A ray of hope emanating from the University of Pennsylvania:
An undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania is advocating for the legalization of prostitution, making her case this week in an op-ed published by the school’s student-run newspaper.
For her story in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Sophomore Isabella Simonetti spoke on the record with two sex workers and a massage parlor owner who shared their experiences with prostitution in the Philadelphia area. All three believe that a change in policy would empower women, safely meet an economic demand and improve public health.
“The idea for this story came after seeing that a building with a strip club nearby Penn might be sold,” said Simonetti, referring to Club Atlantis at 38th and Chestnut Streets. “I wanted to see if I could talk to people about prostitution in Philadelphia.”
In her op/ed, Simonetta writes
You might be appalled at the notion of legal prostitution. But, it wouldn’t be unprecedented. From 2003 to 2009, the United States had an inadvertent trial run with state-sanctioned prostitution. It was accidentally legalized in Rhode Island due to a deletion of language from state law. During this six-year period, the National Bureau of Economic Research found that cases of gonorrhea decreased by 39 percent, and rape by 31 percent. Brothels have also operated legitimately in several counties in Nevada since 1971. . . .
According to data sent to me by the Philadelphia Police Department, from August 2017 to July 2018, the authorities arrested people for soliciting sex work 651 times. Inevitably, a large number of these arrests were traumatic for the people involved, many of whom were just trying to make enough money to survive. . . .
The police are wasting time and resources going after women that need their protection. Instead of focusing on people having consensual sex for pay, they need to crack down on the real issue: violent sex traffickers destroying the lives of women and children throughout the country, and rapists who abuse sex workers. Pa.: it’s time to legalize prostitution.
