i totally agree with this article! i am very sure it is not everyone's choice to become a prostitute and it maybe the only way to earn money very easily however, it is just wronggg!! also, it is hard for me to accept prostitution being legalized anywhere in the world. There are many negative sides for prostitution being legalized..

Dear Adoni,
I believe that much of the scorn attributed to prostitution is because as practiced, it is not a victimless crime. Spouses, and families suffer. If legally married adults, and of course all legal children, were systematically excluded from participation in these adult fun and games, I think that the stigma would subside. Now, would a man or woman want to marry an ex-prostitute? I would not try it without some *serious* pre-marital counseling. Would former sex service workers marry one another, why not? These questions and dilemmas have and are being addressed probably every day. Whether they are being addressed honestly is another question entirely. I would feel very betrayed and lied to if I found out that the woman I married...the woman I shared my heart and life with had prostituted herself and not told me about it before I said "I do". What a hideous lie that would be. A person should have that choice to make. To take that choice from them is to deny them a valid decision regardless of what decision they make. Does that make sense? God Bless you and yours, Always. BTW, a veil would do nothing to hide your beauty either. What lovely eyes which shine through a so-so photograph of you.

In response to her column, first the facts. In every place where prostitution has been legalized, it has NOT resulted in the improvement of conditions for women. In every place where prostitution has been legalized it HAS resulted in increase in trafficking of women and girls. Extensive documentation exists on this. If you want to end trafficking, you cannot legalize prostitution which demands more and more, younger and younger fresh meat. Further 95% of women say they do not want legalization, they want out. Women need options to escape - housing, education, health care, day care, jobs, job training, drug treatment. The problem is not the women. The problem is a patriarchal culture that says men have a right to the services of women whenever, where ever and how ever they want. Until we realize that women are not products for men to purchase or rent, we cannot hope to reach equality.

And, yes, I support your point of view to stop human trafficking in all forms all across the world.

Also, the Arab world in particualr needs to look into their societies' hidden practice of exploiting poor women from other parts of the world and subjecting them to the most degrading kind of human abuse for fulfilling their carnal desires.

Serious Sex education is required for such people and lot of introspection too.

Legalizing prostitution does not mean to degrade women involved in this trade but to ensure a safe and secure life with some amount of 'dignity' for them which is ironically never there though in their 'transactions' there is always a male involved! Height of Hypocrisy!

I guess what bothers me here is the inveterate assumption that prostitutes are always "tricked, duped, forced, coerced, beaten, threatened, into it. It is true that each of those happens sometimes. It is also true that some choose this path for themselves freely and willingly and think it a great way of life. Quite a few are actually very nice people as well. Lighten up>

Thank you for your very thoughtful analysis. I am glad that you raised the necessity for protection of prostitutes.

In the USA prostitution is illegal. But it isn't illegal to use prostitutes. Questions as to why a person would have chosen such a self-destructive path are seldom asked. Prostitutes end up in jail, but those who pushed them into prostitution, aren't punished.

Unpaid prostitution, so-called leisure sex, is legal. In subtler ways, because it is presumably the free choice of each individual, it is equally exploitative. Its problems and destructive effects are even less recognized. Scores of young women drift into paid prostitution as a result of it.

In the 19th century Victor Hugo stated: "Prostitution is not the smallest injustice committed by men against women".

But has anything really changed since then? And why not?

Legalizing prostitution, with emphasis on proper legal protections, is maybe the only first step that can lead towards overcoming prostitution in its entirety, which should be the goal: no person should have to sell her/his soul to survive.

I think human trafficking is one of the important, unspoken problems of our time. Thanks for raising it. I suggest postglobal asks a question on it.