Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Prostitution Puzzles

1- Why is it illegal to sell sex, but legal to give it away? (Or for that matter, why is it illegal to sell a kidney, but legal to give it away?)

2- Why is it illegal for Person X to pay Person Y to have sex, but it is legal for Person Z to pay Person X and Person Y to have sex with each other, and film it so Person A, Person, B, and Person C can buy it and view it?

(HT: Freedom Democrats)

6 Comments:

At 3/13/2008 9:27 AM, Blogger Marko said...

I think that prostitution may be the only crime where the existance of a contract makes it a crime. Usually, a contract is void if the thing promised is a crime, but with prostitution, the thing promised, sex, is legal. It is the existance of the contract that makes it illegal. The only thing close that I can think of is selling organs - you can give them away but not sell them.

In both of these situations, I would argue that the government has no business being involved in private contracts to do something legal. This is different from a contract to sell drugs, because even possession of drugs is illegal. In the case of sex, having sex (in most instances) is legal, so why can't you contract for it?

Of course, whether prostitution should be illegal or not, at least it is permitted by the Supreme Court to be a political issue, and states (in some cases counties) get to have this decided by representatives or ballot. That is the way it should be, and I guess a majority thinks it should be illegal.

Anyone have an argument that the federal constitution protects contracts to this extent?

 
At 3/13/2008 10:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

...because whenever there is the possibility of profit there is the possibility of exploitation. I am not sure I want people selling their organs(or their children's) for food or drugs. At least the sale of blood is the sale of a renewable resource. You can argue whether prostition is exploitation or not. I guess it is a matter of how much money is involved. It is like the old joke, "Would you have sex for a million dollars (answer yes)...how about twenty dollars(answer no what kind of a person do you think I am?)... We have already established that. Now we are just haggling over price"

 
At 3/13/2008 10:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

> 2- Why is it illegal for Person X to pay Person Y to have sex, but it is legal for Person Z to pay Person X and Person Y to have sex with each other, and film it so Person A, Person, B, and Person C can buy it and view it?

Actually, this details exactly how to do such a business -- provide actresses for private amateur porn shoots. Since the courts have already ruled fairly consistently that porn films are not prostitution, it would be hard to draw the line at amateur films.

 
At 3/13/2008 8:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Given current modern lifestyle trends, it is plausible that marital sex like dog walking, cooking dinner or cleaning the family home may eventually be outsourced by executive spouses. Will hiring sexual service provider for your wife/husband be illegal?

Might be better to play it safe and give your husband a goldfish.

The future is fun.

 
At 3/14/2008 10:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Why is it illegal to sell sex"

Because it would undermine the necessity to get married and have families thereby reducing the number of "responsible" men available to be stuck in jobs they hate so they can provide some kind of existence to their families.

 
At 3/15/2009 6:27 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Why is illegal to pay for sex, yet perfectly acceptable to buy a meal, a show and a box of chocolates in exchange for sex later.

Simple:Puritan ethic and society's need to force conformity.

 

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