Sex work should not be legally prohibited for adults

Prohibitionism seeks to eliminate prostitution by criminalizing all aspects of the prostitution trade. Under this approach, prostitution is seen as a violation of human dignity. Criminal law and effective law enforcement are viewed as critical tools in reducing the number of individuals involved in prostitution.

Decriminalization implies the repeal of prostitution-related criminal law. In Canada, decriminalization would involve repealing all criminal law relating to prostitution, including communicating for the purposes of prostitution, operating a bawdy house and/or brothel, and living off the avails of prostitution.

Legalization refers to the regulation of prostitution through criminal law or some other type of legislation. This approach treats prostitution as a legal occupation, but nevertheless controls it by a set of rules that govern who can work and under what circumstances they may do so. Typically, governments that have adopted the legalization approach regulate the trade through work permits, licensing and/or tolerance zones.

The term sex work refers primarily to prostitution, but also encompasses adult video performers, phone sex operators, webcam models, dancers in strip clubs, and others who provide sexually-related services. Some extend the use of the term to include "support personnel" such as managers, agents, videographers, club bouncers, and others.

Sex workers also find it difficult to negotiate safer sex withintimate partners and clients in the context of physicaland sexual violence perpetrated by some of them.18 Forexample, in a survey conducted among Vietnamese sexworkers in Cambodia, 30% reported that they had beensexually coerced by clients who were unwilling to put ona condom.19

We find that criminalization increases sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers by 58 percent, measured by biological tests.

While decriminalization increases the size of the indoor sex market, reported rape offences fall by 30% and female gonorrhoea incidence declines by over 40%.

Our difference-in-difference analysis of 25 Dutch cities between 1994-2011 shows that opening a tippelzone decreases registered sexual abuse and rape by about 30-40 percent in the first two years.

• Macedonia 100.0% (17/17)
  
• Ukraine 85.0% (17/20)
  
• Kyrgyzstan 64.2% (9/14)
  
• Bulgaria 70.0% (7/10)
  
• Serbia 62.5% (5/8)
  
• Russia (Siberia) 55.0% (11/20)
  
• Latvia 42.9% (9/21)
  
• Russia (Northwest district) 30.0% (6/20)
  
• Lithuania 15.0% (3/20)Slovakia 5.0% (1/20)
  

Sex workers face stigma and prosecution in the US and around the world. As Molly Smith and Juno Mac write in their 2018 book Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights, tens of thousands of people are “arrested, prosecuted, incarcerated, deported, or fined” for sex work-related offenses in the US every year. In a 2003 survey of street-based sex workers in New York City, 80 percent said they had been threatened with or experienced violence, and many said the police were no help. In fact, 27 percent of respondents in the survey said they had experienced violence from police officers.

• Racial discrimination by a stripclub owner
  
• Dismissal of day job because of illegal night time job
  
• Non payment by a client
  
• Assault
  
• Rape
  
• Also no legal protection for the buyer
  

• No one is harmed in a legal and professional sexual transaction, and it is performed by consenting adults.
  
• Sex trafficking  is greatly reduced by legalization and decriminalization.
  
• With decriminalization or legalization comes human right and workers rights, police protection, cctv, panic buttons, and reporting of other crimes, et cetera
  
• Sexually transmitted infections are reduced.
• Rape instances fall.

• Denmark
  
• Germany
  
• Netherlands
  
• Nevada
  

• New South Wales, Australia
  
• New Zealand
  
• Washtenaw County, Michigan 
  

 Sumerian records dating back to ca. 2400 BCE are the earliest recorded mention of prostitution as an occupation. These describe a temple-brothel operated by Sumerian priests in the city of Uruk. This kakum or temple was dedicated to the goddess Ishtar and was the home to three grades of women. The first grade of women were only permitted to perform sexual rituals in the temple, the second group had access to the grounds and catered to visitors, and the third and lowest class lived on the temple grounds. The third class was also free to find customers in the streets.