Legalized prostitution inhumane? (letters to the editor).In the January/February 2003 issue of the Humanist hu·man·ist n. 1. A believer in the principles of humanism. 2. One who is concerned with the interests and welfare of humans. 3. a. A classical scholar. b. A student of the liberal arts. , Alice Leuchtag ("Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution prostitution, act of granting sexual access for payment. Although most commonly conducted by females for males, it may be performed by females or males for either females or males. ") denigrates prostitution and calls for stronger laws to crack down on it or stamp it out. Yet I find considerable cause for skepticism. Leuchtag captures our imagination with the tragic tale of a Thai girl named Siri. By article's end, we are very tempted to think with our hearts instead of our brains. However, we know that slave trafficking is responsible for many other evils besides prostitution. There are sweatshops where women are forced to work in intolerable conditions manufacturing garments. The same tragedy plays out in the agricultural industry where immigrants are forced into slavery picking crops. The tragic tales of all of these people are no less horrific hor·rif·ic adj. Causing horror; terrifying. [Latin horrificus : horr  re, to tremble + -ficus, -fic. .
So I tested the logic and conclusions of Leuchtag's attack on prostitution by substituting the garment industry and agriculture in place of the sex industry. From this I couldn't avoid the idea that steps must be taken to shut down garment manufacture and crop harvesting worldwide. Such a solution is, of course, absurd. Manufacturing garments and picking crops aren't the problem. Neither is prostitution. Trafficking in slaves is. The prescribed pre·scribe v. pre·scribed, pre·scrib·ing, pre·scribes v.tr. 1. To set down as a rule or guide; enjoin. See Synonyms at dictate. 2. To order the use of (a medicine or other treatment). crackdown crack·down n. An act or example of forceful regulation, repression, or restraint: a crackdown on crime. Noun 1. should be on slavery not on prostitution. Leuchtag goes on to argue that legalization LEGALIZATION. The act of making lawful. 2. By legalization, is also understood the act by which a judge or competent officer authenticates a record, or other matter, in order that the same may be lawfully read in evidence. Vide Authentication. and regulation of prostitution isn't a viable answer. She cites as evidence the "Amsterdam model" of legalization and regulation. But if the abuses she alleges under regulation are real, regulation isn't real and her argument falsifies itself. Prostitution won't go away no matter how much tyranny Tyranny Big Brother omnipresent leader of a totalitarian nightmare world. [Br. Lit.: 1984] Creon rules Thebes with cruel decrees. [Gk. Lit.: Antigone] Gessler Austrian governor treats Swiss despotically; shot by Tell. is applied to suppress it. Prohibition simply drives it underground where human rights advocates have no oversight of conditions or voice in the process. We have many examples of communities where prostitution has been driven underground. Can these communities credibly demonstrate that the prostitutes in their midst are suffering fewer abuses? As a humanist, I think not--and I think it anti-human to take that approach. James A. Young Lithia, FL |
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