Gripe of the Day: Laws Against Prostitution

We Americans are gradually learning to be more tolerant of other cultures - within our culture as we at last, in earnest, accept the notion of the melting-pot concept. We have touted ourselves for generations as they tolerant nation but never have we actually lived up to those claims. In this day of our history I believe that we can genuinely say that, while not fulfilled, our efforts at tolerance are true and sincere. It is the brilliance of the rule-of-law, even more than the ideals of Democracy, that has delivered us to a greater state of acceptance. The Law is our rock and foundation but it is also our controversy.

There is the absolute, objective and literal law, then there is the spirit of the law. Those two issues are grounds for constant debate and controversy but then you add to that, the idea of the foundation of the law, and you have a real set of problems. The foundation of the law is basically the moral reasoning for its codification. Many laws are non-objectionably aimed at moral control; it is illegal to murder; it is illegal to steal; it is illegal to rape; it is illegal to prostitute. While there is clear and just reasoning for many moral-laws as they ensure the survival of our civilization (it is illegal to murder), others, I believe, cross the line of protecting society to meddling in people's right to have their own personal set of morals - so long as they cause no injury to society at large.

Laws against prostitution cross the line. While I'm not one to solicit the services of a prostitute, a very reasonable case could be made for the social benefit of their existence. I will not make that case because it's besides the point - a diversion from the real issue. The real issue is whether we have a right to legislate personal morality. I think not. This is a freedom we are born with - to live as righteously or as wretchedly as we choose. The government's role is to ensure that regardless of our decision, the opportunity to walk either path is not obstructed and its role is also to ensure that my wretchedness doesn't pollute your righteousness or that your righteousness doesn't intrude upon my wretchedness. Though some may judge a life of prostitution to be a wretched choice of existence, it is none the less, a choice and it is a choice.

Imagine if we made a law against promiscuity. This is essentially what the laws against prostitution are. The only difference between being a promiscuous person and a prostitute is the fact that a prostitute gets paid for their promiscuity. I fail to see how the fact that a person is paid for sex acts with lots of people, all of a sudden makes this such a bad thing that a law is needed to prevent it. Are we saying that it's okay to be promiscuous up to the point that someone gives you money, at which point, it turns into something so horrendous that the government has to intercede? That is the silliest proposition I have ever heard.

We all know one thing about prostitution if we know nothing else about it and that is that it has been around since man has recorded history. Why do you think that is? Do you believe that those engaging in prostitution have been so oppressed, historically, that they have had no other choice but to resort to prostitution? Do you believe that there is an inherent evil within the human condition that will always express itself in ways such as vial acts of promiscuous sex? Perhaps you believe that certain people are natural born predators who have victimized people throughout history - imposing this perverse condition of compromised morality on the weak and susceptible. With the exception of a state of prostitution against personal will, the fact that this is an issue of personal moral concern can not be avoided.

Judgmental people really get under my skin. One sad fact about the psychology of people is that, when we choose to commit to something we have an almost insatiable desire to have others agree and commit with us. It is a result of our need for companionship, fellowship, communion; socializing with the equally yoked and like-minded. This need to have people agree with us - to not be alone in our convictions - to have our beliefs validated, lead to our attempts to convert others so that we have company and comfort in our ideals. Most people's morality is derived from their religious laws. Thus comes proselytism and judgment of others. We almost can't help ourselves. It is perhaps, the most important and difficult cultural evolutions of time - to truly accept other people and their personal morality without sensing a need to change/convert them. Who a person has sex with; how many people a person has sex with; how often a person has sex; these are all very personal decisions and only the participants in the act(s) incur any real consequences for participating.

I watched the episodes of the Tyra Banks show wherein she confronted women who were working as prostitutes for a legal brothel. I could not help but to be irritated by the thickness of the judgment in the air. It looked like she was telling grown women who or what was the appropriate person or manner to be penetrated. It appeared that Tyra was doing everything she could to dance around a prevent from revealing the reality that she was simply judging these people for choices that have nothing to do with her self. No one wants to be guilty of being judgmental but this fact has to be admitted to and resolved before those who care to stop prostitution will ever have the attentive ear of those on the other side of the table.

Personally, I don't care what people do in private, especially with the one thing that is truly their own; their bodies. When whores start having sex on the streets, for all to see, blocking traffic, that's when I'll care. Until then, stay out of people's bedroom why don't cha! Anywho, I'm vented.