who cares. Clean it up and tax it nevada style.

I am going to say yes, yes let the government regulate it, have the mandatory STD/HIV testing monthly, have the government give out free condoms, and have them tax it and take out the pimps and violence, have them drug tested as well, and provide means to improve themselves as well.

I'm with the group on this one....

As a father of four, I would hope my little girls would choose another career path...

But as long as they choose this of their own free will, and practiced safely in the profession, I would support their decision.

Thats not saying I would like it, but I would be there for them when they needed me.

I see no reason it should be any more illegal, than x rated film's....(thats sex for money also.)

Just like the "no alcohol on Sunday law" separation of church and state my ass!

Just once, I want to see a presidential candidate say "on the record" I don't believe in fairy tales, and I don't believe in your gods!

Definitely agree. It also seems places where it's legal actually have lower rates of STDs, rape, etc. The prostitutes also face much less violence.

Old joke:

Sister Brigid was teaching her young students one day and she asked each of them what they would like to be when they grew up. She came to a little girl who responded, "When I grow up I want to be a prostitute."

Shocked, good Sister Brigid fainted on the spot. Her students rushed to revive her. When she came around, Sister asked the little girl, "What did you say you wanted to be when you grew up?" The little girl replied, "A prostitute."

"Oh thank goodness," the relieved nun replied "I thought you said a Protestant."

Come to think about it, I have no idea why there are no male prostitutes! It seems so logical, there are assholes out there that try to sleep with as many women as possible, why not do it and get PAID!?!?! It's like a win win situation! It just doesn't make any sense.

Wow, what a shocker that a group of people who have thoughts all are in favor of legalizing prostitution.

If anyone ever questions me as to why I think it should be legal I simply respond with "Why should it be illegal to sell something that's free to give away?"

Sorry, you're right, I missed typed. I don't think I can go back and edit my posts after I post them. I mean that I don't know why there aren't MORE male prostitutes, not "no".

Them: "It cheapens what should be beautiful."

Me: "That's odd, it sounds to me like payment makes it more expensive."

Them: *blank look*

I love irony.

I always thought it was funny that paying people to have sex in front of a camera in the porn industry is fine, yet prostitution is illegal. Gambling in most states is now legal and leads to a self-destructive lifestyle that is much worse than prostitution could ever be. I say legalize it because any regulation of the "industry" makes it safer for everyone involved. Unfortunately the puritan heritage of our country cannot remove itself from what grown ups want to do behind closed doors.

double post

In general, male prostitutes are only going to be useful to other males.  This is a result of our evolution, not of artificial or misguided culture.  Females are the selectors in our species.  Prostitution is essentially a way for males to temporarily become a selector.  When you go to the Bunny Ranch, they bring a bunch of women out, and you choose which one(s) you want, and they will pretty much always do it with you.

Furthermore, across cultures, gays, when given the freedom to do so, tend to have many, many more partners than lesbians, on average.  It appears that even when social norms are not an issue, gender norms tend to persist.  The net result is that where gays are not punished or prosecuted for being gay, prostitution is largely unnecessary, since on average, gays are willing to have sex for free.  This is because natural selection has always favored men who fathered as many babies as possible, and those that were able to successfully attract as many women as possible.

Furthermore, natural selection has always favored women who choose men who are commitment centered and essentially monogamous.  Again, across cultures, women are more turned on by emotional and symbolic displays than by physical images or the promise of commitment free pleasure.  Women, though they do like the physical aspects of sex, are genetically programmed to be more wary of sex than men.  If men choose wrong, they've wasted five minutes (if she's lucky) and a teaspoon or two of fluid.  If a woman chooses wrong, she's in a pretty bad spot for about fifteen to eighteen years.

Even though modern society has eliminated a lot of the actual concern over pregnancy, we are still using the same brains as when we were hunter-gatherers.  We've had somewhere around seven or eight hundred generations since we discovered agriculture.  It takes many thousands for any kind of significant adaptation to show up in significant portions of the population.  In other words, whether they can be as sexually aggressive as men now, women tend to remain sexually discriminating.

Thus, not nearly as many male prostitutes.

As far as my personal opinion on prostitution, I honestly have a rather fatalist view of it.  Because women have always selected men who were assertive (read: violent), they have caused a catch-22 for themselves.  Their own offspring are likely to survive better with an assertive, clever, and strong father, but so is everyone else's, and intraspecies competition will be fierce.  Because resources are limited, men's aggressive (violent) tendencies will be magnified because of the need to compete for both mates and food.  The result, as we've seen, is that when men got smart enough to farm, they figured out how to get rich.  When they figured that out, they figured out how to buy their competition's loyalty.  That led to armies.  Armies are made of men, and control populations.  If the men are in control, that leaves the women to be controlled.  As we've seen, ever since we invented civilization, women have been under the thumbs of men.

Though we are more egalitarian now than we have been for much of our 'civilized' history, we are still using the same brains.  The end result is that prostitution is one of the most effective ways for women to control a resource that only they possess.  The one thing we haven't been able to get any good research on is the emotional/physiological effects of prostitution.   The jury's still out as to whether or not long term emotional detachment or sexual dysfunction commonly results, or if there's an artificial guilt complex stemming from socio-religious indoctrination.

Of course, the flip side of this is that there are negative emotional and physiological consequences of joining the Army, and we still do that quite a lot as a species. 

From a cultural/legal point of view, I can't think of any reason why it should be illegal to sell something that you can give away for free.

Like just about anything else, prostitution would be so much better off in accountable hands. Of course it should be legal, and regulated, and discussed (openly!)and objectively educated to people. Prohibition needs the same kind of treatment.

...That said, I don't buy the notion that making it legal will somehow 'solve' sex slavery and/or rape problems. The desire to rape someone stems from more than a simple desire for sex, and those profiting from sex slavery aren't going to simply evaporate into thin air because of new social standards (...besides that, I'd like to see some hard evidence that suggests countries with legalized prostitution have fewer rapes to begin with. I don't take 'my friend said' claims at face value).

As a Canadian citzen I was scratching my head at why you listed Canada as having legalized prostitution. I've always thought it was illegal in Canada because of the sting operations that happen all the time in Calgary to pick up street workers.

After doing some reading, apparently public solicitation and pimping is the only illegal part about it. Operating a brothel is illegal too, but not enforced in most cities as it provides a safer environment than doing housecalls.

...And, without legal public solicitation, brothels and/or pimping, how do you figure prostitution can legally exist?

Calling it 'legal' in Canada is a tough sell. Girls are regularly removed from street corners by police, pimps and johns are regularly stung and there's a general public atmosphere of intolerance. It's not like I can walk over to a prostitute and purchase her services in plain sight of the police without facing serious consequences.  

The rambo kitty suggests a shoot first, check facts later image. ~_^

So, what? You cold call people in the area until you find one that agrees (given that advertising for it is illegal)? The argument that it's 'technically not illegal' is stupid; there's no feasible means of finding a prostitute who doesn't solicit herself as one, and even assuming you did, you'd still get busted if the police found out you were doing it anyway. At that point, I doubt you'd find it very entertaining to try arguing law technicalities with the judge.

I have never understood why a woman (or man for that matter) can give sex away, but if money is involved both people are committing a crime. The law seems to only be in place because of religious moralities.

What the Gov. of New York did is between him and his family, and no one else should have anything to say about it... at least not legally.

Come to think of it, how many other laws serve no purpose other then to enforce some type of religious based morals... Not being able to buy hard alcohol on Sundays springs to mind.

It's hard to get data with low margins of error, but the historical and cross-cultural trend is crystal clear.  Yes, there are male prostitutes, and even some who service females, but for every one male-for-female prostitute, there are thousands of female-for-male.  Even if we allow for enough error that it's only hundreds, the tendency is undeniable.

I was not using evolution to prove the point.  I was showing that evolutionary theory backs up the data that already proved the point.

I didn't intend to say or imply that gay men need escorts.  In fact, that would kind of defeat my contention that male prostitutes are not as in demand as females.  I was trying to say that one of the reasons male prostitutes are rarer is that gay men don't need them as much as straight men need females.

You've obviously not read my essays on sexual behavior, or followed many of my discussions about it.  I'm pretty sure I ran off one of our mods because I would not let him get away with saying that humans are or have ever been primarily monogamous in practice. 

Everything that you're saying lines up exactly with my position on prostitution.

Just to be clear, my position (and I am pretty sure it's as current as it gets) is that human monogamy arises out of mutual jealousy, not out of sex drive.  Males, when they can, will have multiple mates.  Females, when they can, will often 'trade up' in secret while keeping a husband.

I started to type out a bunch of stuff pertaining to this, but then my brain kicked in.  Why don't you just read my essays first, and then if you think I've got something wrong about human sexuality, cite the study.

http://www.rationalresponders.com/what_science_says_about_human_sexuality

http://www.rationalresponders.com/on_myth_sexuality_and_culture

http://www.rationalresponders.com/whats_so_great_about_sex

http://www.rationalresponders.com/female_sexuality_and_origins

The basic biological contract between the sexes: "I will be your semen bag if you pay my rent." Sex-for-security is and has been the societal norm since we crawled up out of the mud and we women developed legs we could spread. Once men figured out that they had some role in the mysterious process of pregnancy and childbirth they wasted no time in finding ways to wrest control of women's reproductive power away from them. The curse of Eve was just the beginning...

Cash-for-cooze is so much more honest and above-board than the "morally righteous" marriage contract, but remains a "crime" due to its giving the control of the pussy to the person it's physically attached to rather than its "legal owner" (husband). Adultery is a sin/crime because it's considered the theft of one man's "property" by another - NOT because it's a betrayal of a husband by a wife. People forget this, or never knew it in the first place, because here in modern times marriage and sex have been romanticized beyond what was originally intended as the codification of which pussy belongs to whom (which never included the woman herself, of course).

Here in America, we use sex to sell everything from cars to hamburgers; but GAWD FORBID we actually sell sex... or use sex to sell sex (the porn industry comes to mind). It's mind-boggling (and infuriating)! However, the never-ending attempts by religionists to criminalize any behavior that gives people sovereignty over their sexuality have kept me busy fighting those efforts for nearly 30 years now; and although there have been a few victories for "my side," it's clear that I've much work left to do... and everyone needs a hobby, right?

"Blue laws" still exist everywhere: no-alcohol Sundays, laws against personal drug use, zoning (strip clubs and dildo stores), prostitution, gambling... pretty much any law proscribing anything related to "vice" has its roots in religion. If it involves physical or otherwise corporeal enjoyment, it's against God and therefore must be punished with all due haste.

 (edit: pussy as property - you beat me to it, dammit hamby! )

Frustration, perhaps... but definitely regret! At the ripe old age of 45, I finally realize that I totally fucked up by not taking advantage of the ability to monetize my "precious gift." I should have at least held out for an apartment, jewelry, gifts, or even skilled labor, if not cold, hard cash! If only I hadn't fallen prey to romantic notions, I might have realized I was sitting, quite literally, on a gold mine! This is a lesson I will NOT let my daughter learn for herself. I've told her, "As soon as you stop saying, 'No', you lose ALL of your power. Forget love, romance and all that bullshit... concentrate on the power and the value of your sexual favors and be miserly with them. NEVER give away something for nothing - anything worth having is worth proving yourself deserving of it. Make him prove he's worthy, and make the test really difficult!"

I'm more than happy to concede the point, simply on the grounds that you've obviously studied the issue much more thoroughly than I, in more areas of discipline. Everything I know (or think I know, ha!) is the result of self-education, so I'm in no way an expert or a scholar by any stretch of the imagination.

Hmmm... maybe I should've held out for a formal education. Shit, my skill at fellatio alone would likely have covered 4 years at Yale, dammit!

Absolutely - I think my comments came out of a misread of your post. You seemed to be oversimplifying, but I see now that you were just summarizing for the purpose of the current discussion. My mistake.

Simply tossing out "avoiding suffering" as a basis of morality is both simplistic and naive.  I don't know of any competent ethicists who would suggest such a thing.  With only "avoiding suffering" as a motive, I can suggest that genocide is moral, since two minutes in the gas chamber is substantially less suffering than would be suffered by the average human being in fifty years of life.

Obviously, such a statement is ludicrous.  Morality is the interplay of the well-being of one person as weighed against the well-being of another, and reduced suffering is most certainly not the end goal in all situations.

Please, stop driving this very instant.  NEVER, EVER get behind the wheel of a car again!  Whether you realize it or not, your chances of dying painfully in a car crash are much higher than your risk of dying painfully from an STD, particularly if you practice safe sex.  Condoms are well over 90% effective in completely preventing the spread of STDs.  Seatbelts, on the other hand, just seek to minimize the damage if you are in a crash.

Please, for the love of God, NEVER, EVER drink, smoke, or overeat.  Don't eat any processed sugar.  Eat only fresh, unprocessed foods, and never fry.  Don't expose your skin to the sun.  Don't live anywhere near a big city.  The air pollution is a blatant risk to your own health.

Ah.  I love this one.  The old, "Women can't have sex without wanting a relationship" argument.  The funny thing is, men invented this.  It turns out, it's not as clear cut as you suggest.  Yes, humans do form relationships based on sexual intimacy, but they also, across cultures, throughout history, have sex without forming relationships -- both for money and not for money.

Furthermore, there's little compelling evidence to suggest that the emotional harm from engaging in casual sex (assuming that in any instance it causes emotional harm) is particularly worse than say, working at a demeaning and low paying job for fifty hours a week for twenty years.

You're very good at recounting the public's opinions about prostitution, but you're not producing scientific information.  What does "likely" mean?  Are people in lukewarm relationships also likely to have post coital depression?  If they are, should they stop having sex?  What are the long term consequences of post coital depression?  Are they a primary cause of more serious mental disorders, or are they relatively benign in otherwise healthy people?  What percentage of people suffer from this?  What confounding variables are present in the studies, such as societal stigma and religious belief?

May I ask what kind of counseling certificate you have?  Or do you have a degree in psychology?

If you have been trained in psychology, why aren't you citing studies and scientific correlations?  You're essentially right, but your absolutist attitude is, well, rather unscientific.  How do you justify this?

(I have to go now.  I'll address the rest later.

Ok, so what is your opinion about prostitution?  ////   ummm ????

I LOVE IT        kindly help it !  Make it all nice .....     Fuck me GOOD ! 

I will share my fortunes with you ......  and thanks .....