Although the government of the People's Republic of China claims to have eliminated prostitution by the 1960s, it has returned since the 1980s. Although not officially banned, prostitutes are often treated as criminals, though most concern is placed on criminalizing third-parties, such as prostitution ring operators. A large number of prostitutes in China actually come from Russia. (Source: Vladivostok News)
  • In India prostitution is illegal, though Kamathipura a poor district of Mumbai, and the country's largest red-light district, is estimated to have ~60,000 prostitutes, half of which are HIV-positive. (Source: Prostitution Policies Around the World)
  • Iran punishes prostitutes with prison time, lashing, and even execution by stoning.
  • Prostitution in Japan is illegal (although prostitution is only defined as coitus - other sex acts are legal), although seemingly permissible via loopholes in the Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956. Estimates of the economic output are about 1% of Japan's GNP at approximately 2.5 trillion yen per year.
  • All prostitution is illegal in Arab countries and punishments are high; Turkey (a non-Arab Muslim country) and Israel are the only Middle Eastern nations that allow prostitution.
• South America
  
  • Argentina allows individual prostitution, but brothels and pimping are forbidden via Article 19 of the Argentine constitution. (Source: Prostitution Policies Around the World)
  • Brazil has the same allowances and limitations as Argentina, and has forgone $40 Billion of US aid to combat AIDS because it has refused to ban prostitution.
• Europe
  
  • Greece only allows prostitution if the prostitute is at least 21 years old, registers with the state, and submits to health checks every two weeks. Brothels are also legal. (Source: Prostitution Policies Around the World)
  • Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and common. Laws require that prostitutes be 18 and customers be at least 16. A majority of the estimated 20,000-25,000 prostitutes are foreign. (Source: International Encyclopedia of Sexuality)
  • In the United Kingdom, prostitution remains legal, but many activities associated with it, including pimping and street solicitation, are banned.
  • In Russia prostitution is illegal, though not serious. Maximum fines are 2000 rubles, though organizing prostitution may be punishable with prison time.
  • In Sweden, prostitution is illegal because it was made a criminal activity to purchase the service. Prostitution was legal however from 1907 to 1999. (Source: The Age)
• Other Regions
  

  Other Regions

  • Canada allows prostitution, but most activities surrounding it are illegal, "making it virtually impossible to engage in prostitution without committing a crime." (Source: Vancouver Sun)
  • Most Central American and Caribbean nations allow prostitution, but not pimping. The laws on the legality of brothels differ between countries. Cuba does not allow any form of prostitution though.
  • Prostitution in Australia and New Zealand and activities associated with it are legal provided the participants are over 18.

Recent Developments

Additional Information

• In 2004, Berkeley, California voted 63.51% against decriminalizing prostitution. The same year, Churchill County, Nevada voted 62.78% in favor of keeping brothels legal, even though none existed there at the time. (Source: Prostitution ProCon)
• The state of Hawaii may consider a bill that will legalize prostitution in private and certain designated areas in the state.