Should countries legalize prostitution?

The porn industry does not involve pimps, gangs, streets, illegal drugs/activity, and force/abuse of women, for the most part. They involve strict, contracted work that is recorded on camera and is released by distributing companies with their respective studios. For the most part I think.

Why can't prostitution be run in a similar way?

IMO Prostitutes should be completely self employed, and be able to set there own hours, wages, and what they will and won't do with clients. They should also be able to demand potential clients have a STD test before doing anything with them.

And if someone hassles them, they should be able to go to the police, just like if someone hassles a store clerk or any other kind of worker. And if a prostitute behaved inappropriately, customers could in turn report them to the Better Business Bureau.

I think the reason a lot of people have a problem with the idea of legal prostitution is that they aren't thinking about it being an actual business.

Ok, I have a bit of time on my hands now, so I will explain my previous comment about decriminalization vs. legalization.

See, the regulation of it is why I think decriminalization rather than legalization is the way to go for prostitution. The way it currently is for most places is that prostitution is a crime. If a prostitute was being abused by her pimps or clients, he/she cannot go to the police for fear of being thrown into jail for prostitution. This system only punishes those who are already victimized.

Under legalized prostitution, like we see in Nevada or in the Netherlands, there are a lot of problems as well. Like Aristana's article says, being forced to register as a prostitute can bring about a slew of negative effects, such as being refused health insurance, or being discriminated against in other jobs. Legalization also isn't a deterrent against abuse, as the article states, and in some cases it can even hurt.

The solution? Decriminalization. Strip prostitution of its criminal status, but don't entirely legalize it as well. Such is the case in Sweden, where it is perfectly legal to sell sex as an individual, but pimping, trafficking, soliciting sex, and operating brothels is illegal. This way, if a prostitute is raped or abused in some way, he/she can report the abuses to the authorities without fear of repercussions for the act of prostitution, and the true criminals--the ones who abused the prostitute--is put behind bars.

As for the act of prostitution itself...well, everyone is divided on this. My opinion is that it's the individual's choice to sell sexual services, but there are definitely societal forces that push one into or away from sex work, and that complicates matters. There are prostitutes who enjoy what they do, and are happy and healthy, and we should not ignore their voices and discount their experiences. However, we should also help those who are being abused by helping them get out of the business and putting the abusers behind bars.

[size=14][i][color=#9D0A0A]Yes. Because it should be a persons own decision wether they want to sell their body or not.
Besides, I'd rather have a man go to a prostitute then rape someone on the streets because he can't get laid. And if it's legalized, that means rules can be made for it. Like using condoms, etc.

Forced prostitution is a whole other matter ofcourse.

If it's still full of trafficked victims, NO.

Until then, and thus probably never, it will not be right to legitimize.

I suspect quite a number of citizens in any particular country will be against the legalization of prostitution. At the moment, it may be a crime to engage in such an act, but most governments and authorities tend to close an eye to prostitution, conducting checks and raids, perhaps on a scheduled basis.

To a certain extent, could we say it is "unofficially allowed"?