Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry (6 page)

Unlike decriminalization,
legalization
implies regulation of some kind: vetting and licensing business owners, registering workers, zoning street prostitution, mandatory medical exams, special business taxes, or officials’

periodic site visits and inspections of legal establishments. A segment of the American public favors legalization (see Table 1.2), but only in Nevada do legal brothels exist, since 1971 (see Chapter 11). The 30 brothels are relegated to rural areas of the state and are prohibited in Las Vegas and Reno due largely to opposition from the gaming industry. A slight majority of the Nevada population supports this policy (52% in a 2002 poll felt that legal brothels should be retained), and the system is even more popular in counties with legal brothels. But this rural-only model is remote from the issue of prostitution in
22

SEX WORK: PARADIGMS AND POLICIES

TA B L E 1 . 2

AT T I T U D E S T O W A R D L E G A L I Z AT I O N O F P R O S T I T U T I O N

U N I T E D S T A T E S

A G R E E ( % )

Legalize prostitution (1991)1

40

Legalize prostitution (1996)2

26

Decriminalize prostitution, Berkeley, CA (2004)3

36

Decriminalize prostitution, San Francisco, CA (2008)4

42

Prostitution does not hurt Nevada’s tourism industry (1988)5

71

Retain legal brothels, Nevada (2002)6

52

O T H E R N A T I O N S

F A V O R L E G A L I Z A T I O N ( % )

Britain (1998)7

61

Britain (2006)8

65

Canada (1998)9

71

Czech Republic (1999)10

70

France (1995)11

68

Israel (2005)12

65

Netherlands (1997)13

73

New Zealand (2003)14

51

Portugal (2001)15

54

Western Australia (2000)16

71

Western Australia (2006)17

64

Sources
: 1 Gallup poll, 1991, N = 1216. Legalize and regulate prostitution to “help reduce the spread of AIDS”; 2 Gallup poll, 1996, N = 1019 (“prostitution involving adults 18 years of age and older should be legal”); 3 November, 2004, ballot measure (Measure Q), instructing Berkeley police to treat enforcement of prostitution law as the “lowest priority”; 4 November 2008, ballot measure (Measure K), instructing San Francisco police to discontinue all prostitution arrests and defunding the city’s john school; 5 Nevada poll, N = 1213, conducted November 1988 by the Center for Survey Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 22% thought that prostitution “hurts the state’s tourism industry”; 6 Nevada poll, N = 600,
Law Vegas Review-Journal
, September 17, 2002; 7 ITV Poll, reported in
Agence France Presse
, November 16, 1998, N = 2000 (“legalizing and licensing brothels”); 8 IPSOS/MORI Poll, January 6–10, 2006, N = 1790 (“prostitution should be legalized”); 9 Compas Poll, Sun Media Newspapers, reported in
Edmonton Sun
, October 31, 1998, N = 1479 (“legal and tightly regulated” = 65%, “completely legal” = 6%; 10 IVVM poll, reported by Czech News Agency, National News Wire, April 26, 1999 (“legalizing prostitution”); 11 French poll reported in
Boston
Globe
, January 22, 1995 (“legalized brothels”); 12
Jerusalem Post
, July 19, 2005, N = 500 (legalization of prostitution and licensing of prostitutes); 13 Dutch poll cited in Brants (1998) (“legalization of brothels”); 14
New Zealand Herald
, May 14, 2003, N = 500. “Don’t know” responses removed from total (legal brothels); 15 Marketest poll of residents of Lisbon and Oporto, reported in
Financial Times
and
Diario de Noticias
, August 14, 2001 (“legal brothels”); 16
Sunday Times
poll, March 26, 2000

(legalization of brothels); 17 Poll reported in
The West Australian
, February 15, 2006 (legalization of prostitution)

23

RONALD WEITZER

urban areas. Illegal prostitutes flourish in Las Vegas and Reno, despite the existence of legal brothels in adjacent counties. What is needed is an urban solution to an essentially urban phenomenon.

Since Nevada legalized brothels in 1971, no other state has seriously considered legalization. Legislators fear being branded as “condoning”

prostitution and see no political advantages in any kind of liberalization. On those rare occasions when the idea has been floated, it has had a short life. As a Buffalo, New York, taskforce reasoned in 1999, “Since it is unlikely that city or state officials could ever be convinced to decriminalize or legalize prostitution in Buffalo, there is nothing to be gained by debating the merits of either.”111 This seems to put the cart before the horse, by preempting debate that might indeed result in new policy proposals. One exception to this cynical view occurred recently in Hawaii (discussed later).

American opinion contrasts with that of some other western nations.

Recent polls, presented in Table 1.2, show that majorities in several European countries endorse legalization, either in the abstract or in the form of brothels.

This is the case for approximately two-thirds of the British and French populations, and similar majorities in France believe that legal brothels would make it easier to control prostitution and that the change would not lead to an increase in the French sex trade.112 A recent poll reported that 59% of the British public believed that “prostitution is a perfectly reasonable choice that women should be free to make”; this did not extend to family members, with 74% saying that it would be unacceptable for a female family member to work as a prostitute and 87% saying it would be unacceptable for a spouse or partner to pay a prostitute for sex.113 Dutch views on prostitution are equally noteworthy: in a 1997 poll, 74% of the Dutch public regarded prostitution as an acceptable job and 73% favored the legalization of brothels,114 and 2 years later, 78% said prostitution was a job like any other, so long as there was no coercion involved.115 As a Dutch woman told me when asked about prostitution in Holland, “It doesn’t even cross my mind that it should be illegal.” This is not the typical view of the majority of Americans, who seem to take criminalization for granted.

Legalization raises several important questions. First, is it likely to lead to an increase in or proliferation of prostitution? The number of prostitutes is partly affected by demand, which might limit the growth of the sex trade, though it is possible that greater supply—especially under conditions of legality—might increase demand. Were legal prostitution limited to one or a few cities, it would undoubtedly attract an influx of workers into that locale.

Were it more widespread, each locale would hold less attraction to outside workers, reducing the migration problem. The state may impose limits on the
24

SEX WORK: PARADIGMS AND POLICIES

number of sex establishments or the number of workers, as illustrated in the Nevada case, and in New Zealand nationwide legalization in 2003 has not increased the number of prostitutes.116 Prostitution has increased, however, in some Australian states after brothels were legalized.

Second, will prostitutes comply with the regulations? This is an extremely important question. Insofar as legalization includes stipulations as to who can and cannot engage in sex work, those ineligible (e.g., persons who are underage, HIV positive, or illegal immigrants) would be forced to operate illicitly in the shadows of the regulated system. In addition, every conceivable form of legalization would be rejected by at least some eligible prostitutes, who would see no benefits in abiding by the new restrictions (e.g., mandatory registration or health examinations) and would resent the infringement on their freedom.

A possible exception would be the zoning of street prostitution into a suitable locale: away from residential areas but in places that are safe and unintimidating for prostitutes and customers alike. Some streetwalkers would reject this arrangement for personal reasons, while others would find it satisfactory (as evidenced in some European cities). Red-light districts in industrial zones would be shunned because such areas typically lack places of refuge and sustenance, such as restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, bars, parks, and cheap hotels—amenities required by most streetwalkers.117 Even if a generally acceptable locale could be found, there is no guarantee that street prostitution could be confined to that area; possible market saturation in the designated zone is only one reason why some workers would be attracted to other locales.

Moreover, while zoning presumably would remove street prostitution from residential areas, it would not necessarily remedy other problems associated with street work, such as violence and drug abuse. Indeed, such zones may simply reproduce these problems in a more concentrated manner. Although no U.S. jurisdiction has altered its prohibitionist policy toward street prostitution, some other countries have experimented with a more tolerant approach, including New Zealand and the Netherlands.

A Two-Track Prostitution Policy

If neither formal decriminalization nor legalization is a viable policy in the United States at present, is there any other alternative to blanket criminalization? Since prostitution manifests itself in fundamentally different ways on the street and in indoor venues, it may seem logical to treat the two differently. A
two-track policy
would (1) target resources exclusively toward the control of street prostitution and simultaneously (2) relax controls on indoor prostitution.118

25

RONALD WEITZER

Track One: Indoor Prostitution

Some jurisdictions in the United States, Britain, and some other nations have adopted an informal policy of de facto decriminalization of indoor prostitution—essentially ignoring escorts, brothels, and massage parlors unless a complaint is made, which is seldom.119 Police in other areas, however, devote substantial time and resources to this side of the sex trade, where it accounts for as much as half the prostitution arrests.120 Law enforcement policies can differ dramatically even between adjacent areas. In Riverside County in California, police have regularly arrested Internet sex workers and their clients in recent years, whereas next door in San Bernardino County, police focus instead on more serious crimes.121 Efforts against indoor prostitution typically involve considerable planning, and large-scale operations can last several months, becoming rather costly affairs.

Seattle police recently launched an elaborate sting operation in which undercover female officers placed ads and photos on Craigslist and made appointments with men who responded to the ads; a total of 104 men were arrested after they appeared at an expensive condo rented by the police department and were observed discussing a price with the female vice cop.122

In another case, a vice squad officer in Omaha, Nebraska, posing as a visiting businessman, arranged a date with an escort he met online, had a limo pick her up and take her to a hotel where they drank wine, only to end in an arrest.

A taxpayers group accused the Omaha police of wasting resources in the operation. The group’s president complained that the police “were not good stewards with the taxpayers’ dollars in spending the resources that were spent to have her arrested on a misdemeanor charge.”123 An even more shocking practice takes place in Nashville, Tennessee, where police pay confidential informants to help arrest indoor prostitutes, which typically involve some physical or sexual contact between the informant and the worker. The informants are paid $100 per bust and are used because police policy prohibits officers from disrobing during an investigation,124 but the district attorney argued that a recorded agreement on a price should be sufficient to make an arrest (as it is in most other jurisdictions) and added that it was “contradictory letting the confidential informant engage in the very act you’re trying to stamp out.” In response, the head of the vice unit defended the practice:

“What’s the greater good? It may be distasteful to some people, but it’s better that we have those places shut down.” In 2002–2004, a total of $120,000 was spent to foster such encounters, with informants receiving more than $70,000.125

Such operations are usually launched by local police, but the federal government sometimes initiates a crackdown and it has done so more fre-26

SEX WORK: PARADIGMS AND POLICIES

quently in recent years. In one case, federal agents raided more than 40 upscale escort agencies in 23 cities. The sting was the culmination of a 2-year undercover investigation, costing $2.5 million.126 Why so costly? The attorney for the “DC Madam,” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, describes how costs can skyrocket in major investigations of a massage parlor or escort agency: Her case most likely involved 10,000 to 15,000 billed hours of labor over a five-year period and cost taxpayers many millions of dollars. As an example of the resources deployed here, consider the fact that agents retrieved photographs of escorts as they mailed money orders to Jeane, going back ten years. Escorts were also trailed to their appointments, confronted, and asked to disclose the identities of their clients under the threat of prosecution. A spreadsheet of over 500 pages was compiled tracking these kinds of interactions.127

Under the two-track policy, these resources would be targeted toward street prostitution.

Crackdowns on indoor prostitution can have the unintended result of increasing the number of streetwalkers—thus exacerbating the most obtrusive side of the prostitution trade. Closures of massage parlors and other indoor venues have had precisely this effect in some cities, as a New Orleans vice officer observed: “Whenever we focus on indoor investigations, the street scene gets insane.”128 Massage parlors offering sex proliferated in the 1970s, declined in the 1980s, but more recently have grown along with increasing immigration from Asia and Latin America.129 In some jurisdictions the police conduct ongoing surveillance on such establishments.