Brothels

[OzAtheist]

We've had the discussion on abortion running for ages, so how about a different topic?

Do you think brothels should be legal, or at least decriminalised?

[background: just watched an excellent documentary about some little old ladies trying to get brothels legalised in the UK]

Discuss and give your reasons, for or against.

[davo]

ok, my problem with brothels is not the brothels, but lies in the general structure of the sex industry, being under a capitalist system, it is therefore exploitive to the workers.

I am not 'against' prostitution, if that makes sense. What someone does with their body is their business.

So really, if a brothel was a collective venture of the people working there, equally distributing the income, I would have no problem with it.

EDIT: I suppose I should answer the question ...

I think they should be legalised, so that the exploitative format is avoided. I think they should be run by the workers, and not business interests outside of them

[SchizoDeluxe]

Yes they should be legal. Under supervised and legal conditions, brothels are much safer than criminalising the industry. The porn industry alone thrives despite much of it being censored and prohibited. Penn & Teller did an excellent episode of this on the bullshit show, shed a lot of light on how they actually operate. Besides, why should it be illegal to give someone an orgasm? If people can give it away for free, why is it an issue when money is involved? I think people have rape and prostitution confused and mixed together, not saying that bad stuff doesn't occur in the industry but making it illegal has not helped one bit. It's the whole sex thing as well, people are just uncomfortable about the subject.

[Cody]

Definitely should be legalised regulated and taxed.

[His Noodly Appendage]

Yep. Legal, regulated, taxed. As I think George Carlin said, sex is legal and selling is legal... so why selling sex be illegal?

I certainly don't see the industry as exploitative - every profession in the world has people doing things they don't want to for money. I certainly get sick of my job from time to time, but I wouldn't want it banned.

And frankly, prostitutes have my most massive respect. I could never do their job, certainly not well enough to earn a living. I mean, I burn out just working tech support, and there the clients are only figuratively in my face / up my arse / on my tits all day long...

[Vonnie]

In Queensland, there are quite a few legal brothels. Not decriminalised, but legal. Of course, they are regulated and taxed too. And I'm all for them.

I drive past one once a week or so. It's always interesting to see who's car is in the carpark! I've recognised one or two of those cars... From the various utes with work gear in the back, it appears that most of the customers at this particular brothel appear to be tradies, but that's probably because it's in the 'burbs, and I drive past during the day. Their clientelle may well change at night.

Good on them, I say (both the brothels and the customers)!

Vonnie

[Kerri-Lee]

Legalised, regulated and taxed. Mostly I'm concerned for the women and I guess men too who get beaten and treated badly. Other criminal activities tend to go on alongside prostitution like money laundering,the drug trade and sex slaves- this is a problem in the UK where Eastern European women are being smuggled into Britain with the promise that they will be given legitimate work, what actually happens is that their passports are taken and they are locked in a brothel.

[davo]

exactly. most all of these issues would disappear thru the simple requirement of workers control and ownership of their labour.

When people say other criminal activities go alongside prostitution, I have to point out that anything that is exploitative is criminal, and it tends to be criminal gangs that use anything that can be exploited, so that's 'why' they 'go alongside' each other, not because they are directly related, but because criminal elements use everything they can exploit for profit. create a market by having something illegal and unregulated, there they will be.

[Vonnie]

Surely there must be legal brothels in states other than Queensland?

Vonnie

[davo]

Victoria has around 100 http://www.aaei.com.au/licensedbrothels.htm