this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
229 points (91.9% liked)

Asklemmy

44148 readers
1570 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because of the poor treatment of the workers due to it being illegal, I'd say the majority are not great to terrible people.

If they go to legal, well managed brothels, they're probably ok people.

[โ€“] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But if it's illegal there wouldn't be legal brothels around?

And I haven't followed through but I've looked into prostitution in my area through various means. There do seem to be fairly moral options in my opinion. People who work independent and interact directly with the customer and they keep all the money. They have their own space to meet and they have the option of refusal at any time.

I'm not saying you're doing this intentionally, or that what you're saying is harmful, but I do worry. It feels like you're demonizing an entire industry and adding to the idea that it's immoral unless done through brothels. Sex work is work, and while often people end up there out of necessity, that's not much different than any other job people work these days. I would say that people who knowingly pay for sex work where the worker doesn't have their full autonomy is, at best, selfish and shortsighted.

Or are you saying that because it's a crime, by paying for it they're contributing to the sex worker also doing something illegal and that's bad?

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not illegal everywhere. I think their point is that legal and licensed brothels are less likely to be exploitative and involved in human trafficking.

Sure, not all sex work where it is illegal is exploitative, but I'm not sure most clients would shop around for the ethical choice like you have.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes. This. Words are hard.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I absolutely believe sex work is work and I support it. I live in the USA where it is illegal. This leads to vilifying sex workers. A lot of them are victims. This makes any dealings with sex workers suspect. The typical "law abiding citizen" wouldnt go.

I've been to Germany and it's treated like a business transaction. (Not cold, just not shady or unusual). I feel like anyone that went there would be just a normal guy.