IT is hardly surprising that our Minister for Youth, Sport and Culture’s recent call for the legalisation of prostitution was met with ‘shock’ and ‘utter rejection’. It would have been surprising if the Minister had imagined that he would have received nothing but hymns of praise and outpourings of love and devotion (and I am sure he did not). Prostitution (and the legalisation thereof) is far too controversial and unpopular for that.
However, reality demands something more than flippant condemnation. Prostitution has long been referred to as ‘the oldest profession’ and with good reason. In the course of human history, prostitution has been in most places and at most times, illegal. Yet it endures, its legality seemingly having no impact on its occurrence. An accommodation with prostitution is inevitable and, in fact, exists everywhere, by default. In our case, that accommodation takes the form of a situation in which prostitution is proscribed and, therefore, conducted illegally. It is accommodated beneath the shroud that covers all black market activity, in that resulting darkness in which all protections and aid that might alleviate the worst hardships endured by sex workers are impossible to reach.It is no coincidence, for example, that since long before Jack the Ripper (and long after our B1 Butcher), predators have sought and found their prey amongst the ranks of sex workers. That is because they are isolated and vulnerable, conditions inextricably linked to the illegality of their trade.Ours is an accommodation that leaves at greatest risk of greatest harm the, largely female, sex workers whom vehement opponents of legalisation care most. The injustices attendant upon the sex industry (violence, forced drug abuse, kidnapping, trafficking etc.), are at their most severe when this trade is conducted in the total isolation imposed by proscription, where the safeguards and protections of law, however inadequate and imperfect, do not exist. These protections (as provided by police, social workers, doctors) are only fully available in a regulated (hence, decriminalised) trade.Legalisation will obviously not result in the elimination of prostitution (but neither has proscription). For those for whom that is the only worthwhile goal, I can only urge that you refrain from holding your breath in anticipation. However, for those who believe that some amelioration of the conditions in which sex workers labour is worthwhile, would do well to bear in mind that policies that may achieve that goal are much are harder (if not impossible) to implement when prostitution is totally illegal (just as they would be if prostitution were legal without restriction), and sex workers just criminals. Any activity must be regulated if its conditions are to be changed. The state has no power to change the conditions prevailing in a trade that should not be undertaken in the first place (as is currently the case).The point is that wherever one stands on this issue (with the exception of those whose staunch moral demands trump all other considerations), there are considerations that deserve more than flippant condemnation and rejection. The women in the sex trade deserve more than that.H GurirabWindhoek
