#1 No, Prostitution Shouldn’t Be Legal & Whatever Shouldn’t Legitimize the Debate

Legalized prostitution has never produced social benefits for sex workers, clients, or society, so we should stop pretending otherwise.

The argument: Debates on the Whatever podcast over whether sex work should be legalized as a benefit to society ignore overwhelming evidence of harm, and treating it as benign normalizes policies that cause serious social and personal damage.

WHY IT MATTERS

In 2002, prostitution became legal in Germany. There were many purported reasons for supporting this reform, but chief among them was that this change would supposedly protect women. It would legitimize sex work, pull it out of the shadows, and give sex workers protection under Germany’s generous employment laws. They would now have access to courts and employment benefits. Just over two decades later, the president of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, has called Germany the “brothel of Europe.”