Legalization vs illegalization of Prostitution

Prostitution is one of the many problems in the Human Trafficking Industry. Most say that prostitution should be legalized but many say that it should stay illegal. This topic is very arguable. Right now in the U.S. prostitution is illegal but there are some that think that it should be legalized for many reasons. Those that think that prostitution should be legal think that it will help stop the trafficking of women and children for sex. “One argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that legalization would help to end the exploitation of desperate immigrant women who had been trafficked there for prostitution.” (Janice G. Raymond) That is the main point of legalizing prostitution, that it will stop the trafficking of women, but it only makes it worse. “Over the last decade, as pimping was legalized, and brothels decriminalized in the year 2000, the sex industry increased by 25% in the Netherlands.” (Janice G. Raymond) Almost all prostitutes are woman and all women have rights. By keeping prostitution illegal it helps protects that rights of women. It is illegal to pimp out women so those who do will be arrested.


Janice G. Raymond. "Prostitution Should Not Be Legalized." Opposing Viewpoints: Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. BCR Garfield County Public Library. 6 Nov. 2008 .

Reflection

When asked to pick a controversial topic what do you pick? There a ton of topics. At first I picked the sex slave industry. I was set on doing that topic until I couldn’t find information and just they sex slave industry. So I decided to go with a topic that still incorporated the sex slave industry but that covered other things as well and that’s how I chose Human Trafficking. I had learned a little about human trafficking through TV shows and books but I want to learn more about it. Making a blog was new to me. I knew what a blog was but I wasn’t sure how to start. At first I thought that it was a bad idea because no one besides the class was going to read it but it has turned out really good. Making and maintaining the blog has given me some great skills.

I have learned a lot about Human Trafficking. I new that Human Trafficking was a problem but I didn’t know that it was such a problem that it is the third largest illegal trade in the world today. I also didn’t know that the U.S. is a destination country. I feel that this a very controversial topic and that it is probably wont be solved in a long time even if all. There are so many bad people and bad governments in our world today that it is just too hard to control everybody and everything. Yes, we can try but in the end doesn’t evil prevail?

In the second quarter I hope to find out a little more about what the U.S. government and the UN are doing to try and control/stop Human Trafficking. I would also how I can get involved from school and how I can get other students to get involved. Next I am going to read Not for Sale. I am also going to try to find a movie about Human Trafficking.

Research

Many people agree that Human Trafficking is a major problem but they don’t know how they can help. There are many organizations that have sites that you can go to. Love146, ECPAT International and HumanTrafficking.org are only three of the billion of organizations that you can go to.

Love146 was started in 2002 by a group of people who traveled to South-East Asia and saw how little girls were being sold at brothels. The girls were on one side of a one side mirror just watching TV while men on the other side were watching them and picking and choosing the girls. Love146 was started to help those girl on the other side of the mirror. This organization helps to abolish child prostitution. They train aftercare workers (workers who work with children that have been rescued), they also have multiple safe houses. On the website love146.org you can watch a short video on how Love146 got started. Also on the website you can donate. (Love146)

ECPAT stands for End Child Prostitution Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes. ECPAT is mainly focused on Child Prostitution in Asia. When a team researchers went on a tourism consult in Thailand in 1990, they “exposed the degree to which child prostitution was increasing in many Asian countries.” With in three more years ECPAT was started. Over the next 18 years ECPAT held International Consultations and has partnered up with UNICEF and the NGO Group for the Rights of the Child. This organization follows the governments of the 122 countries that adopted the Stockholm Agenda for Action against the commercial sexual exploitation of Children (CSEC) and then publishes the results. On their web site (ecpat.net) you can read more about their history and how you can get involved. (ECPAT International)

HumanTrafficking.org is a little different than the other two web sites. HumanTrafficking.org gives you information about the situations in East Asia and Pacific countries. This web site was started in 2000 after the Asian Regional Initiative Against Trafficking (ARIAT) when, “it was suggested that countries should build regional cooperation networks, including cooperation through the Internet, to combat the issue of human trafficking.” On the web site (HumanTrafficking.org) you can look at the countries situations and what the government is doing to help prevent human trafficking. You can also read about what you can do to help. (Humantrafficking.org0

Although all three of these web sites are different, they are all working toward a common goal: STOPPING HUMAN TRAFFICKING! You might know what human trafficking is but you might not know where and how much it affects the world today and these websites and many other can help you understand more.


ECPAT International. ECPAT International. 17 October 2008.

Humantrafficking.org. 2001-2006. Academy for Education Development. 17 October 2008

Love146. 2008. Love146. 17 October 2008.

Survey

For my Human Trafficking survey I ask three questions 1. Do you think that Human Trafficking is an issue today?, 2. Do you think Human Trafficking affects the U.S? and 3. Do you think want to do anything to help stop Human trafficking? My results did and did not surprise me. I picked these question to see if students are aware of this issue.

For the first question I was glad see that more people thought that Human Trafficking is an issue today. It shows that students are aware of the situation.
But there were a few that didn't think the Human trafficking is an issue. The second question kinda surprised me because 7 out of 10 students think that Human Trafficking does affect the U.S. I was expecting for more students to say that it does not affect the U.S. Question Three did not surprise me 8 out of 10 said that they would maybe want to do something to stop Human Trafficking (2 out of 10 said yes). I think that more people said maybe because they do want to help but they don't really know how to.

In conclusion I think to help people get involved i think that I should research some organizations that help in preventing Human Trafficking and help save people who have been trafficked.