Legalizing Prostitution

Human sex trafficking is a form of modern day slavery, involving all aspects of servitude. Scholars agree that prostitution and human sex trafficking have a direct correlation to one another. The argument is, does the legalization of prostitution promote sex trafficking? Many scholars believe by legalizing prostitution, the industry of human trafficking will expand. However others argue that the industry of human trafficking will benefit from the legalization of prostitution. To understand the argument, one must first understand the difference between human trafficking and prostitution, or sex work. Christina Fisanick states that human trafficking is defined as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons,

In 2000, Raymond explains in her article, “Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution and a Legal Response to the Demand for Prostitution”, the Dutch government legalized prostitution in the Netherlands in efforts to reduce the rate of human trafficking (317). The decriminalization of the sex industry gave the prostitutes, the traffickers, also called pimps, and the customer’s, also called John’s, legal rights. Brothels, sites of prostitution, were therefor also a legitimate venue for business. The idea was if the sex industry was legalized, the pimps would have access to prostitutes legally and have no demand for trafficking unwilling victims thus decreasing the human trafficking rates. However, only 4% registered legally into the brothels (Fisanick 32). Janice Raymond reports that after the legalization of prostitution in the Netherlands, nearly 80% of the women being solicited in brothels were victims of trafficking and in the last decade the Netherland’s sex industry has increased 25% (Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution and a Legal Response to the Demand for Prostitution 318). The government then stated that the two can not be separates, and while prostitution is legal, human trafficking can not be controlled (75 Post). This shows that the decriminalization of prostitution directly promotes human trafficking and calling for a demand of women. In her book “Not a choice Not a Job” Janice Raymond explains Germany’s attempt to decriminalize prostitution in 2002 in relation to reducing human trafficking. The Prostitution Act was enforced, a law which made operating brothels and soliciting prostitution legal in Germany. Germany’s argument for decriminalizing prostitution was that it would regulate the system concerning the sex industry and control expansion. However, legalizing brothels meant looking at the industry of prostitution