Healing Society Through Sex Work: Let’s Decriminalize the Sex Industry NOW!
Working toward implementing policy that would decriminalize sex work between consenting adults would be a major step towards improving the United States’ image and social understanding of these types of intimate services. Similar to other services in our communities, such as massage parlors, physical therapy, and certain psychological services like marriage/family counseling and sex therapy, it should be recognized as just another form of services offered for rehabilitation, and emotional/physical well-being. Legislation like this would create an opportunity for us to open up our minds to the understanding of human sexuality, identity, and sexual knowledge, as well as how the sex industry is connected and can be used to facilitate these natural experiences of human desire. The demand for commercial sex will always be a prominent aspect of our society, and it would be a very powerful move in our communities to progress toward alleviating some of the social stigma surrounding sex work. As UCR student Jessica Ranslem explains in “Sex Work: Just a Job,” “Even if many people in society disagree with sex being a part of human nature, there is still a high demand for it; if there wasn’t, the sex work industry would not exist” (3). Even if we began with a city-by-city ordinance, it would serve as an example to other locations in the country that we can reform laws away from detrimental views surrounding sex in general.
Many people may be concerned that the decriminalization of sex work will diminish the image of our nation, but in actuality this would give our country the chance to take leadership and show others that it is possible to be inclusive of other forms of business. In addition, this could require that sex workers move indoors, through more established locations. Often in this country we talk about freedom — freedom of enterprise, of a free market — and thus with having these choices, and deregulation, there are not really any reasons that these same concepts should not be applied to sex work. It is just another form of capitalism, and “the [sex worker] is an owner of property in her person who contracts out part of that property in her market,” thus she should be allowed the same rights in which any other business owner is entitled (Pateman 54).
A popular image of sex work is one shrouded by street prostitution, where workers and their clients are visible to the public. This image is also fueled by the misconception that all sex work functions around drug operations, sex trafficking, and other illicit activities. But when we “collapse all commercial sex that way [it] often risks conjuring something so flat and shallow that it would only reinforce the insistence that all sex for sale results from the same phenomenon- violence, deviance or desperation” (Grant 1). Sex work is frequently quite removed from these toxic environments, and in situations like these, locations and safety would be improved upon if sex workers were given the right to do so freely. This is a major concern for many voters and community members surrounding the topic of decriminalization, but this type of progress would actually take steps toward improving the misrepresentation of the sex work industry as a whole.
We need to understand that this bleak mental image of street prostitution is the result of economic stratification and the illegality of sex work. This social stigma has pushed sex work into the shadows of shame and taboo. Individuals who believe this often fail to see the deeper issue within society, surrounding the socio-economic status of street sex workers. The visible outdoor sex work is a social issue in close connection to low-income populations. These outdoor methods are convenient for a worker battling economic instability. They can make quick money on the streets in order to pay for basic necessities like food and housing, and often persevere without the means to operate indoors. This type of legislation would prove to benefit the community as a whole, like many other businesses, and sex workers can conduct business legally, indoors, through more established sites. Indoor sex work is safer for workers, where they can secure a steady business without the risks and scrutiny of law enforcement.
Sex workers are the emotional laborers for a multitude of individuals in society. Whether their clients are at an emotional and sexual high, or battling an emotional and sexual low, sex workers are the ones who listen to, handle, and heal society. They provide a very crucial service to people in need, and everyone involved should have the right to be compensated accordingly without fear of criminality. Sex workers should be able to conduct business without such threats and emotional stress, fear, and shame. They are actually the ultimate social workers of the world, and this kind of change would be a sign of positive social progress, where sex workers would finally be getting the respect and recognition that they deserve.
