Should escorting be legalized

[TJT]

Silvester,
He's got to be young. He doesn't understand the concept of prositution.

The definition of prostitution = paying for an hour of bliss without being expected to paint the house afterward.

LMAO!!!

[Shining Star]

Prices:

Risk has very little to do with pricing, at least in major cities such as NYC and LA, more based upon what the market will pay. Making prossing legal wouldn't change much in that the income would be easier to tax. Note said "eaiser" not just taxed as under current US tax laws all earned income is taxable. The IRS does not care where or how you earn your money. Rather like most cash businesses it is hard to collect without a paper trail. Al Capone murdered, maimed and did god only knows what else, but was sent to prison for tax evasion.

Prices for trannies in the major areas used to be rather "low" when the newspapers (Screw et al), were the main sources of advertisements, and most girls worked for a madam. Pepole like Simone in NY and others. The old agency structure suited many girls since they didn't want to be seen going down to Screw and paying adverts, and dealing with all that setting up dates entails. However little by little girls began doing just that, however rates still for the most part remained "low".

It was not until Internet advertising took over and some girls quickly realised they could make more money from dates off the Web than in print. It was then and still is not uncommon for girls to have several rates, with those calling from say an Eros or Exotics advert paying more than those calling from the Village Voice.

Finally rates have sky rocketed because way too many guys pay $400/hour for an incall for which they receive almost absolutely nothing, or at least not what was agreed upon. Or, the few top girls that do provide good service and charge accordingly get reviewed and all the girls figure if "that bitch can get $300, I'm going to charge $500).

Also because of the Internet girls can reach a wider market, including booking dates from overseas. Right now $400 USD is half or a little more than half (give or take) when converted to British pounds or Euros, so it isn't that much money to those men.


Problem also with legalising prossing is that there would have to be some sort of central registry/database for workers, along with health records. In Europe attitudes towards sex workers vary, but few if many in the United States want to be known as prossies. What if you worked say for a few years to get through college, then left the business. If the thing is legalised your name would still be in the registry for all to see, and you would forever been known as a pros. Again in the United States, many people are kind of funny about knowing prossies, former or current, so your life might very well be ruined.


Brothels:

France amoung some other European countries at one time or another had male brothels, but they usually were run along differnet lines than the ones for females. The men had more freedom to come and go as they pleased and there was less heavy "enforcement" the way one often finds with female workers.

One old time trannie madam told me that female brothels in the US don't want trannies because most are still too "male" in that they won't bend to authority. That is to say if one works in a house, and madam sets you up with a fat/ugly client who wants you to do major stunts, then you damn well better do it or else. Unlike many trannie prossies who think the business is about a personal dating/pleasure service, professional madams are concerned with the satisfaction of their clients. Afterall if clients stop coming she has no business. And it is much eaiser to depend upon a flow of regular known clients then to constantly advertise for new ones.

For the most part the escort scene, trannies and otherwise has gone too far towards independent workers to favour brothels anyway. Escort services still survive, especially for high end clients as there are men out there who want to make sure a girl is carefully vetted before she is sent to see them. Know service girls (GGs) that see MAJOR men, we're talking names one sees in the media and such, for which they are paid in thousands per call. However these men know the girl sent to them is going to be what they want, will do what they wish and is the right sort that will not raise eyebrows as she passes the lobby staff/servants.

[SarahG]

Per the waco reference from earlier... I think the bigger issue there was the self serving, overzealous, religious fanatic they had as a leader whom was taunting law enforcement by molesting & raping his minors in captivity...

Getting back on topic, our own historical expierence shows that in the preHIV days, legalized prostitution was easily feasible. The Union forces tried such an expirament in Tenn during occupation and the licensing system they used brought in enough revenue to fund specialized hospitals for both girls suffering from stds... and soldiers/civilian men who had contracted it from prostitution. I don't see that being too particularly easy today given the climate in which pharmaceuticals rape Americans over the cost of prescription drugs...

Why is it illegal here, religious factions? They have a part, but I doubt they could be solely responsible for it. At the end of the day America is filled with and run by prudes. Even aside from the whole religious perspective on the issue you have nimby, you have all these parents that are so adamantly opposed to anything even minorly violent or sexual in the name of over protecting their children... the reason why politicians go after things like this is because its so easy to win over people in all segments of the voting population by doing so. I am sure everyone here is more than familiar with how American citizens react to adult stores and clubs... and how so many would go so far to use local and state legislation to unconstitutionally violate their property rights, freedom of speech, and due process using a cocktail of zoning laws, ordnances and restrictive regulations.

Legalization isn't necessarily a solution... someone can use a licensing system for several things; raising money, encouraging people to switch behaviors, or discouraging a behavior (think sin taxes here). Legalization isn't going to do a whole hell of alot if, what follows, is a licensing system so abrasive, intrusive, and expensive that it could not possibly ever be in anyone's self interests. Am I off base here? I don't particularly think so... anyone fimilar with the licensing system for merely being a dancer in Philly and all the horror stories that have come from it?

I could see America getting rid of the death penalty before allowing legalized prostitution... hell I could see America being the last civilized (I am being sarcastic using that term) country in the world to outlaw it....

[cockcraver]

in a nutshell....yes