One last website

I found this site to contain a lot of information on a number of issues. I hope you all find it interesting.

http://www.vice.com/en_us

What I have Learned

1. I have learned that prostitution is a difficult and complicated issue. Like drugs, porn, religion, and abortion, the world exists in shades of grey and no one looks at the world with pure logic.
   
2. I have learned that social media is difficult to set up and maintain. You have to devote time everyday to maintain it or else it will do nothing for you. And it can be either easy or hard to maintain based on your technical understanding and your drive.
3. I have learned that while I greatly enjoyed the theoretical aspects of the class, I struggled with maintaining a constant online presence. Overall, I found attempting to juggle all the elements of social media and the internet challenging especially considering my ongoing trouble with blackboard.
   
4. I have learned that I could find ways to apply what I learned from the Perspectives book in my real life. I work at a movie theater and we are currently doing renovations. I was excited about possibly using social media to promote the renovation. Unfortunately the parent company of the theater was not interested in allowing individual theaters and employees in using social media to promote the theaters.
   
5. I have discovered that social media marketing and it's associated skills and uses are the future for marketing and communications. I now see from being on social media how the internet permeates every aspect of modern life and that if people/businesses don't embrace it they will be left behind.
   
6. I have found that to success in communications as I intend to, you have to be able to competently use social media, both in your personal life and in business. While taking this class, I heard about several jobs that were hiring to do social media outreach for their companies, including the local newspaper.
   
7. I learned that the internet is so full of information that you have to sort carefully to find the information you want. Throughout the semester, I was constantly finding information about the perils of prostitution but struggling to find information about the moral, economic, legal, and rational arguments for prostitution.
   
8. I found that my opinion can be swayed by reading and being bombarded by information. While working on this project, I started out totally in favor of legalizing prostitution but as the semester progressed I found the same problem with legalizing prostitution that I do with changing other policies and societal paradigms. It's hard and painful and damaging to change the status quo and in a country that is free, there are some many things that are restricted based on fear and moral superiority.
   
9. I also found that the internet can be isolating. I felt this whole semester as if I was swimming in a foggy and polluted ocean, there was so much stuff and junk floating around the internet that I found it difficult to keep from drowning. And I was trying to find my classmates, the other fish in the sea but I felt like I kept running into reefs and barriers.
   
10. But above all, I found that the world needs people to share ideas and communicate. Right now, the internet and social media are the way in which we communicate and share ideas. And if we can use this technology to improve communications, we should be able to improve the world.
    

RSS article 1

http://rt.com/usa/puerto-rico-legalizing-marijuana-prostitution-892/

I found this article especially interesting because it focused on a United States protectorate and how prostitution and marijuana can improve their economy. I thought it was hopeful to see that Puerto Rico was considering it as a valid idea to par with reducing holidays and government agencies. I found that as this project as progressed, I've been more liberal in terms of what I believe should be legal but more concerned about how things could be made legal, safe and profitable.

Alerts

Hopefully this will link you to my alerts since I haven't had any luck any other way.

http://www.google.com/alerts/manage?mqm=c&q=Legal+Prostitution&x=AMJHsmUOlEZihbm-duFbhryC58MmaQY69w:1399347053928

RSS article 2

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/hotel-worker-mistaken-for-prostitute-after-hugging-friend-in-abu-dhabi-park

I found this article to be especially interesting because it explored the idea of prostitution more than prostitution itself. Two women were jailed for recieving gifts and for hugging a friend. They were tried and convicted and given no lawyer or translator. They were mistaken for prostitutes. I know this story takes place outside the U.S. but I think it's useful commentary on the whole about the perception of prostitution.

RSS article 3

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chinese-urge-end-sex-worker-detention-system-23586440

This article focuses on China's treatment of sex workers and how activists are trying to get fair trials and proper rights for these women. While it takes a negative view of prostitution, it shows how much harm can come to women and men if they are not protected legally. It also shows how trapped a person, any person can become by the views and laws of their society. These women were thrown in prison without a trial because they and their crimes were viewed as immoral and had to be removed from society. If the United States views women, prostitutes and sex workers in any way at all similar to China does than we need a change sooner than later.

RSS feed article 4

http://www.aurorasentinel.com/opinion/end-slavery-u-s-spoiler-decriminalize-prostitution/

 I found this article to be very interesting. It compared the U.S.'s growing acceptance to marijuana to it's necessity to start accepting prostitution and that harm it's causing by not. This article came from my second google alert which focused on Legal Prostitution instead of just prostitution.

Elevator Pitch

Here is my elevator pitch video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMy6DjPkKYM I know it's not your business but this class has been a real trial for me and I hope the work has been appreciated.

Couple of Sites that Look at Pros, Cons, and Reality of Legalized Prostitution

• This site does research and focuses on how harmful prostitution can be. I found it to have good information and to be an informed perspective from the opposite side of my argument.

 http://prostitutionresearch.com/

•  This site looks at why America should legalize prostitution. It looks at it as an approaching reality and an economic concern.

 http://www.businessinsider.com/why-america-should-legalize-prostitution-2013-11

•  This site looks at one person's account within an actual brothel and how they found the world of legal prostitution in the United States.

 http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-a-nevada-brothel-2013-10

Website

I found this great website with statistics about prostitution and it's legality. Check it out! http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000772

Prostitution or Pornography?

This is the question that made me wonder why exactly prostitution is illegal. Now, the legality of prostitution was a question I had been considering for a while when this idea occurred to me, and it still bothers me, :

• Why is it all right to pay two people to have sex with each other but not okay for one person to pay another to have sex?

This question is obviously referring to the difference between prostitution and pornography but my problem is that the only difference I can see between the two businesses is not sex but is, in fact, money. If a person pays for sex, it's wrong. If a person is paid for sex, it's really wrong (I will get into the difference between wrong and really wrong when I discuss the penalties for solicitation versus prostitution). But If a person pays other people to have sex and then records it, it's okay. And if someone pays you to have sex with someone else and films it, it's okay. So, I guess that making a record also makes having sex for money legal. So, if a pimp is recording his prostitutes having sex and selling it, is it prostitution or pornography, legal or illegal? Or say, you pay someone to have sex with you and record, is it prostitution or pornography? Okay final question, if you pay two people to have sex while you watch, is it prostitution or pornography? So, those are my questions, where are the lines, what's the legality, is it down to sex, money, recording or some amorphous moral question? I don't know but hopefully I'll find out while writing this blog and if I do, I'll share it with you.  Then we can tackle the ultimate question, how can we safely and successfully make it legal?

Prostitution and Morality

I'm going to start with asking few questions and making a few statements to illustrate my viewpoint on why prostitution should be legal.

1. We allow people to use their bodies as the primary tools of their businesses.

• athletes

2. We allow sex to be a commercial item.

• ads
• pornography - literature, photography, and video

3. In general, it is considered immoral to tell someone what they can and cannot do with their bodies.

• except being when their actions cause harm to others
• which prostitution does not if done correctly

Intro

This blog is a place for discussion and activity on the question of whether or not Prostitution should be legal. I will be arguing in favor of prostitution and examining prostitution and its sister businesses such as pimping and pornography. I will be providing information on these areas both in the United States and around the world. I will also be arguing in favor of prostitution from moral, legal, and economic standpoints. Finally, I will be discussing problems with prostitution and legalizing it.