The Challenges of Legalizing Prostitution Book Report

The Acceptance of Prostitution in the US and Internationally

Sex is a topic very controversial because many communities consider it as a taboo to discuss it in public. The situation even worsens when the money equation is involved. Perhaps, this explains why commercial sex is considered as an illegal activity. In the past decade, prostitution has been contested as policies, laws, and enforcement practices are repressive because of the ascendancy of interest groups committed to abolishing the whole sex industry. At the same time, some nations have decriminalized the act of prostitution. The book “Legalizing Prostitution” has been able to map out the current terrain and the backdrop of the whole discussion in America. Moreover, Weitzer has also looked at cities like Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt since they are popularly recognized as the long-standing red-light districts (Weitzer, 2012).



Acknowledgments by Weitzer concerning prostitution confirm that countries are trying to criminalizing the act with the United States pioneering the move (2012). All arguments raised by the author have been fueled by the strict adherents that look at criminalization policies as empowerment paradigm, and ideological fray underlying decriminalization as legalization approaches. However, oppression theorists opine that prostitution is an act of violence to women around the globe because it brings harms to their bodies and emotions. This harm is also caused by other individuals like sex workers and the non-sex workers. Contrary to this view is the empowerment theorists who tend to portray sex workers as individuals who have entirely taken charge of the affairs of their bodies. This act of taking charge also translates down to their finances (Weitzer, 2012).



Weitzer (2012) also brings out the aspect of the world is characterized by growing sexual acts and stark economic inequalities on an everyday basis. Therefore, it is not possible to look at two individuals described as hapless victims or empowered entrepreneurs because it is a path they have chosen to take. The approach that Weitzer offers is having a “polymorphous paradigm” where prostitution has been impacted by power and structural arrangements in our society today. Nonetheless, women have an opportunity to their perceptions and experiences in a cruel world. The approach is illustrated using different geographical environments for the commercial sex workers. In this view, Weitzer has managed to describe two things: the form prostitution takes and the location of the act.


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