Do Prostitution Laws Affect Rape Rates? | Hacker News Reader

Do Prostitution Laws Affect Rape Rates?

journals.uchicago.edu

5 pointsnithinj4 comments

Based on the constant narrative that rape is not about sex but about power of the male patriarchy I would have expected there to be little to no change. According to the abstract there's a significant change which would indicate that is more of a sexual outlet than a power dynamic.

I've always supported legalized prostitution. I can understand the argument that it's not a good outlet and that stable family relationships are best but banning it just creates a black market increasing the risk of both sellers and buyers by many orders of magnitude.

Legalization, regulation, taxation would provide a framework for a safe working environment.

I think the power argument still stands - sex workers often do get abused and treated badly.

On other hand I think that single cause models always are more a device of narrative than real world model.

It's likely sex workers under-report. Possibly for the same reasons women at large do, but I would suspect for different reasons as well. The justice system isn't always equal in how it treats the victims of crime, irrespective of an individuals own breaches of law (and its only a hypothesis that sex workers ARE breaching the law) you should be treated the same, but you aren't.

But this report is accounting for places where prostitution is legal. European countries with legal prostitution abusing a prostitute is very serious and police take it seriously. Even in some Asian countries where it's illegal but ignored, police very much protect the working girls from bad tourist.

While I don't dispute that power is always part of it, even in consenting sex, this study seems to totally destroy the narrative that it's all about power and that legalization objectifies woman which leads to an increase in rape. That's narrative has been used continually to prevent the legalization and regulation of prostitution in the USA. If this study is true that having a legal outlet meaningful reduces crime and makes women safer, then we've be lied to for years, and you have ask the reason why we have been. Additionally this would also provide some evidence that other forms of sexual release could be managed by providing a legal safe option.

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