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Taiwan Legalizes Prostitution After Campaign By Sex Trade Workers
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by alia_d | June 24, 2009 at 03:24 pm
892 views | 12 Recommendations | 5 comments
Taiwan passed legislation to legalize prostitution on Wednesday, June 24 2009. Taiwan decided to legalize prostitution because of sex workers who campaigned to have the same rights for protection as their clients.
“Now the client gets off free, but the prostitute gets punished, and that’s not fair,” spokesman Su Jun-pin said.
Taiwan’s cabinet will issue regulations within six months, when new regulations take effect, covering locations in Taiwan approved for prostitution.
The new legislation reverses a decision to criminalize prostitution that was made by the Taiwanese government 12 years ago in 1997. The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters argues that this led to the deterioration of working conditions for prostitutes and that it enabled criminal gangs to increase their influence on the sex industry.
However, the Taipei Times, one of three major English-language newspapers in Taiwan, published an editorial which expressed concern that the legalization of prostitution would not prevent the deterioration of work conditions for prostitutes or decrease the influence of gangs.
Yet the paper also noted the the criminalization of prostitution has has a severe negative impact on sex workers:
The glaring reality is that forcing sex workers into the shadows has done nothing to put an end to the business — nor to the scourges of human trafficking and exploitation that often accompany the practice. Many observers and sex workers are concerned that outlawing the trade has exacerbated these problems and left some of society’s most vulnerable women with fewer options than ever to pursue a better life for themselves and their families.
The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a Taipei-based advocacy group, estimates that 600,000 people are involved in sex-related jobs.
In its decision to legalize prostitution, Taiwan follows in the footsteps of many countries, like New Zealand and Australia, who have recently chosen to legalize or decriminalize the sex trade.
A heated debate about whether or not prostitution should be legalized is currently underway in different locales around the world, especially in cities that are hosting major sporting events in 2010, such as Vancouver (Winter Olympics) and Capetown (World Cup).
Proponents of legalization argue that it would help to curb human trafficking, protect prostitutes from harm, and enable the sex worker's right to choose; however, those who argue against prostitution say that legalization would expand the industry for the benefit of pimps, rather than women and children, while making it acceptable to buy women's bodies.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 20:27 on June 24th, 2009
Well, they are not the only country that has legalized it, Germany and Austria did and i believe the Netherlands did as well.
Whether this is good or bad is a long debate to be held. However I do believe in this case it may have negative consequences.
at 23:27 on June 24th, 2009
Why do you believe in this particular case it may have negative consequences?
at 16:35 on June 25th, 2009
"Proponents of legalization argue that it would help to curb human trafficking..."
I find it ridiculous that supporters of legalization are trying to argue that it curbs trafficking. Studies have shown that in areas where prostitution is legalized, the prevalence of sex trafficking has grown exponentially worse because it becomes more difficult for law enforcement to differentiate between "legal prostitutes" and those that are victims of sex trafficking. Legalizing prostitution is like waving an open invitation to human traffickers to use your city/country as a safe haven.
at 21:06 on June 25th, 2009
Well the logic behind it is that if prostitution is legalized, it is easier to monitor the industry and find out if there are trafficking victims and, thus, prevent it by making it more difficult for pimps, etc to hide victims. However, if it is an underground industry, than it is much easier to traffick people into the sex industry.
Please note though, that I'm not argueing for one side or the other. Your logic may be more correct, I just want to present the other side.However, I do think that how legalization plays out with regards to trafficking would depend on other factors like anti-trafficking legislation in place in the country.
at 02:34 on July 30th, 2009
Strippers and porn models also "sell" their bodies -- so what's the difference? I would much rather have one-on-one sex in private than get up there naked on a stage with a bunch of people gawking and leering at me.