Decriminalization of Prostitution

(Measure Q, November ballot initiative, Berkeley California)
Decriminalization of prostitution means that all laws regarding prostitution would be removed. In other words, buying a woman would be socially and legally equivalent to buying cigarettes. Prostitution in all its forms; street, brothel, escort, massage- would be legally welcomed. Pimps the world over would become Berkeley's new businessmen.

Decriminalization of prostitution will increase legal, illegal, semi-legal and all prostitution. Decriminalization will make no difference in the physical and the emotional safety of women in prostitution. Regardless of its legal status, prostitution is extremely harmful to those in it.
There is little difference for the prostitute between legalized and decriminalized prostitution. They are both state-sponsored prostitution. In legal prostitution, the state is the pimp, collecting taxes. In decriminalized prostitution, the pimps remain in control, whether they are bar pimps, strip club pimps, taxi driver pimps, or street pimps. In both legalized and decriminalized prostitution, the john is welcomed as legitimate consumer.
There is no way of making prostitution "a little bit better" any more than it is possible to make slavery "a little bit better." Prostitution is a profoundly harmful institution. Who does it harm the most? The woman or child who is prostituting is hurt the worst. She is hurt psychologically as well as physically. There is a much evidence for this.
A progressive response to a community's concerns about prostitution
Currently on the November ballot, Measure Q promotes the sex industry under the cynical guise of helping women avoid the stigma of arrest. The real beneficiaries of Measure Q are johns, pimps, and traffickers. Should we arrest women in prostitution? No. Almost all women in prostitution are there as a last resort, they don't "choose" the paid rapes of prostitution the way someone chooses a career as an x-ray technician.
95% of those in prostitution urgently want to escape it. Let's offer women and men and children in prostitution real choices They tell us that they need stable housing, social services, medical treatment, and job training. That's what they should receive - not decriminalization. Should we arrest the pimps, johns, procurers and traffickers who use women in prostitution and profit from selling them? Yes. These are the perpetrators of sexual exploitation and abuse who should be arrested, not the women themselves.
Prostitution Research & Education, San Francisco
http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/Decrim_fact_sheet.htm