Yea this is a real touch point with a lot of folks on both sites, and I almost edited that final chat out of the podcast because I knew the type of responses it was going to get. 

You said; “do it voluntarily and it’s a legitimate source of income when others aren’t available”

Perhaps there are people who are involved in prostitution who  have chosen that line of work. I hope there is, I hope there are loads of them! I hope they love sleeping with strangers for money and that they lead fulfilled, decease free, love-filled lives. But I’m not sure if doing a job is “voluntary” if there are no other sources of legitimate income available. If anything, I say that’s pretty involuntary. 

Moreover to imagine that that is the majority, or even close to it, is unfathomably naive. The global sex trade is a business that ships women around the world like cattle, often underage, so that damaged men can get their rocks off. It’s the reason. Around 2 million children are forced into the sex trade annually. The acceptability of the wider commercial sex trade makes this a profitable possibility for criminals around the world and in your city.

And aside from that – while I hope I didn’t offend anyone who works in the oldest profession and indeed is 100% consenting, I don’t believe in a world where in the majority of case – either one, or both parties in that transaction aren’t deeply damaged from some form of early life (likely sex related) trauma or have an unhealthy relationship with sex and intimacy. You don’t have to be a psychiatrist to come to that conclusion.

If you know a locally-sourced prostitute who loves their job and you want to get your rocks off – then go right ahead if you can sleep with yourself at night. But I’m free to say “I don’t support the sex trade” if I believe it is deeply troubling based on the overwhelming evidence that commercial sex industry is harmful to millions of people around the world.

http://www.equalitynow.org/node/1010

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