Last I heard, prostitution is still illegal in Sweden. Although simply being a prostitute is not. Now that last one is a step in the right direction. Because being a prostitute is what they call a status crime, rarely or never the woman's fault. But from I understand prostitution for the customer is a felony now. (Of course just to point out, the customer and prostitute can both be either male or female.) I think that is a bad idea. Yes, prostitution can be exploitation. And although always considered a necessary evil since the time of St. Augustine, it usually has been a crime of exploitation. It still is in many part of the world, like Asia and Russia. But not at all in some parts of the world. In fact I brought up prostitution as an alternative to people who are handicapped to my therapist in 2011. In the story I gave, some man from the UK in a wheelchair who went to the Netherlands to find a mate. My therapist told me something interesting. In places like that he said the prostitute specializes in people with special needs. And prostitutes get benefits and live under working conditions better than many people in my country do. The reason why some people in Sweden think prostitution is almost like modern slavery (according to one official in Sweden I saw interviewed on TV once) is because their views are biased. And I think it is mostly subconscious. It can be due to the time period they grew up or even to their culture. I know radical feminist Gloria Steinem wrote of her experience working undercover as a Playboy Bunny in exposé titled "A Bunny's Tale" in 1963. She worked long hours carrying heavy trays in high heels (oh, you poor dear). But she said the greatest outrage that really made her feel like an object was wearing that bunny tail. Also to prepare for the job, she had to actually read a Playboy. For the first time in her life. And she wrote: “A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.” Now I am not comparing anyone here to Gloria Steinem. Because I would never do that. But my point is sometimes people just don't realize how biased their views are because they feel so strongly about them. Or they suffer from what is called groupthink. Also, I should point out. Prostitution must be carefully regulated. I used to think it should be just decriminalized like abortion was once in my country. No, it needs to be carefully regulated. And the rules for it are just different. If a person doesn't want to have sex with a particular person, for any reason, that is a personal choice. But of course the laws regarding things like discrimination for all groups should be the same for a brothel as any other business. Pandering should probably be illegal, because it can involve exploitation. Also someone brought up something interesting on another message board. If a person with a mental handicap, or other problem with affects their judgement, went to a place of prostitution that could be seen as sexual exploitation by the prostitute. Even though what they are doing is a profession, not actual sex. I think I could see that argument. Also I might add people with mental handicaps and mental illnesses are slightly more likely to be violent and disruptive. Of course the rules for them would be the same in a brothel as any place else. If they are disruptive they will be asked to leave and told to never come back. Or I would add, a brothel could have some common sense security measures for the workers. Guards stationed in the hallways and outside the doors would be one. I know where I live, Detroit, for a while public schools had buttons by the teacher's desk. Students knew if she needed to summon the guard all she had to do was press it. It was always next to her like I said. That's a good security measure. (You understand the button by her desk was meant mainly as a deterrent. I'm sure there was already a camera in every room to begin with.) Thoughts?
