By Sajid Akhtar

Photos by Vaikunthe Banerjee

Prostitution is a subjective moral debate, with no clear consensus whether or not it should be legal. As the world’s oldest profession, legal prohibition of it has failed to eradicate the business, and proves that its legal status should be an obvious affirmative.

While sex at its best is about love and a true connection between two individuals, people do engage in casual sex for the sheer physical pleasure. Moreover, such trysts can be influenced by drugs or alcohol, or be brought about by lying and manipulation, which would seem far less moral than a sober woman making a rational decision about her body. So when we do not always condemn men and women who choose to be promiscuous, why would we condemn prostitution?

Sex in its inherent nature is not illegal, and neither are free markets. I fail to understand the logic behind combining the two and making the result illegal. Many women working as prostitutes freely choose their profession. Should they really be deprived of this choice?

While it is true some women are coerced into prostitution, that does not negate the fact that many women do freely choose it. The coercion itself should be illegal, but we should not take away the choice from those who would like to make it. By legalizing prostitution, a government can help bring these labourers under labour protections that are offered to other workers.

Some claim that prostitution is an inherently unsafe venture, and so it should not be sanctioned by labour laws. However, many other industries are unsafe — such as the mining industry — and this was precisely the reason why government labor laws and unions were created to help protect them. Skills Development Canada states that one in every 68 workers were injured on the job in 2010, with the construction industry being the highest risk industry at 24.5 cases per every 1000 employers.

When an industry is criminalized and the demand for it persists, black markets will emerge. This means no government regulation exists, making the likelihood of abuse, violence, and rape all the more real. By condemning prostitution, we are closing our eyes to the problems that prevail with this profession at its status quo.

People who condemn prostitution often base their opinion on the risk of STDs associated with the profession. There are, however, many dangers related to all kinds of legal professions. A person working in a factory risks dismemberment, chemical burns, and in some cases, even death. In 2008 alone, 24 out of 1000 employees of the manufacturing industry were injured while at work.

A consumer of any product similarly risks injury due to defective parts or shoddy construction. In everything we do, we are choosing a level of risk that we deem acceptable. In the case of prostitution, the risk of a client catching an STD is known, and the client is willing to take that risk. To use that as a basis for victimization would be silly considering you could catch E-coli from a bag of spinach.

Moreover, legalizing prostitution and issuing state-approved health cards to prostitutes could help eradicate this problem altogether, and provide sex workers with freedoms enjoyed by all other workers in Canada.