Is It OK to Pay for Sex?

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2024

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One of the oldest professions in human history, prostitution remains heavily stigmatized and legally complex globally, ranging from full decriminalization or criminalization to controlled regulation like the Nordic Model, where only purchasers of sex, not sellers of sex are penalized. This model has been implemented in eight countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Israel, as well as in the U.S. state of Maine. Those who argue that it is ok to pay for sex say that it’s a profession that deserves as much respect as any other and that those who do it for a living have a right to do with their bodies as they please. They also argue that decriminalizing the profession is the only method to reduce violence against sex workers. Those who argue that it is not ok to pay for sex and in support of the Nordic model object to it morally, stating that it is degrading and harmful to individuals and their communities, and that it often involves exploitation and coercion, sometimes even opening the door to human trafficking. With this background, we debate the following question: Is It OK to Pay for Sex? Arguing Yes: Kaytlin Bailey, Sex Workers Rights Advocate; Founder & Executive Director of Old Pros and Host of “The Oldest Profession Podcast” Arguing No: Yasmin Vafa, Human Rights Attorney; Co-Founder and Executive Director at Rights4Girls Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.0	This is open to debate.
0:35.0	Hi everybody, I'm John Don Van.
0:37.0	And in this episode we are looking at whether when sex is traded for money,
0:41.0	the customers are the ones who should be punished as criminals, not the
0:44.9	sellers, which has been the case most places, most of the time. Punishing the customer
0:50.7	captures a legal approach known as the Nordic model. It started in Sweden 25 years ago.
0:55.0	It's being adopted in several countries in at least one US state. It holds that the
1:00.3	payer for sex and payers are overwhelmingly men
1:03.7	they're the ones committing a crime
1:05.7	the goal is to protect sex workers who are
1:07.8	overwhelmingly women
1:09.2	from all manner of documented abuse discrimination discrimination, and threat. How has that worked out? And what
1:16.0	about another option? Deciding that sex work is not a crime at all, that no one is doing
1:22.0	anything wrong and nobody should get punished.
1:24.0	How would that impact the safety, the dignity, and the rights of sex workers?
1:28.0	Well, these are questions we're going to be debating with the participation of two impassioned advocates as we take on this
1:33.9	question is it okay to pay for sex so let me introduce our debaters answering
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