You have it all wrong. The bottom line is, it SHOULDN'T BE ILLEGAL.
Originally Posted by Electricfeelnow
I also think you're pretty far off base here. Gay marriage is a civil rights issue, an important one that affects people who have no choice in who they are. You're equating the right of individuals who have a minority sexual orientation to be treated equally with your own "right" to practice a profession legally, a profession that you could leave at any time.
By doing so you're either debasing the struggle of homosexuals for equal treatment, or you're aggrandizing your own desire to operate your business legally. I don't think you're the kind of person to do either of those things, so maybe you're just not aware of how your message is coming across.
I think you should consider the examples of homosexual rights and marijuana legalization more pragmatically. How is it that homosexuals and pot growers have moved from the outskirts of society to somewhere closer to the middle? In both cases the protagonists have leveraged compassion. And in one case they leveraged the economy.
It's easy for homosexuals to make a case that elicits compassion. When a person can't visit their partner of 20 years in the hospital because the government won't recognize their union, that screams unequal treatment. Stories of love and devotion have steadily chipped away at the culture's preconceived notions of homosexuals who practice sexual promiscuity and reckless behavior until, finally, the majority of the population sees things their way.
I just don't believe there's an example here to be followed for your cause.
Except to learn that to achieve your goals, you have to work towards earning compassion from society as a whole. Proudly exclaiming "this is what I do and it should be legal" doesn't help you at all. No one's mind is changed when a sex worker wants to shed the risk of arrest or prison. You have to explain why it is in a just society's best interest to see things your way.
Marijuana legalization is probably a better example to follow. And, again, the road to success was through compassion. Medical marijuana was a much easier sell than recreational because of the compassionate element. You can convince people who will never smoke in their lives that pot is a good idea if you can show that it's medicine that will do a job no other medicine will do. After a sufficient period of time, society is starting to recognize that the risks of marijuana are far overblown. After more than a decade of medical marijuana, clear data are now available to show this.
It is also very important that society has recognized that marijuana is similar to alcohol, and a society that prohibits one while allowing the other is not only acting hypocritically,
it is missing out on an important source of tax revenue. It shouldn't be a surprise that recreational marijuana was finally able to pass, despite many previous attempts, during the largest recession since the Great Depression. This was certainly the deciding factor among the conservatives I know who supported legalization in CO and WA.
In both examples, it was important to frame things in a way that shows society as a whole what they have to gain. Whether it's the feel-goods or tax revenue, society doesn't move on a social issue like this unless there's something in it for them. The cold reality is that most people don't care whether a very nice and well-spoken person such as yourself thinks prostitution should be legal.
Compassion is the thing that influenced Canada's supreme court into striking down their anti-prostitution laws. They were made to see that the laws were harmful to women because of the dangers they created. Whether prostitutes will be better off when the laws are re-written remains to be seen, but the example is still one to consider carefully.
So my advice is to de-emphasize the "this is what I do and I'm proud of it" angle, which won't move the people that need to be moved. The fact that your status as a comedian was a thing in the radio show suggests that your appearance was more about
you and less about whether legal prostitution makes sense for our society. I understand that the reason you were on the show in the first place was because of your connections to the comedy culture, but I think you can see my point. Whether you're a comedian or a bus driver or the lunch lady shouldn't matter at all if your true ambition is to make the world a better place for everyone through the legalization of prostitution.
Perhaps, on your next radio show appearance, it would be sensible to be prepared with information about how prostitutes live under constant fear of violence, or any other angle that might make a "legitimate" person change their mind about a profession they want nothing to do with. And perhaps it would be sensible to leave out any type of details that might make a cynical person believe that you're only attempting to further your own career. Because cynical people vote, too.