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Jenna Maramaldi
Dr. Craggett
ENGL 1030
December 7
th
, 2018
Decriminalizing Sex Work
A problem many people do not think about or do not know enough about is the sex work
industry. In the United States, sex work is illegal in every state except some counties in Nevada
(Senjo, 191). Sex work is defined as any sexual act performed in exchange for payment. Sex
work includes prostitution and stripping, which is what people generally think sex work is,
however it also includes escort services, sex trafficking, brothels and pimping, and sex tourism.
Because of the stereotypes and stigma associated with sex work, many countries’ governments
ignore sex workers and do not revise or enforce policy that protects sex workers. With low
priority status given to sex workers and laws not being fully enforced to protect those in the
industry, violence and discrimination is a common occurrence and a sad reality for this within
this field. Many people feel decriminalizing the sex work industry is wrong because the work is
“dirty” and “immoral”, but discriminating sex work jobs would benefit society and aid in the
care and health of sex workers. The decriminalization of the sex work industry would allow a
reduced spreading of HIV, destroy the “business” of human trafficking and other disgusting
Decriminalizing sex work is also has the possibility of lowering the spread of HIV among
other sex workers and the community sex workers work in. HIV, or human immunodeficiency
virus, is a disease spread by bodily fluids, such as having unprotected sex (hiv.gov). Getting HIV
is a common occurrence in this field, as female sex workers are “among the population’s most
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affected” in terms of HIV infection (Pez-Bailey, Noble, Salo, Tregear). This sad, yet true, reality
is due sex workers infrequently or never using condoms, rape or other forced sexual activities
from clients, not enough education on safe sex practices, or having many clients due to financial
needs. If sex work would be decriminalized in parts of Canada, India, and Kenya, the spread of
HIV would decrease at a maximum of 46 percent (Hogan). If decriminalization of the sex work
industry where to happen, many of these reasons for unsafe sex practices would not be
excusable. Sex workers would feel safe using condoms; they currently do not, as police officers
can find used condoms and use them as evidence to take a sex worker to jail, reducing the money
she may rely on (Lawless). In countries where sex work is legal, such as New Zealand and
Germany, sex workers get benefits for working and may also be provided with free healthcare
(Bhattacharya). If this were implemented in other countries, the spread of HIV would be
