Prostitution - legalise it to avoid more Picktons

Daz_Hockey

Council Member
Nov 21, 2005
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I'm gonna suprise a few people, Hermann for example, perhaps juan aswell, but prostitution in the UK is actually LEGAL....really, it is. HOWEVER, the act of streetwalking and of the pimp or indeed kerb-crawling is not.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
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Vancouver Island
Even if prostitution was legalized, there would still be "some" who wouldn't fit into the legal scene,
so they would be somewhere outside the "law", and they would be the ones that would have ended up at"Pickton's" farm.
When people become "killing" animals like Pickton, they will always find their victims.
 

Fingertrouble

Electoral Member
Nov 8, 2006
150
1
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Calgary
There is no way to make prostitution completely safe, but legalizing it would make it a lot safer. I don't know why it continues to be illegal. I just don't see any rational reason for that.

I agree totally with Tracy, there are several reasons to argue for legalised prostitution ranging from protecting the working women, ensuring they have regular health checks for their benefit (which will also protect not so much their customers, but their customers poor unaware wives or girlfriends!). It will also mean almost all working girls can be moved off the street (just as in Europe) which has the effect of cleaning up some of the city areas affected.

I agree that the Robert Picktons of this world will always find some poor unsuspecting soul, so this arguement for legalisation may not stand, but if at least some of these girls can be protected by legalisation why are we living in the past and continue outlawing it?

As a side note, there are many cities in Europe were legalised Red Light areas exist (Liege and Brussels in Belgium to name two) and these areas although they do have the unfortunate "sex window shopping" type atmosphere, they are in general much cleaner in comparison to red light districts in countries where this practise is outlawed.
 

tamarin

House Member
Jun 12, 2006
3,197
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Oshawa ON
Let's make it a real profession. Legalize it. Make it a public job. Proper training. Good pay. Benefits. Then we can also expect they can't turn anyone away. Like nurses or teachers or others they will work with whoever comes. Give us a chance to offer seniors and the disabled lots of vouchers. And we'll get rid of this idea they're somehow special because a certain segment of our society is so demanding of their service. And all those high class hooke*s out there will have to join the general trade or face stiff fines. Among other things, of course.
 

PsyOp

Electoral Member
Jan 24, 2007
137
1
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Anyway it seems to be to be much more civilised to let them stand inside in a "shop" window rather than make them stand under streetlights looking shifty.

Remember that most hooker in Canada are not making the road. They are ESCORT. They have a driver and they wait for a call. Also, even if the prostitution is legalize, some of them will make the road ANYWAY.


Several people have mentioned Amsterdam and the fact that prostitution is legal in that country. The thing is, that the girls working in the little windows along Canal Street are not the only prostitutes in that city. They are just the most visible. What legalization has done in Holland is get most of the girls off the street. There are still "bar girls" and call girls, but very few prostitutes walking the streets, and that alone makes it safer for the girls. Canada could learn from Holland.

Exactly!
 

dumpthemonarchy

House Member
Jan 18, 2005
4,235
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Vancouver
www.cynicsunlimited.com
Legalizing prostitution won't solve the world's problems but it will reduce the murders of young women, I am sure of that.

Prostitution needs to be regulated. It is time for Canada to modernize. In Vancouver east they pushed out the prostitutes by harassing the police to get the prostitutes out of their neighbourhood. Thirty years ago prostitutes used to ply their trade on Georgia street in front of the Georgia Hotel, now they are long gone from there. The police and the public have been pushing prostitutes to different streets in Vancouver.

The police and politicians will do what people want.

Imagine if lazy cops, walked the beat so prostitutes and johns could not talk to each other. The streets would be safer for all women.
 

hermanntrude

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jun 23, 2006
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Newfoundland!
I'm gonna suprise a few people, Hermann for example, perhaps juan aswell, but prostitution in the UK is actually LEGAL....really, it is. HOWEVER, the act of streetwalking and of the pimp or indeed kerb-crawling is not.

this explains why you can easily arrange a call girl by looking one up in the yellow pages?
 

Daz_Hockey

Council Member
Nov 21, 2005
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this explains why you can easily arrange a call girl by looking one up in the yellow pages?

Was that a joke?, because if you check your local newspaper, you'll find loads of escorts offering discreet services. The police know EXACTLY what they actually do, but because it's between 2 consenting adults and he or she doesnt directly advertise it, it's completely legal.

Honest, a lot of people fail to understand that prostitution in the UK is already legal. The thing that makes them think it ISNT is because of all the laws and side issues surrounding it. Kind of like saying "your allowed to smoke, but not out on the street and your not allowed to buy it from a shop....see what Ii mean?
 

hermanntrude

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jun 23, 2006
7,267
118
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Newfoundland!
Was that a joke?, because if you check your local newspaper, you'll find loads of escorts offering discreet services. The police know EXACTLY what they actually do, but because it's between 2 consenting adults and he or she doesnt directly advertise it, it's completely legal.

Honest, a lot of people fail to understand that prostitution in the UK is already legal. The thing that makes them think it ISNT is because of all the laws and side issues surrounding it. Kind of like saying "your allowed to smoke, but not out on the street and your not allowed to buy it from a shop....see what Ii mean?

not joking. it always seemed weird that people were allowed to advertise something which i thought was illegal. i was exclaiming that you had explained an apparent mystery
 

Ariadne

Council Member
Aug 7, 2006
2,432
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That's ridiculous. Like if the serial-killer won't find hookers anymore because it's legalized.
You really think all hookers are going to work legit for a pimp? Even if it was legalized, a lot of hookers would still make the road and nobody will ever know if they get kidnap.

Also, look at Amsterdam, look what kind of city you have with legalized prostitution. That's ugly and sick. It's better like it is, which is basically tolerated for escort. I prefer our system with semi-legal stuff, much more cleaver.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city with a progressive attitude towards the idea that men want sex enough to pay for it (something about the oldest profession in the world), so provide the service with full safety, security and quaterly medical check-ups. The red light district is away from mainstream traffic, people, tourists, shopping, museums and normal life. Anyone that thinks women sitting in windows under red lights is "ugly and sick" should know better than to venture into the area. It is, after all, to the East of the train station and there aren't exactly signs with directions of "two for one happy hour, drug bars and red light district". You actually have to make an effort to find the area.

I agree wholeheartedly that prostitution should be legalized. At the very least, it eliminates the pimp and permits women to keep the money they earn.
 

Ariadne

Council Member
Aug 7, 2006
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Even if prostitution were legal, the criminals would not be deterred from these acts. There will always be vulnerable women working in this field and they will continues to be harmed and exploited. This type of business attracts all sorts of bad apples, legalizing it will not magically remove the criminal elements from it.

Legalizing prostitution doesn't eliminate the criminal, it eliminates the victim. Prostitutes have to sneak around to get in vehicles with total strangers. If they don't sneak around while presenting themselves as victims, they will be arrested and in a sense victimized by society. Make it legal, give them a safe place to ply their trade ... stop leaving the prostitutes in the victim category.

The type of people that go to prostitutes are everyday guys ... and we all know it. The prostitutes are, too often, women hard on their luck and desperate to make a few dollars any way they can, but they are not bad apples any more than the average customer is a bad apple.
 

Ariadne

Council Member
Aug 7, 2006
2,432
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How is legalising prostitution going to do away with murder? Marriage is legal and husbands still murder wives.

Legalizing prostitution doesn't eliminate murder, it eliminates the most obvious and most easily abducted victim.

The fact remains that Pickton befriended prostitutes outside of their work. He invited them to his farm for parties and it was there that they were murdered, not in the process of providing sexual services to a customer. Even if prostitution were legal in Vancouver, these women would still have been murdered by Pickton because they mistook him for a friend.
 

tamarin

House Member
Jun 12, 2006
3,197
22
38
Oshawa ON
Yup, and we'll set up college courses for training. Better still allow early entry in high school for promising candidates. If you're going to make it a profession treat it with the respect professions are due. Scholarships should be targeted to those students achieving the highest scores. If necessary create apprenticeships. Let's get on with it. A career is a career.