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     News: Prostitution should be legalized ... NOT!

    Porn, Prostitution, Sex IndustryOrigionally Published www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Winnipeg/Rev_Harry_Lehotsky/2005/02/27/943779.html

    By Rev. Harry Lehotsky -- Winnipeg Sun

    This week, some Young Liberals and older Grits introduced a resolution to erase the part of the criminal code that outlaws communicating for the purpose of prostitution.

    Sun, February 27, 2005

    It seems that's their sorry political way of dealing with crime - redefine or wipe out the words which define it as a crime. Part of their resolution claims, "The sex trade is a profession central to the subsistence of many Canadian citizens ..."

    Do they realize what that sounds like? It's like some crass claim that "Some women are whores -- always have been and always will be."

    They're just repackaging the stale claim that since prostitution is the world's oldest profession we just leave it alone. Actually, farming preceded prostitution. Still, they suggest that since we haven't yet stopped prostitution, we should quit trying. Instead we should try to regulate it.

    What would happen if advocates extended this logic to rape, incest, wife-beating, and racism? They're also among the oldest practices on the face of the earth.

    The argument is strikingly similar to that of slave-traders. They argued it was the best option available to some people. They claimed they were doing poor folk a favour. I'm thankful abolitionists didn't swallow that garbage.

    It's not only Young Grits who support the scheme to decriminalize prostitution. The most naive and negligent contingent of many groups seems to support the notion.

    Some leftists and socialists will seize any opportunity to tax another poor worker. Some conservatives see their potential profit before the pain of others. In the libertarian's imagination it all works out and nobody gets hurt. The trouble is we don't live in their imagination, we live in the real world.

    It took the cake when I heard some association of physicians supported the notion. I figured they must have taken some hypocritical oath instead of the Hippocratic Oath.

    Nobody with a charge in health or protection should support legitimizing sexploitation. It harms people mentally, physically and spiritually. There's no way around the facts.

    Advocates argue that legalization will expose the trade to regulation. NOT! The potential of regulation doesn't equal a reality of regulation. We have regulations against over-serving in bars and usury by lenders. The enforcement of both is mocked on a daily basis. The City of Winnipeg already can't handle enforcement of escort and massage parlour licensing. We need to give them more they can't handle?

    Advocates argue that legalization will bring in taxes to increase outreach and enforcement. NOT! Instead, it hampers support for exit programs. It increases exponentially the sex tourism and illegal trade which requires enforcement. Tax evasion runs rampant in the sex trade. The Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam states only 5-10% of prostitutes in the Netherlands pay taxes.

    Advocates argue that legalization will regulate the health of prostitutes. NOT! In Australian Victoria, decriminalization of prostitution hasn't helped. One study indicated that between 2000 and 2002 there has been a 91% increase in women presenting with HIV infections. A study in Melbourne found 40% of customers had used prostitutes without condoms.

    Drug-addicted or infected prostitutes in Reno can't work in legalized venues. That doesn't mean they quit. They just work elsewhere. Illegally and cheaper. What can cost $200 in a legal establishment can cost only $20 in a back lane.

    Sounds like a bargain

    There are way too many value-conscious Winnipeggers to propose such a useless regulation scheme here.

    Advocates argue legalization will eliminate the control of organized crime. NOT! The legalization of gambling and provincial VLTs hasn't stopped the proliferation of illegal gambling in Winnipeg. A Vancouver cop commented that organized crime is quite happy when governments become proponents of gambling because it simply increases their player base. Legalization allows government to profit from misery, with an occasional kick-back to addiction services as a salve to the collective conscience.

    After legalization and "regulation" of brothels in Australia's Victoria, police estimate that there are 95 legal and 400 illegal brothels. In Amsterdam, the mayor recently complained that it appeared "impossible to create a safe and controllable zone for women that was not open to abuse by organized crime." Instead, the abusive trafficking of women for sexploitation is rampant. And other neighbourhoods are still demanding the removal of street prostitution. Sound familiar?

    Advocates for legalization argue that it removes the stigma from prostitutes. NOT! As if legalizing it will suddenly cloak prostitutes with self-respect and community honour! In the Netherlands, many women don't want to "register" in the "legal" trade because they're afraid of losing their anonymity. Why?

    Some want enforcement on the customers but not the providers in the sex trade. Odd that many of the same people want the opposite in the drug trade --enforcement on the providers but not the customers. That's really inconsistent! I figure both ends of both transactions are deciding to continue a harmful trade and should bear equal responsibility for stopping. It's confusing and contradictory enough when Canadian courts assert that prostitution is legal but communication for the purpose of prostitution is illegal.

    Legalizing, decriminalizing, accommodating or legitimizing exploitation and harm is wrong.

    At best, it's naivete. At worst, it's malfeasance and outright negligence.



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