Since I’ve repeatedly written that people should have the right to sell their organs, I obviously think they should be able to rent their organs as well.
Which is my hopefully clever way of introducing this new John Stossel video.
I made the case for legal prostitution back in 2017.
Let’s update that argument by sharing some excerpts from a column that Karol Markowicz wrote the following year for the New York Post.
She explains that the sex trafficking has been exaggerated. More important, legalization is the best way of reducing the problem.
…there’s the issue of our overblown statistics, and the resulting hysteria, when it comes to sex trafficking. …One example had the Dallas Morning News noting that there were 200,000 sex-trafficking cases prosecuted in one year in Houston alone. The actual number was: two. …The media play a role in such hysteria with sensational reporting. Take, for example, the monthlong sting by law enforcement agencies across 17 states… CNN’s headline on its story about the sting was, “More than 1,000 arrests in sex trafficking operation.” Yet the story quotes a Cook County, Ill., sheriff who ran the operation as saying, “At least 1,020 sex buyers were arrested, and 15 people face trafficking-related charges.” Fifteen out of 1,020 is under 2 percent, and even that could be inflated. …Prostitution is referred to as “the world’s oldest profession” for a reason. It has existed in every society in human history and will continue to exist no matter how hard politicians try to drive it underground, making it less safe in the process. McNeill writes, “those who are truly interested in decreasing exploitation in the sex industry would be better off supporting decriminalization of prostitution.”
Ms Markowicz is right, as is Ms. McNeill, who provided the closing quote in the above excerpt..
Prostitution is more dangerous when it’s illegal. Just as the market for cocaine is more dangerous because it’s been criminalized.
I hasten to add that being in favor of legal prostitution is not the same as approving of prostitution. I’m not a lifestyle libertarian. I’ve never been with a prostitute (other than the non-sexual ones that dominate both the Republican Party and Democratic Party in Washington, DC).
Moreover, I very much suspect that most of the women who join the world’s oldest profession don’t have upbeat assessments of their lives, unlike “Aella” in the above video.
But Aella made a very good point. Women opt for sex work because it beats the alternatives. They can make more money – and all of that cash presumably never gets taxed.
I’ll close by predicting that more and more states eventually will legalize prostitution, but not for libertarian reasons. Instead, politicians will simply see it as a way of grabbing more tax revenue.
After all, that’s what has led many states to legalize marijuana.
P.S. Hopefully, those states won’t then make the mistake of over-taxing prostitution. Based on how they have overtaxed pot, I’m not overly optimistic.
P.P.S. My left-leaning friends are bizarrely fixated on prostitution.
P.P.P.S. If you want some odd examples of taxation and sex work, check out these stories from Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
