The U.S. government currently has deemed prostitution as illegal. However, there are many activists who are opposed to the criminalization of prostitution because they believe it is the freedom of each individual to use their body as they please, that prostitution is a victimless crime and legalization would increase health and safety.  However, prostitution should not be legalized in the United States because prostitution both currently and historically holds women in bondage of oppression whether it is legal, illegal or regulated. This is due to the issues with these women's mental and physical health.  Finally, it would increase the crime rate throughout the country with unregulated pimps and higher rates of sex trafficking.

Prostitution has often been referred to as one of the oldest professions known to man.  There has always been a long history of prostitutes and women trading sex for money.  As far as records reach back of different human civilizations, most all mentioned prostitution.  The Sumerians recorded a goddess named Ishtar during the third millennium B.C. This was a goddess of love and war who was a "maiden" during the day and a "whore" during the night.  It was said that Ishtar would provide women to "service men who offered money to her temples with the 'sacred' powers of their bodies." This was one of the earliest recordings of women trading sex for money in a society.  Laws were written in Hammurabi's Code, which discussed the rights of a prostitute. This was all the way back in the time of 1780 B.C. The trend of prostitution changed over time and continued to take place in many different countries and civilizations.   There were legalized brothels in Ancient Greece but in December of 1254, France abolished prostitution under the rule of King Louis IX.  Prostitution has always been a topic of controversy. From being an act of religion and considered normal in a society to considered an act of evil in others.  

Almost every society had a different opinion on whether prostitution should be allowed or should be abolished.  However, the focus on this topic has always been based on the opinion of the society's perspective and less focused on the prostitutes themselves.  The men who wished to partake in the trading of their money for sex obviously supported the acceptance of prostitution. These men sometimes were in power or had major influence on the laws.  Then there are those in a society who morally had an issue with women using their bodies to make a living. Some societies would legalize prostitution but put regulations on those who partake in the sex trade.  The battle of legalization continues in present day times all over the world.  Nevertheless, many people ignore the reasoning on why prostitutes chose to enter into this industry.  

Women during ancient times all the way up the 1900s had either very few rights or none at all. Women were denied education almost throughout all of history and "did not begin attending college in equal numbers to men until as recently as 1980."  This meant the selection of jobs available for women was very small.  Girls were raised to be a good housewife where they mostly learned to cook, sew and take care of their children.  It was expected for a man to provide for the women of his household.  However, some women did not have a man to provide for them in various circumstances. Widows, outcasts and orphans existed in these societies who needed a way to provide for themselves.  One example of this was displayed in Victor Hugo's novel, Les Miserables.  Fantine was one of the characters in this dramatic story who became a prostitute due to her desperate circumstances.  She fell in love with a man, Felix Thomolmyes, who impregnated Fatine before being married.  This man abandoned Fantine and their child.  The setting of this story took place during the late 1700s and early 1800s in France.  During this time period in history, women who gave birth to a child out of wedlock were cast out from society. There were only a few jobs even available to women during this time such as working in a clothing factory.  However, if the owner found out that a woman had a child without being married, she would be fired and thrown out onto the streets.  This was exactly the case for Fantine. When her child was on the edge of death she sold her hair, next her teeth and finally her body.  She chose the lifestyle of prostitution so she could find a way for her abandoned child to survive.  Hugo bravely wrote this novel based off of true events during the nineteenth century to show the sufferings of various men and women.  This included women who chose prostitution out of desperation.   

Historically, women decided to trade sex for money due to their lack of options.  These women lived in a state of oppression and worked in the sex industry in order to survive.  Circumstances on what is accepted in today's societies and cultures has vastly transformed over time.  In present time of the twentieth century, it is very common for women to give birth to a child without being in a committed relationship.  Women are allowed to receive a higher education and to work for a living in a profession of their choice.  Circumstances may have evolved over time in society but the reason for why women chose to enter into prostitution remains unchanged.  Women feel as if there is "a lack of alternative survival options" or have been in a state of oppression their entire lives.  

When researchers have studied these women, many found that "large numbers of prostitutes were sexually abused during their childhood."  There is a psychological disorder known as "learned helplessness."  This is where an organism is forced to "bear adverse stimuli" due to reoccurring circumstances forced upon them, even if they are later "escapable."  This strongly applies to those who were sexually abused at a young age and chose to enter into the sex industry.  They accept the idea of being used for their body and it becomes their lifestyle.  Nine-year-old, Brenda Myers grew up in Chicago and was molested by a member of her family for years.  She said, "I was thinking, well, they're already taking my panties off, and I wasn't getting any money. So ill make them pay for it."  Since Brenda remained in this state of oppression she was raised by, she was later led into other unhealthy dependencies like drugs and alcohol abuse while involved in prostitution. Also many of these women who were abused at an early age, used prostitution as a way to "take control of their sexuality after having it taken from them."  Most often this only increases the level of trauma which these women have already experienced, permanently damaging their mental state.  

The state of a woman's mental stability can be affected regardless of prior traumatic experiences when involved in prostitution.  Post traumatic stress disorder "is a mental health disorder that's triggered by terrifying events" and has repeatedly proven to be an issue for "sex workers." A study was done over 113 ex-prostitutes with a control group of 65 subjects based on "symptoms related to trauma and PTSD, stress-related reactions, and other mental health factors." The results showed a significant difference between the control group and the ex-prostitutes.  The results showed "the female ex-prostitutes had significantly higher stress response, somatization, depression, fatigue, frustration, sleep, smoking and alcohol problems, and more frequent and serious PTSD symptoms." Another study was done over 854 women involved in prostitution in 9 different countries.  Researchers discovered that 70-95% of the women were victims of assault and 96% claimed that "they experienced physical danger from weapons, physical violence, and injury from rape."  

There are various counter arguments that have been made on why prostitution should be legalized in the United States.  First, many activists oppose the criminalization of prostitution on grounds that it is the right of each individual to use their body as they please. The United States has always been a country based upon freedom. Liberty is considered to be one of the natural rights, but there are limitations of certain freedoms if these freedoms cause harm to oneself or others.  An example of one of these limitations would be drugs.  The government has deemed specific drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD and more to be illegal within the boarders on the continental US.  This has been due to the fact that these drugs have been proven to be harmful to a human's physical or mental state of health.  This is parallel with why prostitution should not become legalized.  Prostitution has statistically and medically been proven to be harmful to both the mental and physical health of women involved in sex trade.  Therefore, the government took initiative to criminalize prostitution to protect its inhabitants from a dangerous lifestyle.  Both issues progressively cause the government to spend billions of dollars to maintain and enforce but have been considered necessary to uphold safety and health.

Following, another opposing argument is that prostitution is a victimless crime.  Yet, so many of these women enter into prostitution due to previous psychological issues or are often tricked into entering the sex industry.  A "pimp," or someone who maintains and controls multiple women that work on the streets, work to lure young girls to a "better lifestyle" than before.  These pimps search for women desperate and in need of financial support.  An interview with 25 ex-pimps from Chicago took place in the year 2010.  These men all admitted they purposefully exploited the weaknesses of young, vulnerable women in order to convince them to become prostitutes.  The ex-pimps continued to explain that they would search for a woman from a different state so she could then be lured away from any friends and family.  This caused the young woman to depend solely on her pimp and would eventually become completely emotionally bound to him.  There are many women forced into prostitution but these women did, in fact, chose this lifestyle for themselves.  However, they are victims of manipulation and often previous abuse that trap them in the sex industry. 

Annie Lobert, a former prostitute who escaped the sex industry, described her experience after being immersed for ten years.  Annie was known as "Fallen" to each of the 10-30 different men she saw each night.  Living out of fear, "Fallen," would do anything to earn as much money as possible for her pimp.  After working hard and long 12 hour shifts, Annie's pimp would take 100% of her earnings. Activists who wish to legalize prostitution believe legalization would rid the system of pimps and protect minors.  On the contrary, the amount of pimps abusing prostitutes would only increase.  This was shown in Germany where prostitution was legalized.   Alice Schwarzer labeled Germany as "a paradise for pimps."  They easily blend in due to the legalization and typically work from poorer parts of the country.  There will always be people who break the law and abuse the system and in this case legalization only benefits those who wish to do so.  

Pimps are not the only people who blend in throughout legalized countries but also traffickers. Meaning the legalization of prostitution not only endangers those participating but those who reside nearby.  Sex trafficking is forced prostitution, where someone is taken captive in order to be sold and used for sexual services.  This is a major form of slavery that still exists in today's society.  Trafficking has become a $32 billion business worldwide and there are roughly around 27 million victims.  Even though there is definite difference between some who is a prostitute versus someone who has been trafficked.  These two separate issues of prostitution and sex trafficking are directly related.  The countries that have legalized prostitution showed a higher correlation between legalized prostitution and sex trafficking than countries that criminalize prostitution.  For example, Germany was compared with both Sweden and Denmark.  Germany being the country where prostitution was legal then Sweden and Denmark were the countries where prostitution was prohibited.  This cross-country analysis showed "that trafficking inflows decreased with criminalization and increased with legalization."  Therefore, this majorly effects those living within countries where prostitution has become legalized.  

Obviously, there are many terrible conditions for those who illegally participate in prostitution in the United States.  There needs to be solutions to these issues but enacting the extreme of legalization would not be beneficial to these women in the end.  Major issues these women face include lack of access to medical care, the treatment of their pimps and feeling as if there is a lack of no options.  The government could put into effect availability for free tests of sexually transmitted diseases in hospitals and health care centers, prominently in large cities.  Realistically, prostitution will probably never be completely eliminated.  However, the government can work towards reducing it as much as possible and help these women have better access to health services.  By criminalizing prostitution, the government automatically reduces the amount of pimps available within the country.  Nevertheless, when prostitutes are arrested, those in authority could work towards finding the man in charge of the woman.  This could be done through efforts of questioning and investigation.  If the pimp would be the one to be thrown into jail, this would set free many prostitutes of bondage they may have been living in for years.  Finally, when a prostitute is arrested on a first offense, she is required to remain in jail for 45 days.  If there are multiple offenses, a prostitute could be sent to jail for up to three years.  The government could implement programs for these woman to seek counseling.  If they are in jail for any period of time longer than a year, they could be given the option to learn about other jobs.  This way these women don't feel as if their only option of survival once released from jail is to go back into the lifestyle of prostitution.  There could be many more options outside of legalization that would be more beneficial to prostitutes themselves.  Therefore, prostitution should not be made legal within the United States.

