I just read this really disturbing article: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7509357.stm. Durban, SA is looking at legalizing prostitution during the 2010 World Cup. This just makes me sick to my stomach. One of the arguments for it is that it will lower rape. Really? Are we so far gone that it is not possible to suppress ones sex drive for a week or even a month?
I have worked in the field long enough to know that offering another source does not stop rape. There are already a whole lot of ways for people to get sex legally and for free; ways that are a whole lot less demoralizing to people. I am not condoning this in any way - I believe abstinence and sex in marriage are the only way that we are to live. I just know that one who rapes is sick and not thinking clearly, or morally. He/she will not be thinking "well, hey, if I can legally pay to have sex...". No, it is about control, power, entitlement and the enemy, not logic.
I served on a Human Trafficking committee in Denver months before the Democratic Convention. I am aware that sex crimes go up and become a whole lot easier, as well as on demand whenever there is a large event where there will be thousands of people. Why in Heaven's name are we making this easier instead of helping to eliminate it? With the Democratic Convention, we demised ways to protect as many children as possible. I am not so naive to believe that we stopped all of it, but I do believe we helped. A large part of this was bringing awareness to the people at large.
I believe that if they are to legalize prostitution during the World Cup, there will be even more trafficking going on. The mafia, pimps and so on will jump all over this opportunity to make more money, as much as they can, which means that even more people will be put into prostitution and then South Africa will have an even larger problem on their hands.
Even without a Biblical foundation for one's viewpoint on this, does it truly make sense to legalize prostitution one minute and then make it illegal the next? What are they going to do, say "make as much money as you can, for tomorrow you will be arrested"?
Shouldn't we rather be protecting these women (and men and children)? So many people do not choose to be in prostitution, but rather are forced, or are convinced that there is no other way for them. We should be doing everything we can to show value to them as a person and helping them get out of prostitution - period!
