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Albany, NY – The ethical and moral debates surrounding prostitution are complex. Even films give us mixed messages about the business - providing glamorous roles for actors like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman to the less-sympathetic character played by a puffy, almost unrecognizable Charlize Theron in Monster.
Laws regarding prostitution also vary state-to-state in the U.S. In Nevada, brothels are legalized. In most other states, it's considered a misdemeanor to sell sex. Even among feminists, there is a wide range of positions on prostitution.
One area where many agree is in the practice of prostitution among young women, under the age of 18. Almost everyone agrees, those teens should not be selling sex. But who to punish - and how? Many times, young women walking the street have run away from home. Sometimes, they've even been kidnapped and forced to become prostitutes. Still, these women are often arrested and put in prison. While most states levy harsher punishments for pimps than prostitutes, some states are revisiting child prostitution legislation. New York state is one of them. 51%'s Julia Corcoran has the story from New York City.
While most agree that child prostitution is exploitative, the ethics of adult women selling sex is a bit more controversial. More and more scholars and writers are considering the empowering elements of prostitution for some women. Lenore Kuo directs an international research group called The Feminist Public Policy project. A few years ago, she published a book called Prostitution Policy: Revolutionizing Practice Through a Gendered Perspective.
Kuo stresses the need to go to the source when coming up with laws surrounding prostitution. She interviewed hundreds of sex workers for her book, and discovered a wide spectrum of situations within the business. As a result, she has an extremely nuanced perspective on prostitution policy - and shared it with me the other day.
Since we've talked a lot about prostitution and its legality today, we decided to take a trip to Washington, D.C., and see how the home of lawmakers treats sex workers. Public radio member station WAMU's Sidsel Overgaard found that prostitution there is going high-tech - and that's easing relations with the police in the district.