Edit to add my opinion so I’m not just replying “I agree” to 90% of comments. I think it should be legal, properly regulated, taxed and viewed as a profession. I haven’t personally engaged in it but I have no moral objection to it. I do hate the common sentiment that it was the individual’s “only option” though.

  • Breezy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    4 hours ago

    As a dude, i sucked a dick for big money to some rich old guy. With inflation, over 900 dollars for like nothing. So im biased

    I think it needs to be legalized world wide to give it an opportunity to be regulated. If its already happening might as well capitalism the industry. Its going to happen either way, or the world will continue to have deep state sex clubs.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    8 hours ago

    Many complaints against prostitution also apply to trading labor for money/shelter in general. People just have a stronger emotional response.

    Emotional responses are rarely a good foundation for policy.

    Prostitution should be legal with safety regulations. All labor should have protections, unions, and such, to protect them from being abused by the wealthy.

    Some specific things would probably remain illegal or disallowed, in the same sense that you’re not allowed to work construction without safety gear. People can wear condoms as easily as hard hats and hi-viz vests.

  • Oak_Kitten@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    10 hours ago

    As long as all parties involved are consenting adults it’s none of my business what they are up to. Except that prostitution should be legalized in a way in which they get equal rights and protections to other professions. The only reason it’s illegal in many countries in the first place is likely based on religious Puritanism, which I do not think laws should ever be based on.

  • daggermoon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    10 hours ago

    So long as it’s regulated and all parties are safe and consenting then it’s none of my business. It’s not something i’d be interested in however. To each their own.

  • Novamdomum@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    12 hours ago

    The only thing more certain to exist till the end of time than prostitution is people complaining about it. I like it because it makes something explicit that is implicit in so many apparently non transactional relationships. There are so many people who say prostitution should be banned, who are also in relationships/marriages where they expect sex for shelter, food, safety or whatever. Prostitution makes the transaction clear. People point to the exploitative nature of it, but then reveal their real agenda by also rejecting the idea of making it safer for the people selling access to their bodies. The whole thing is a massively hypocritical pile of double standards. Mix into that cultures with backwards patriarchal religious doctrines and that’s where you get the really angry people who talk about dishonor and stoning and all that jazz. Prostitution has been around since there were people and will always be around. When the puritans are in charge it just hides for a bit. This has been my TED talk, thanks lol

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I think it should be legalized. The only thing wrong with sex outside of procreation is absolutely nothing. I have a hunch it would help with a lot of social ills out there. Why, in most depictions of the old west, you could go to town and get a prostitute. Eventually, powerful people with sexual hang-ups and twisted morals restricted the activity and pushed it underground where it’s dirty and dangerous.

  • jenesaisquoi@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    10 hours ago

    We should find out which policy minimises harm to those participating in it. Then, regardless of how anyone might feel about that policy, implement it.

  • Paragone@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    17 hours ago

    One of the commenters said it was fundamentally gross to them…

    It’s fundamentally depressing to me: intimacy’s … unending.

    There’s no such thing as “a 1-night stand”, or “just a fuck” … you’ll never be unmixed with that someone…

    & doing it as mere-transaction, or mere-physicality … ??

    but apparently that view that most of a someone isn’t physical, & most of sex isn’t physical either, is deemed to be nonsense,

    & pretending that merely-physical is “all that exists” is actually common …

    so, my perspective is deemed lunacy or idiocy by this world.

    But seeing women being used for mere-physical sensation by random strangers, as a purchased-transaction … that’s depressing…

    I wish the world didn’t work that way.

    I’m with all the people who want prostitution not-criminalized, who want it taxed & regulated, & I’d add that I want pimping criminalized: let women form cooperatives, or something, but nobody should coerce anybody into the biz of being used bodily.

    _ /\ _

  • a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    20 hours ago

    I’m not going to read through to find where Carlin was already quoted, but I stick with "selling is legal, f****** is legal, why isn’t selling f****** legal?

  • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    1 day ago

    Absolutely should be legal and taxed, with rules and regulations in place to protect clients and workers.

    I pretty much do have moral objections to it, its fundamentally gross to me, but its not going to stop and id rather these prostitutes work in a safe place and pay their taxes like the rest of us than get their passports taken by a guy named The Scorpion with a spider Web tattooed on his neck.

  • remon@ani.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    91
    ·
    1 day ago

    Never had anything to do with it personally, but just like with drugs it should be legal and regulated because it’s impossible to prohibit it.

    • bizarroland@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 day ago

      Hard agree.

      Regulate it, tax it, protect the workers and users. Prevent the spread of diseases and use the money to ensure their futures.

      Minimize harm, maximize happiness.

      Failure to do so is a failure of society.

      After all, we already have so many people making money on onlyfans and through doing pornography, which is legalized prostitution anyway, so the people that do that in a non-video scenario should have at least the same protections.

  • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    If the individual selling their services is doing so freely and isn’t being exploited in any sort of way then I don’t have a problem with it.

    • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 day ago

      We never used it but I did look into it when we lived in Nevada for a friend who had been celibate for over a decade at that point. Nice dude, but extremely quiet and just has zero confidence/game.

      I loved that the ladies were independent contractors who set their OWN rates, and they advertised what THEY were comfortable doing/ their explicit “no-go” list. There was also a strict consent banner on the site I used that said any of the ladies could kick anyone out at any time and there were panic buttons in the rooms.

      Never actually did end up contacting them because we ended up being too poor at the time. Wasn’t mad though, those ladies were setting prices that they deemed fair for their bodies and I have mad respect for that. Whether people agree with prostitution as a concept or not, its not going away and its referred to as the “world’s oldest occupation” for a reason. The best thing to do is protect the people who are choosing to engage in it/ensure they’re getting paid extremely well for their time.