What an interesting topic this week!
After you complete reading chapter 9 regarding sexual behavior this week, reflect on the practice of prostitution and discuss the implications that prostitution has for health (physical, emotional, and sexual) and whether it should remain largely illegal or whether it should be legalized. Explain your rationale and provide examples where possible.
There are a number of reasons to think that making prostitution legal might improve working conditions for prostitutes. If they were having a problem with a client, they could threaten to call the police. Not only could this threat reduce the risk of physical violence, but it could also allow them to demand that their clients use condoms. Additionally, according to supporters of legal prostitution, unlawful streetwalkers have no opportunity to vet their clients before their hurried, clandestine encounters.
A regular market for sex, whether online or in a brick-and-mortar establishment, could potentially solve that problem. Opponents dispute these theories, arguing that prostitution is inherently violent and dangerous, whether legal or not.
This should be a most lively discussion!