Prostitution - Is it a Good Thing?

For a start there's a presupposition that there is no element of coercion involved.

Secondly there's a presupposition that sex is a commodity to be bought and traded and hence devalued by being made common in the marketplace and indeed devaluing women who form the vast bulk of those involved in prostitution.

There is often extreme violence meted on women who work as prostitutes when clients feel that they are buying the person as well as the service and are entitled to treat her any way they want. It's not the criminalisation that causes the problem here, ibis, it's the attitude of the purchaser towards the good he is purchasing.

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Violence in Prostitution
Eighty-two percent of these respondents reported having been physically assaulted since entering prostitution. Of those who had been physically assaulted, 55% had been assaulted by customers. Eighty-eight percent had been physically threatened while in prostitution, and 83% had been physically threatened with a weapon. Eight percent reported physical attacks by pimps and customers which had resulted in serious injury (for example, gunshot wounds, knife wounds, injuries from attempted escapes).
Sixty-eight percent of these respondents reported having been raped since entering prostitution. Forty-eight percent had been raped more than five times. Forty-six percent of those who reported rapes stated that they had been raped by customers. Forty-nine percent reported that pornography was made of them in prostitution; and 32% had been upset by an attempt to make them do what customers had seen in pornography.

from a study involving 130 prostitutes in San Francisco. 75% of respondents were women, 13% male and 12% transgendered.

Sex for money is pretty pervasive in society. Before money was invented it was probably sex for fur, or meat, or sex with one person in exchange for not having sex with anyone and everyone. There are a lot of issues - power, personal safety, ethics and morality and I don't really have a one-size-fits-all view about it.

Most women who work as prostitutes are either mothers doing it for their children or are addicted. There are also "career prostitutes" for whom it is a profession and there is hit and run prostitution - people who do it for a short time for a specific financial goal, including students. Women's position in society is not equal with men's and that is reflected in sexual relationships as in everything else.

A lot of prostitution used to involve older men who were widowed or whose wives were off sex (or off their husbands ). There were a lot of regular relationships. Some women look at it as though they are providing a social service for a reasonable fee. It is said that this has changed, with more younger men paying for sex.

I don't count coerced trafficking as prostitution. It is abduction and rape - I would lock the door on the perpetrators and throw away the key.