Hail,
      Up here in Canada, the laws used against prostitution have been  struck down, and the Crown appeal is before the Supreme Court as we  speak.  The laws against living off the avails of prostitution,  solicitation, and operating a common bawdy house are currently  stricken.  The act of prostitution itself has not been a crime in Canada  in my lifetime.  The judge is asking the Crown its purpose behind  wanting the laws back.  The net effect of the laws is to make it harder  for sex trade professionals  to practice any other way than as the low  pay/high risk/neighbourhood nuisance street prostitution.
      What is at stake for the workers is this; the safest and  healthiest avenues to ply their trade are threatened by these laws, but  the most dangerous, least rewarding street prostitution is as  unassailable as entropy and taxation.  We are left to wonder what the  Crowns goals are.  Even under the inquisition, prostitution has never  been eliminated.  There are many nations that have legalized it and have  used that step to remove organized crime from the mix; ensuring the  workers are not abused, not coerced, not spreading disease, and most  especially not underage.
      Here in Vancouver we had one Nithling whose name I will not speak  who racked up 49 kills against the street prostitutes that form the  ready supply of women a predator can freely hunt among, safe and secure  in the knowledge that society already pretends they don't exist, and  little to nothing will be done to follow up on their disappearance.  On  the Highway of Tears connecting Prince George and Prince Rupert (two  remote BC towns) another 14 women are missing.  This is what we gain by  forcing prostitution underground, a hunting ground for monsters who  stalk and kill women of our folk.  We gain wives infected by husbands  who bring disease back to the marriage bed from the prostitutes they  secretly indulge in.  We gain daughters kidnapped and force-addicted  before being sold onto the streets.  We gain the right to look down our  noses at women selling the sex that clearly men are always willing to  pay for.
      I realize that Christian hypocrisy fits this model perfectly;  blame the women selling for the desires of the men buying fits the  Abrahamatic model perfectly.  As Heathens, we accept responsibility for  our choices.  We do not have a model of morality that requires us to  pretend that the world is perfect.  Do we think that these antiquated  laws still serve a purpose in our society?  Do we want the laws intact,  prostitution forced underground to enrich organized crime, endanger the  women, and empower the monsters among us?  Do we think it is time to  legalize and regulate the sex trade as we do liquor, tobacco, movies,  and any other form of adult oriented entertainment or enterprise in  which the state admits a need to control access to and participation in?
      Nobody wants prostitution, but given a choice between healthy  well paid courtesans and pimp owned underage drug addicted abused street  whores, I know which I prefer to share my community.  Heathen morality  is individual by nature, what are your takes on this issue?  I wish the  laws struck down, replaced with legalized regulated prostitution.

John T Mainer