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Dr Kool-AIDS
Mar 26, 2004

Mans posted:

prostitution is bad and virutally no one goes into the business voluntarily

That's not even close to being true, but a weird alliance between conservatives and a faction of feminists would sure like everyone to believe it. Coercion is obviously a problem, especially for streetwalkers, but I'm pretty sure most of the smiling college girls on Seeking Arrangement aren't being forced into anything. I've never solicited, but I know at least two college graduates who were objectively engaged in some form of prostitution by choice. One did it to pay off her students loans, and the other, who was an Ivy League grad from a rich family, just thought having sex for free when she could get paid for it was stupid. Anecdotes aren't data, but the internet has contributed to the rise of euphemistic prostitution which allows women more of an ability to control their circumstances. I still think it's bad for society, but I understand why civil libertarians think it's a valid choice, and why many liberals and leftists would prefer a non-carceral solution to the problem of consensual sex work.

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Dr Kool-AIDS
Mar 26, 2004

Mans posted:

most of the smiling college girls on seeking arrangement aren't even a loving drop in the ocean that is the human trafficking and enslavement that is prostitution on a global level.

Escorts and sugar babies add up to more than a drop in developed countries though. Laws against trafficking should of course be strict and enforced, as should laws against coercion and pimping, but advocating strict legal remedies for people engaging in consensual sex work in their own countries because you're worried about a cascade effect isn't as obviously righteous as you'd like it to be. It's the equivalent of saying we need to throw marijuana dealers and purchasers in prison because it's a gateway drug. In practice the police probably don't go after sugar babies that much, or high class escorts, but there are high profile stings for providers on backpage all the time, and they're almost always accused of being involved in human trafficking regardless of the circumstance. Scaremongering with buzzwords when they don't actually apply is bad.

Dr Kool-AIDS
Mar 26, 2004

Mans posted:

If you think even 50% of the prostitutes in western europe are middle class voluntary college girls who just want to have fun then you live in a tremendous bubble.

I don't, but we've come a long way from you saying virtually nobody involved is doing so voluntarily. I think there are good arguments for (and against) prohibition, but you were being hyperbolic.

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