DEBATE: Should Sierra Leone Legalize Prostitution?
Before we decide whether to legalize prostitution, let’s get to the facts, not the myths, about legal prostitution. The Real Harms: In prostitution, men remove women’s humanity. Buying a woman in prostitution gives men the power to turn women into a living, breathing masturbation fantasy. Research shows that a majority of johns refuse to use condoms, or pay high prices to desperately poor women to not use condoms, or rape women without condoms. Another man said, “I use them like I might use any other amenity, a restaurant, or a public convenience.” As shocking as these men’s observations may sound to those who think prostitution is like the movie Pretty Woman, their descriptions closely match women’s descriptions of prostitution. The women explain how it feels to be treated like a rented organ. “It is internally damaging. You become in your own mind what these people do and say with you. You wonder how could you let yourself do this and why do these people want to do this to you....