Microstory 941: Sex Workers

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As I believe I’ve said before, though perhaps only in fictional settings, I do not believe the sex industry should be illegal, nor so stigmatized. I often hear people defend their own vices by comparing it to those of others. Despite what the South Park writers would have you believe, being fat is not “just as bad” as smoking. Smoking is a bizarre behavior on its own, but in the end, I don’t care so much what you do to your own body. The issue arises when you do it in public, and you poison other people. Same thing goes for the difference between recreational drugs, and sex. When done wrong, both sex and recreational drugs are bad. They cause friction between loved ones, diseases, and financial hardships. When done wrong, recreational drugs are bad, because they cause friction between loved ones, diseases, and financial hardships. When done right, however, sex is good. It releases pleasurable chemicals in the brain, creates a bond between partners, and in some cases, propagates the species. Yes, there are a lot of bad things attached to the prostitution industry. People are thrown into this life against their will, forced to take drugs to keep them docile, and treated extremely poorly. There’s a lot of violence and blood and abuse that comes with the territory, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I’m not saying that simply making it legal would solve all of its problems. Governments would still have to regulate it, but guess what, the government regulates nearly every other industry anyway, so I’m not asking for anything crazy. Create laws that would protect workers from harm; others that would keep children from all sides of it; and stop making it seem to clients that these people don’t matter. Like the homeless, sex workers are treated like objects, to be used, and if desired, discarded. If they had rights and security, it would be a whole lot harder for someone to not treat them like real people. I don’t know what this all looks like in the long-term. Maybe once most of us have merged our bodies with artificial components, sex won’t seem quite as important, but I know that something has to be done today. People aren’t getting hurt and dying because they’re having sex. They’re getting hurt and dying because they’re not having sex the right way, and because too many oppose proper education, and acceptance. So, let’s hear it for the noble sex workers. I would raise my glass to you, but I don’t do recreational drugs.