Re: Should prostitution be legalized?
Some interesting articles I've found regarding Germany and Europe:
Academic and government reports and studies:
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/n...afficking.aspx (I'd be really interested in reading this entire report)
http://www.stiftung-evz.de/fileadmin...in_germany.pdf (this is long, but really interesting. I haven't finished reading it yet so I can't give a full comment, but from what I've read it's suggested that the solution to human trafficking lies more in human rights laws. There's less about legal prostitution here, but when you read the document it's clear that forced sex work is still a problem and that legalized prostitution hasn't helped change that).
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/192367.htm (Backs up some of the suggested solutions above, and also suggests tougher punishments are needed. It also implies that the demand for sex work and sex tourism is high, and this is a problem. This backs up the findings in the report in the first link).
News and Media Articles:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-387277.html (I actually remember this....there WAS a huge surge in ads during the world cup, and at one point a woman tried to "recruit" me to a brothel while I was at Zoo Station. It's been shot down at times, but I can attest that the market for sex tourism surged in 2005-2006, and there are lots of reports to back me up here).
Etc.
Anyway, I'm bringing up Germany both because I live here, and because it has legalized prostitution. Prostitution was legalized in order to help stop trafficking of sex workers, however, there seems to be a multitude of data on how this has not been the case. It's a complex issue and there are still a lot of things Germany does wrong. There seem to be other countries that are much more successful at battling trafficking without legalizing prostitution. There's also some suggestion that legalization expands the market for the sale of sex and therefore increases trafficking. At any rate, the solution seems to lie in stricter visas with more background checks, better resources and asylum for victims, and tougher prosecution of traffickers, whether prostitution is legal or not.
Some interesting articles I've found regarding Germany and Europe:
Academic and government reports and studies:
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/n...afficking.aspx (I'd be really interested in reading this entire report)
http://www.stiftung-evz.de/fileadmin...in_germany.pdf (this is long, but really interesting. I haven't finished reading it yet so I can't give a full comment, but from what I've read it's suggested that the solution to human trafficking lies more in human rights laws. There's less about legal prostitution here, but when you read the document it's clear that forced sex work is still a problem and that legalized prostitution hasn't helped change that).
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/192367.htm (Backs up some of the suggested solutions above, and also suggests tougher punishments are needed. It also implies that the demand for sex work and sex tourism is high, and this is a problem. This backs up the findings in the report in the first link).
News and Media Articles:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-387277.html (I actually remember this....there WAS a huge surge in ads during the world cup, and at one point a woman tried to "recruit" me to a brothel while I was at Zoo Station. It's been shot down at times, but I can attest that the market for sex tourism surged in 2005-2006, and there are lots of reports to back me up here).
Etc.
Anyway, I'm bringing up Germany both because I live here, and because it has legalized prostitution. Prostitution was legalized in order to help stop trafficking of sex workers, however, there seems to be a multitude of data on how this has not been the case. It's a complex issue and there are still a lot of things Germany does wrong. There seem to be other countries that are much more successful at battling trafficking without legalizing prostitution. There's also some suggestion that legalization expands the market for the sale of sex and therefore increases trafficking. At any rate, the solution seems to lie in stricter visas with more background checks, better resources and asylum for victims, and tougher prosecution of traffickers, whether prostitution is legal or not.
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