Argument: Legalization has benefits for society

Removing criminal penalties from the sale or purchase of sexual services, and regulating sex markets so that they protect participants and non-involved third parties, would be socially beneficial. In particular, sex enterprises and businesses could be made safer for workers, clients, and the communities in which they operated. By allowing sex businesses to operate openly, providers, clients, and business owners can become law-abiding, productive citizens, who contribute to their communities. Sex businesses and workers would pay taxes, and other licensing fees. Business owners would be expected to comply with standard business laws and regulations. Moreover, the government could enact special regulations appropriate to this industry, such as age restrictions on workers and clients, and mandatory condom use.

The resources that are currently allocated to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate sex workers and clients could be reallocated for better uses. For example, these resources could be used to better address the sexual abuse of minors, sexual assault, substance abuse, mental health problems, and the many public and individual needs that go unmet.

Candidate 1: "Sex exchanged for money may not have the same value and meaning as sex exchanged as a gift among lovers. Yet, it does not follow from this that paid sex is without value. The value of paid sex is clearly subjective, and may be derived from its ability to provide sensual pleasure, sex education, and relief from stress, boredom, or loneliness. It may be less meaningful and enjoyable than sex with a romantic companion, but when the latter is not an option, paid sex may be an acceptable substitute. Since people have different expectations from paid sex than non-market romantic sex, they are not likely to suffer emotional and psychological damage from the former.

Individuals who are not in monogamous relationships, and who have multiple sexual partners must take special precautions to protect their physical health, whether money is exchanged or not. Sex work does not pose additional health risks that are not otherwise faced by sexually active but non-monogamous individuals. There are precautions that all sexually active people can take to protect their health, such as rigorous condom use and regular health exams. Moreover, societies can promote education about STDs and how they are transmitted and detected, so that all sexually active individuals can learn how protect themselves.

Markets in sex do not in themselves precipitate harms or pose a public health threat, rather ignorance about sex and STDs, and barriers to health care and prophylactics such as condoms, are responsible for the harms of sex."
Candidate 2: "No person would sell sex unless they were desperate. To have sex with someone for reasons other than sexual attraction, desire, and affection is repulsive to any sane and mentally competent adult.

People who sell sex are not exercising sexual autonomy, but are giving up their right to sexual autonomy in order to support themselves and their families. Instead of legalizing sex markets, societies should provide other means of employment and a basic standard of living to all members, so that no one has to resort to prostitution to survive."
Candidate 3: "Market mechanisms are inappropriate for the exchange of some goods, such as children, medically needed bodily substances or organs, and sex. These are precious goods, and we should not allow citizens to alienate these goods for payment. Instead, the terms of alienation should protect the critical interests of all involved.

While sexual relationships serve legitimate needs, it does not follow that we should be able to purchase them. Having children serves legitimate needs, but we do not think that people should be able to buy children. Buying sex robs the provider of dignity and the right to sexual autonomy. Moreover, people are not entitled to some goods simply because they have money. If we allow money to determine who can have children, donated organs, or sexual intimacy, then this will lead to unfair distributions. Market mechanisms may eclipse other forms of exchange, and deprive those without significant wealth of the means to happiness."
Candidate 4: "While some sex market transactions are more consensual than others, all sex markets treat people like objects to be used and exploited by others. Sex should not be turned into work or a business from which some people profit, even when the labor is allegedly voluntary.

Moreover, it is not evident that the proliferation of legal sex businesses would involve the proliferation of sex businesses that acted ethically and responsibly. If sex businesses could operate in a more lax and permissive environment, many abuses would go undetected. Because of the already noxious aspects of this industry, abuses such as fraud, deception, and coercion are intolerable."
Candidate 5: "People who engage in market sexual relationships and other forms of casual sex can treat their partners with dignity and respect. This involves respecting the boundaries that sexual partners communicate to each other, regarding what parts of their lives and themselves they are willing to share. With different sexual partners we open up in different ways, and people who engage in casual, market sexual relationships might draw different emotional and sexual boundaries in these relationships than in others. While casual sexual relationships are unlikely to involve commitments of fidelity and exclusivity, they are compatible with the decent and respectful treatment of others if persons in these relationships respect their partners’ rights to privacy, autonomy, and other basic interests."
Candidate 6: "In market sexual transactions, each party pursues the satisfaction of her/his desires. The service provider is typically pursuing her desire for income, while the client is typically pursuing his desire for sensual enjoyment and intimate companionship. As long as each party respects the terms of the exchange, they are treating each other as beings with ends of their own, and therefore morally."
Candidate 7: "The fact that prohibition cannot prevent prostitution is not an argument against prohibition. We have laws prohibiting murder, and yet murders happen. Our laws deter some murders and they express our society’s moral outrage regarding murder.

Similarly, laws prohibiting prostitution deter some prostitution and express our society’s moral condemnation of sex for hire. These laws do not create harms, rather prostitution itself creates harms, by robbing those who participate of self-respect, and contributing to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It is inevitable that laws prohibiting prostitution will make it riskier to engage in prostitution, as this is the purpose of such laws: to provide disincentives to those who might otherwise engage in this activity."
Candidate 8: "Legalizing prostitution would unleash forces that exploit vulnerable women and men for profit. People with the means to buy sexual access to others would be able to exploit those who are poor, young, or inexperienced. By legalizing prostitution, society endorses impersonal and promiscuous sexual relations that damage individuals and families.

The resources we allocate to protect vulnerable citizens from sexual exploitation, and to uphold the values of sexual commitment, loyalty, and responsibility, are well spent, and the foundation of a healthy social order."
Candidate 9: "Consumers can access the healing capacities of health care providers without coming to regard the people who provide health care as replaceable market goods rather than unique human subjects. Consumers can access the cooking talents of chefs without coming to regard the people who provide good food as replaceable goods rather than unique human subjects. Sex markets may differ in that the position of consumer and provider is often shaped by gender and other social markers. But if this is what causes the degradation of the provider into a replaceable and exploitable good, then what needs to change is how positions in this market are shaped by one’s social identity, rather than eliminating sex markets.

All markets are structured by social hierarchies. As illegitimate social hierarchies based on gender, race, class, and so on, are dismantled, then this will have beneficial effects on all markets and not just sex markets."

Legalizing prostitution would unleash forces that exploit vulnerable women and men for profit. People with the means to buy sexual access to others would be able to exploit those who are poor, young, or inexperienced. By legalizing prostitution, society endorses impersonal and promiscuous sexual relations that damage individuals and families.

The resources we allocate to protect vulnerable citizens from sexual exploitation, and to uphold the values of sexual commitment, loyalty, and responsibility, are well spent, and the foundation of a healthy social order.
