In the Street

While I am in total agreement about the decriminalization of prostitution, there is one area that leaves me unsettled.  Indoor sex workers are out of view and can cause no real adverse ramifications on any that may be nearby.  But outdoor workers could create discomfort to those within their view and certainly can result in problems for nearby businesses.  I have never been a fan of the police and certainly do not like what they do to minorities or the socially disadvantaged, yet as a business owner I can also understand their views as well.  Is there a compromise?

Humans living in close quarters always have adverse impacts on each other; there’s little that can be done about that unless both parties are willing to sit down and talk things over like reasonable adults who respect each other’s rights.  Of course, that’s not encouraged in our society, because if we did that instead of asking Big Brother to violently intervene, it would give Big Brother fewer excuses to meddle in everyone’s business, and we can’t have that.  When I was young and living in a small town, most people had little respect for the kind of whiny tattletale who calls the cops on other people instead of trying to handle disagreements themselves; however, that kind of attitude has gone the way of party lines and black-and-white television sets.  Nowadays, most people’s first impulse is to call in armed thugs who inevitably make things worse even when they don’t maim or murder someone or otherwise destroy their lives.  I’m willing to bet that if a business owner took the time and trouble to talk to street workers rather than talk about them to power-mad busybodies, it might be possible to reach some sort of compromise.  But once the pigs are whistled up, any chance of that is gone; would you trust the sincerity of someone whose first impulse was to send heavily-armed, emotionally-stunted, rapist thugs against you instead of talking like free adults?  Because I know I wouldn’t.

Lest you think me unsympathetic, please remember that I’m a property owner and businesswoman myself.  But while I understand people worrying about possible damage to their livelihoods, what does selling sex have to do with that?  You mean to tell me if a bunch of, say, loud drunks from a neighborhood bar were always pissing in your alley, or students from the local university were having non-commercial sex against the side of your delivery truck, or rude uptown types were letting their mutts shit on your doorstep, that you’d be somehow less impacted than if any of those people were making money from their activities?  There are already laws against vagrancy, indecent exposure, littering, loitering, etc that can be used to discourage those who don’t respect others’ rights and won’t respond to clear communication; it isn’t necessary to have a separate law criminalizing their motives for the annoying behavior.

(Have a question of your own?  Please consult this page to see if I’ve answered it in a previous column, and if not just click here to ask me via email.)