Prostitution leads to human trafficking

In America today, there are thousands and thousands of women who are working in the prostitution industry. They are forced to work there because they are victims of human trafficking. They are not choosing to work there, and there is nothing empowering about women working in the sex trade.

I strongly believe that prostitution should not be legalized because it would only encourage human traffickers to supply the demand, and that more women will fall victim to the industry.

Many people are that prostitution should be legalized because we will never be able to get rid of it. They say that it is called the world’s oldest profession for a reason, and that the government should not attempt to make it illegal. The pro-legalization forces state that by legalizing prostitution, then women will not be forced to work in the black market and can have access to health services and make sure that the men who are their customers treat them properly and respect the women’s rights.

After keeping an open mind about this issue, I studied many different articles and books about prostitution. After my research, I have come to the conclusion that prostitution should not be legalized.

First, legalization does not decrease human trafficking, but rather, it increases it. Human traffickers are able to use their trade to fill up the legal brothers. In a study of the legal prostitution market in the Netherlands, up to 80 percent of women working in the brothels were foreign born. Germany also legalized their sex trade because lawmakers thought that it would decrease human trafficking. However, the opposite happened and human trafficking increased. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, nine out of ten women working in brothels in Germany were from Eastern Europe.

Legalization also increases the black market in prostitution. Although the idea for legalization is to bring it out of the shadows, research has shown that it increases the illegal brothels. Women are afraid of the shame of being known as a prostitute, and do not with to register and be properly licensed. They don’t want their names and faces to be associated as a prostitute, so the attempt to hide from government regulators and ply their trade on the black market. So the idea that it brings the women out of the streets is wrong, and legalization in fact does the opposite and makes the women go further into the streets to hide from society.

Lastly, the health of the women does not improve in legalized prostitution. The risk of sexual transmitted diseases are still high. Although brothels may have a mandatory condom policy, it is very difficult to enforce and many women feel forced for financial reasons to disregard the policy.

I hope that I was able to show you why prostitution should not be legalized. A legal prostitution industry would increase human trafficking, cause more women to hide deeper in the black market, and has no improvement over the health of the women.