Let's be honest about AIDS, prostitution

lyn.xes's Avatar
"World AIDS Day, commemorated today, provides an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS. For social workers and academic researchers like us, one thing is clear: If we truly want HIV/AIDS prevention to succeed, Americans need to have a courageous conversation about decriminalizing prostitution."

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opin...on-5923492.php
James1588's Avatar
I'm not sure it's going to have any significant impact on the incidence of AIDS or HIV. However, if America has any interest in liberty and justice, decriminalizing sex work is an obvious place to start.

Now, about America having any interest in liberty and justice ... well, I'm not holding my breath on that one ...
Solitaire's Avatar
I agree @Lyn.xes... particularly when you consider some areas of the U.S. where one can be arrested merely for carrying condoms. Many laws actually CREATE the very negative factors that they claim to be protecting the public from. We need to stop the insanity, stop legislating out of fear, stigma, and stereotype, and legislate based on facts.

But to do that, we first have to start having those honest conversations. I won't be holding my breath either.
bc7274's Avatar
I agree @Lyn.xes... particularly when you consider some areas of the U.S. where one can be arrested merely for carrying condoms. Many laws actually CREATE the very negative factors that they claim to be protecting the public from. We need to stop the insanity, stop legislating out of fear, stigma, and stereotype, and legislate based on facts.

But to do that, we first have to start having those honest conversations. I won't be holding my breath either. Originally Posted by Solitaire
X2 Spot on.
thebuffmantraples's Avatar
So how did the letter to your representatives go? Please help I need ideas!.

Dear ***;";
I am writing in connection to your civic duty in protecting our freedoms as adults....

Do you in your great wisdom ever look at the good examples worldwide where this industry is run properly.?

While the claim is not to be a third world thinker what's your actions say..



Thanks dear *""


Like I said how goes that ho over in the rw scenario?

That's the ? We need a starting point that works

Anyway just jk for those that get offended
lyn.xes's Avatar
Full article here:
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2014/12/0...lp-aids-fight/

Let’s be honest. Paying for sex has been around a long time, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Recent court cases have established sexual rights and privacy in protecting what consenting adults do behind closed doors, but those rights end for people who wish to exchange sex for money.
In the U.S., sex workers’ rights are mostly unprotected, and those who sell sex are usually arrested, charged and shamed in public. But this only adds to the HIV/AIDS problem and increases chances for unsafe sexual practices....

Equally important is the need for Americans to appreciate the differences between sex trafficking and sex work. Sex trafficking inherently includes violence, force, fraud and coercion, whereas sex work does not....

Although the decriminalization of sex work wouldn’t solve all the problems sex workers contend with, it could be a start. Decriminalization would eradicate laws that criminalize sex work, consequently creating spaces for sex workers to participate in the regulation of the industry, facilitating safer transactions between workers and clients, and allowing sex workers to report abuse and rapes without fear of prosecution....

Nearly every industrialized nation has made prostitution partially legal or outright legal. It’s time America does the same thing. Doing so would be a large step in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.