The World's Oldest Profession

My buddy, Todd, sent me a rather interesting article from the Associated Press explaining that Amsterdam city officials are going to be shutting down about one third of the prostitution “windows” in the famous red light district. The new measure designed to “revoke brothels’ licenses when it suspects operators have used them for money laundering or other illegal financial activity” goes into effect on the 1st of January. (For anyone interested in reading the article, it can be found here…)

Something tells me that this move is going to be completely misconstrued by the morally righteous out there. The shutdown is actually not a condemnation of prostitution in general; rather it is an attempt to battle the illegal financial activities that the prostitution industry is currently teeming with. The goal is laudable; however I worry a bit about the negative implications that this is going to be placing on an industry that many believe shouldn’t even exist. I do, however, think that “the world’s oldest profession” will survive. Who knows? Maybe this is a step in the right direction? Perhaps if all of the illegal activities associated with prostitution are controlled more thoroughly, prostitution might be able to become a more reputable industry.

The thing is that (apart from the rather large crowd of – usually religious – naysayers out there) I think any educated person can easily understand the benefits that prostitution actually provides to a society. It gives men a sexual outlet to utilize rather than forcing these same men to find their own way of obtaining sex – seems to me that this should have a positive impact on rape and other sexually related crimes. Other benefits of legalized prostitution are currently being stressed by the Croation People’s Party. They believe it would cut the spreading of sexual diseases by imposing better controls. Prostitutes would have to report to the authorities to get employee status, social security and health care. They would also be required to get tested for venereal diseases on a regular basis. This would give the prostitutes more incentive to practice safe sex as catching a disease could very well eliminate their source of income.

Unfortunately this issue is really only arguable outside of the United States (the “land of the free” … indeed…) as the US government has already made it very clear that prostitution, itself will always be a crime. (Well, except for Nevada … and why, exactly is it legal in Nevada? I need to look into that a bit…) In fact, back in May of this year, Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights, urged Germany to re-criminalize prostitution (prostitution was legalized there in 2001) and suggested that the nation should be reclassified as an “egregious violator” of human trafficking. Interestingly enough, the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report gave Germany its highest overall rating for compliance on efforts to stop trafficking. Is it possible that Mr. Smith is using something other than facts in his recommendations? Perhaps he feels that his morals are so pristine that he is compelled to forcefully impose these morals on, not only his actual constituents, but foreign countries as well…? Once again, the arrogance of the US government shows its ugly face…

I’m interested in hearing what your thoughts are on these issues.

bis später,

Coriolis