When you think about Switzerland, you might think of Heidi, or of James Bond, or cows with bells. These things are all true, but you also have to think about legalized prostitution.
Apparently, Basel has added these helpful signs, indicating the red light district. If you want to, uh, meet some new people, this is the place to go!
My dentist, by the way, has his office in this red light district, so it’s not an area limited to just certain activities. Dunkin’ Donuts is there too, because, frankly, everyone has to eat.
Wow! Great blog post. But then, I love everything you write about life in Switzerland.
-d
”My dentist, by the way, has his office in this red light district, so it’s not an area limited to just certain activities.
So you can get all kinds of cavities filled? Couldn’t resist making that point. Also puts emergency dental appointments (like in your recent column) in a whole new light.
Ok, I’ll stop now before I hit a nerve…
Bahahaha!
Legalize prostitution is actually a good idea as it hopefully insures that all involved are tested by a certified medical professional for contagious infections on a regular basis and have access to medical services.
Besides as a legal business, the government gets tax income from this enterprise. This arrangement eliminates the need for arrests in this non- victim activity.
It’s still somewhat exploitative, because it reduces people to objects bought, sold, and used for pleasure. So in order for it to be considered victimless, you’d have to assume the workers involved are doing it solely because they want to and not out of desperation because they can’t find any other work for whatever reason. Some may enjoy it because they feel like they’re helping folks, but I don’t think that’s the case for all of them.
So if a woman becomes a sex worker because she has no other way to earn a living… How is criminalising sex work, and preventing her from earning a living at all, a good thing?
Under a system of legalized prostitution, a prostitute is less likely to be exploited than when it is criminalized.
What about the person running themselves into the ground working three dead end jobs just to make ends meet, never seeing their loved ones, destroying their bodies physically and their minds emotionally, to serve employers that don’t give a damn about them and only care about the bottom line? Isn’t that basically the same thing? They’re still selling their bodies, just without the moral (or immoral) implications of selling them for sex.
(That’s not to say there isn’t exploitation of sex workers, as there certainly is, but a legalized system might afford them some basic rights to help protect themselves.)
The sign for a “street walker” is on the asphalt, but depicted leaning on a street lamp. Of course.
The sign for the bordello in Volubulis, a Roman ruin in Morocco, is a little more explicit. You may google on your own. 🙂