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Argument: Legalized prostitution sanctions a dangerous environment for women

Issue Report: Prostitution

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  • Melissa Farley, Ph.D., Founding Director of the Prostitution Research and Education. “Prostitution Is Sexual Violence”. Psychiatric Times. Oct. 2004 – “Regardless of prostitution’s status (legal, illegal or decriminalized) or its physical location (strip club, massage parlor, street, escort/home/hotel), prostitution is extremely dangerous for women. Homicide is a frequent cause of death….
It is a cruel lie to suggest that decriminalization or legalization will protect anyone in prostitution. It is not possible to protect someone whose source of income exposes them to the likelihood of being raped on average once a week.”[1]
  • Norma Hotaling, Executive Director of the Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) Project and former prostitute. Testimony to U.S. Congress. Apr. 28, 2005 – “As long as we point the finger away from ourselves, away from the institutions that blame and criminalize women and children for their own rape, sexual abuse, trafficking and slavery, away from the men who we normalize as ‘Johns,’ and as long as we disconnect adult prostitution and the exploitation of children and disconnect prostitution and trafficking in human beings for the purposes of rape and sex slavery; then we are to blame and we have assisted in creating well-funded transnational criminal networks – dollar by dollar.”[2]