There needs to be a way to decriminalize the sex-workers that is more transparent in the monetary portion so that it doesn't invite corrupt people that become a target for prosecution and maybe they probably deserve it for running huge criminal organizations worth millions that are laundered illegally. Let's call it Craig's List.

OK, I know Craig's List doesn't allow safety or upfront payment or many actual functions but what I mean is that there could be a simple website for free that some web designer could pretty easily whip up.

Narratives about the sexism of sex work can be replaced by narratives of racist and socioeconomic exploitation.

Don't really think that translates into a good argument for keeping sex work illegal, and definitely doesn't translate into an argument for the status quo where it is the sex workers who are punished the most despite the claims of being concerned for their well-being.

Those narratives are also a lot less likely to gain traction here in 'murica.

@2 Just to be clear, Rentboy did not handle payments for services, bookings, or any such thing. They were purely an advertising service. Escort pays set fee for the month and gets a listing.

Decriminalization is not a panacea. Amsterdam decriminalized prostitution, and it is rife with human trafficking. Before we decriminalize, we have to make sure we have the pieces to regulate it effectively. Otherwise, we may replace one bad with another.

@3: Most fans of keeping it illegal favor decriminalizing the selling, while keeping the buying illegal. (Not surprising, given that most buyers are male while most sellers are female.) They don't cover the effect on the workers of keeping the whole industry underground, nor do they think about what happens to a survival-based prostitute who can't prostitute anymore, but that's par for the course with them.

@6: And what would those pieces be? Ideally if you can cover functional differences between Amsterdam and the U.S.

Helping to troubleshoot specifics is cool and all. Wanting to keep the whole thing banned because of undefined future problems that could crop up, sounds too much like like the scare stories about what might happen if we allowed the gays to marry.

Prostitution is legal in Nevada. Why not use their laws as models for laws nationwide?

A mere 10% decrease in trafficking for Germany? Not terribly impressive. But Germany's geographical and economic position might be more conducive to trafficken than New Zealand's.

Still, if the energy and resources spent on prosecuting sex workers was diverted to pursuing traffickers—ALL labor traffickers and exploiters of refugees—how much improvement might there be?

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dept-fo…

@8 - I've looked it this. Nevada's laws suck and in my opinion are at least inadvertently (but more likely intentionally) homophobic.

Nevada doesn't legalize all prostitution. It legalizes brothels. But not all brothels. Counties may choose to legalize brothels, but cities within those counties can still ban them within city limits. In addition, counties with a population over 700,000 cannot allow them, a deliberate move to prohibit brothels anywhere near Las Vegas, Reno, or the state's capitol, Carson. I suspect this may be in part to reduce sex tourism -- people who travel there specifically to enjoy legalized prostitution. But it also has the effect of only legalizing female prostitution, not gay male prostitution. In theory, you could have a brothel with male workers catering to male clients, but since the brothels are only allowed in rural, redneck areas, it's not going to happen.

One approach would be to remove the 700,000 population cap so that an all-male brothel could operate closer to Las Vegas. But while I see some value in limiting it to brothels (making sure workers are tested, protected, and have access to panic buttons for emergencies, etc.), I think that many concerns could be addressed without requiring that the workers be limited to brothels any more than hair stylists and masseurs should be limited to salons and massage parlors.

So to your general point, I agree that legalization should include regulation and protection for the workers, but I'm not convinced that Nevada's model is the right approach.