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No, it does not look like you see what I was saying. I said explicitly that exploited sex workers don't really have freedom of choice. Their "captivity" isn't e

No, it does not look like you see what I was saying. I said explicitly that exploited sex workers don't really have freedom of choice. Their "captivity" isn't even economic. In some cases it is outright physical captivity, sometimes it is legal captivity (illegal immigrants), psychological captivity or even addiction. Don't assume that a prostitute can just walk away from her pimp, because you think you would be able to do so in her place. I'm not talking about higher-priced or even "self-employed" prostitutes, I'm talking about the "mass market". These women don't earn more than minimum wage. Sometimes less, all things considered. In lots of cases they would even get more social benefits than the pimps pay them... In some reported cases the pimps take even the social benefits from their "employees".

javert 13y ago
There are two cases here. First case: I am totally against slavery and any kind of coersion. That is what we have a government for. Second case: Psychological problems. We can't actually solve for those people by forbidding prostitution (or whatever the cause du jour is). If wages are still so low that people literally can't survive, guess what? You have a glut on the labor market, probably because of decades of government policy that encouraged people to have more children than the society can economically sustain. Don't blame that on capitalism. You have to either take the medicine (reduce social benefits) or be permanently sick.
- bayesianhorse 13y ago
  We can't solve the "psychological problems" of prostitutes, so that makes both pimping and using prostitutes morally ok? Why not make using prostitutes illegal? Seems to work like a charm in Sweden. In Germany we have legalized prostitution. Turns out, that pimps and illegal prostitution benefited a lot more than "regular" prostitutes, however you define that. For that matter all of these girls would be able to earn more money and live a better life (even illegal immigrants in some cases) if they would just go to the authorities and claim unemployment benefits. How do you explain that they "prefer" sex work over easier jobs with more money or no job with more money. Easiest explanation: It's not so much about the prostitutes' "preferences". In many countries around the world, especially the more developed ones there just is no economic need for women to go into low-rate prostitution. More expensive "engagements", maybe, but that's more of an exception than the rule. Even begging is preferable to being kept in a brothel and get raped multiple times a day (no, they don't have "fun", and without "fun" it will feel and hurt like rape).

javert 13y ago

There are two cases here. First case: I am totally against slavery and any kind of coersion. That is what we have a government for. Second case: Psychological problems. We can't actually solve for those people by forbidding prostitution (or whatever the cause du jour is). If wages are still so low that people literally can't survive, guess what? You have a glut on the labor market, probably because of decades of government policy that encouraged people to have more children than the society can economically sustain. Don't blame that on capitalism. You have to either take the medicine (reduce social benefits) or be permanently sick.

bayesianhorse 13y ago
We can't solve the "psychological problems" of prostitutes, so that makes both pimping and using prostitutes morally ok? Why not make using prostitutes illegal? Seems to work like a charm in Sweden. In Germany we have legalized prostitution. Turns out, that pimps and illegal prostitution benefited a lot more than "regular" prostitutes, however you define that. For that matter all of these girls would be able to earn more money and live a better life (even illegal immigrants in some cases) if they would just go to the authorities and claim unemployment benefits. How do you explain that they "prefer" sex work over easier jobs with more money or no job with more money. Easiest explanation: It's not so much about the prostitutes' "preferences". In many countries around the world, especially the more developed ones there just is no economic need for women to go into low-rate prostitution. More expensive "engagements", maybe, but that's more of an exception than the rule. Even begging is preferable to being kept in a brothel and get raped multiple times a day (no, they don't have "fun", and without "fun" it will feel and hurt like rape).