The World's Oldest Profession I clearly stirred up some unreceptive feelings with the column, Prostitutes Nominated for Honesty Award . For those who pointed out that prostitution causes crime, I would like to submit that most of the criminal activity surrounding prostitution is the direct result of... ...forcing it into the underworld of illegal activities... ...right along side of those unsavory types who inhabit that world. C ountries where prostitution is legal don't have the crime problems associated it with that we do. Yet, in the United States prostitution is a real problem. But there's a real solution. Legalize it. * It already is in many parts of the world. Even in at least one Nevada county in the good ol' U-S-of-A. If prostitution were legal we could - reduce or eliminate the rampant victimization of prostitutes by pimps, johns, and the whole unsavory raft of criminal elements commonly associated with it



control disease by requiring regular checkups and health certificates



get many prostitutes off the street and into a controlled environment



put more of our limited law enforcement resources into fighting major crimes



take away the impetus to get young women (and men) hooked on drugs in order to turn them into prostitutes (and profit)



eliminate a significant source of income for organized crime, and



put this multi-billion dollar business on the tax rolls. Right now, instead of deriving income from prostitution, we are spending large sums of money trying to wipe out "an evil" which.... ...has largely been created.... ...in a muddled effort to legislate morality. By legalizing prostitution, we would not be condoning it. Strangely, this is exactly the same conclusion the Catholic Church came to many years ago... ...before the anti-sex factions imposed their views on Christianity.** With some of the tax revenue generated by legalizing prostitution we could also do a little educating... ...inform some people that prostitution isn't exactly the way it is in Pretty Woman. B ut, legalizing prostitution hasn't a chance in hell. It makes too much sense. And it would be politically unpopular. And politicians depend too much on inflating issues like this to get elected. Interesting how we keep coming back to politics. *I have been informed that many would prefer prostitution decriminalized instead of legalized. I'll admit I didn't see a difference when I first wrote this. But, according to at least two organizations of "working women," if prostitution is just legalized, it will allow the government to impose all manner of unrealistic controls. Decriminalizing it would make it no different (and probably a lot safer than) than legal sports such as boxing, demolition derbies, and ice hockey. We should also note that even in some countries where prostitution is not legal, it tends to be ignored.

** A number of modern bible scholars have established that an anti-woman and anti-sex biblical perspective was imposed on Christianity for two primary reasons:



1. to to satisfy the emerging Church's social and political goals, and 2. to conform to the extensive dictates of an early Church "saint," a person who admitted he was suffering from serious personal problems related to sex and women FYI: A revealing and objective book on prostitution is Brothel by Alexa Albert, a graduate of Harvard Medical School.