Should sex be normalised and treated as normal, everyday work?

PROSTITUTION or sex work is said in some quarters to be the oldest profession humans have engaged themselves in. Given the conservative nature of sex outside of marriage and how it seems to flourish regardless ,this week, we turn our attention to finding out if sex work should be normalised.

 

Auta Kings

In Nigeria, culture and norms do not support that. I am a black man, and by default, I’ll frown at the notion of getting paid for sex (I want to believe I’m speaking the mind of my fellow black men). Sex isn’t something to be traded; sex work isn’t a normal job, as a matter of fact, not all sex workers enjoy that aspect of their life, but circumstances made them go into that  line of “business.”

If the world normalises sex work, I don’t think the black nation would (at least not all), just like the way the gay (LGBTQ community) isn’t fully recognised in most African countries, sex work should not be either.

Sex should be between lovers, married couples and not to be sold or paid for. This is another way most STDs (STIs) are being spread.

 

Ebun Oladele

As an economist, yes, because its effect on the GDP will be great. It’s going to be a leakage from the circular flow of income. Morally, it shouldn’t because it’s going to mean encouraging it. Use opportunity cost and choose between money or moral.

 

Keem Tunde

Perhaps you think sex work is an immoral lifestyle. However, it is arguably no less moral than a lifestyle of random ‘hooking up,’ or the stereotypical lifestyle of the professional athlete or rock star who brags about how many women he has had sex with. But jokes aside, they are offering a service. So, there shouldn’t be a problem with treating them with respect.

The government must protect property rights and prosecute individuals who coerce or force themselves upon others. However, the government needs to stop wasting resources on voluntary, adult sexual exchanges. It is time to put an end to this hypocritical and wasteful prosecution of sex workers and their clients

 

Sunday Oripeloye

Yeah, it would be nice if they could legalise it and be treated as everyday work because with the present situation of things, it can’t be stopped; the best thing is to introduce them as an industry, provide resources, and for the government to place more emphasis on generating revenue from the act.

 

Opeyemi Ilori

If sex work is not going to disappear anytime soon, anyone who cares about the health and safety of sex workers – not to mention their rights – should support moves to make it a fully legal industry. That is what most sex workers want as well. Countries that criminalise the sex industry should consider the harms these laws cause. It is time to put aside moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of ideology and do what is in the best interests of sex workers and the public as a whole.

 

Enoch Olajubi

This is clearly a private matter in which the state should not seek legislation. Criminalisation does not help people get out of prostitution, and legalisation does not trap them in it. As a society, we can choose whether to make it easier for people to escape prostitution or whether to make life harder for those trapped in it. I have always believed that any person selling sex has a right to demand whatever resources it would take for them to leave prostitution  or not.

 

Edwin Ebere

Prostitution should be legalised and  prostitutes  should be called something less derogatory, such as ‘Sex Worker’ or ‘Licensed Companions’

Prostitution is, at its core is a simple transaction – a trade of money for a service. As long as all parties are of legal age and ability to consent, according to the laws of the land in which it occurs, since when is a simple transaction a crime? It should be actual, everyday work. Consensual sex is legal. But as soon as one party offers cash to another in exchange for sex and that money is voluntarily accepted, it’s considered prostitution, and that is illegal. This is hypocritical, illogical, and wasteful – and it needs to stop.

 

Margie

It’s time for legislators to wake up from slumberland by legalisiing and regulating prostitution.

Some folks disapprove of the immoral nature of sex for sale and, perhaps, rightfully so. But judging morality is for churches, employers, family members, and peers. It should not be a matter for law enforcement, court dockets, and jail cells, costing the taxpayer dearly, every day, every month, every year.

Prostitution flourishes in the black market that would not exist if brothels and hookers were legitimized, licensed, medically inspected, zoned  and taxed. Like drugs, gambling and other crimes of morality, or alcohol prohibition of years past, the black market is nourished by draconian laws that forever fail to accomplish its intended purpose. In Germany and other countries, prostitution is legal and taxed. They turn the ‘crime’ into an economic plus. We create the ‘crime,’ which turns the behaviour into an economic negative. And, it’s still a thriving business, law or no law.

 

Next week’s question is The British and French, in colonising Africa, did they do more good or evil? To be part of the next edition, send your response to 08136601345 via WhatsApp or SMS.

 

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