INCEST

[Losty]

I understand the libertarian position. Heck, I generally consider myself a libertarian yet legalized prostitution crosses the line. To make a prostitute you only need to threaten a vulnerable person with violence. Or if someone is desperate enough they can instantly start to sell themselves. The differece is that the weak are compelled by others or desparation into prostitution whereas drug use is much more voluntary and people are rarely forced to use drugs. A civil society protects its weakest members from exploitation and assists them to find dignified and productive ways of supporting themselves.

Please tell me, mr wooters, you're a liberal then right? Please please don't say you're a republican. I would hate to have to call bullshit on you.

[Losty]

Exactly. Are you going to visit a nice clean regulated brothel or some sleazy back alley whore house. Same with drugs. You have a choice of clean drugs or bathroom poison. I think regulation would be good.

This is a very simplistic argument - Why should I visit a regulated brothel when it costs 50€ for a session when the street prostitute provides a full service for 15€? Oh, and don't even start on quality - Some street prostitutes are attractive and efficient. Why should I trust the government to provide me drugs if I've used the same dealer for 10 years? Do you think people magically decide to change suppliers because one is a public entity? In fact, I have bad experiences with government services on a general rule, so why should I trust it for drugs?  I'm not saying regulation is a bad idea, I'm saying that's a simplistic idea and it's not how it works.

No one is saying that the illegal prostitution would be put out of business. But it would make a difference.

[Dystopia]

My take on incest is a mixed one - I have no issue with people engaging in incestuous behavior and I don't think it should be illegal as long as both participants are adults and fully consenting - It's a grey area because of parental relationships where one person depends on the other and may be "forced" to do stuff they wouldn't want to. But yeah, I don't have any issue with incest, it's ok if people are enjoying it, but I wouldn't do it - I think the concept of family love we have created is based on the idea of platonic love - The love of parents for their children, between siblings, grandparents and grandsons, etc - It's a kind of love we cherish and it's completely incompatible with sexual relationships due to its nature - I like this concept and I prefer to raise a family without incestuous relationships as those have the possibility to affect people's lives significantly but I have nothing against other people doing it.

As for incestuous marriage, I don't see reasons to legalize it just because two people are consenting to it - There's not a lot of legal advantages and since I'm a law student I dont' care about people's feelings. The law reflects the social consensus on institutions - There isn't a strong social consensus that incestuous relationships are marriage material because of the family concept we have created - Therefore, I see no reason to legalize incestuous marriage. I'm ok with third degree cousins marrying though - My girlfriend's adoptive parents are third degree cousins and they got married.

[Dystopia]

This is a very simplistic argument - Why should I visit a regulated brothel when it costs 50€ for a session when the street prostitute provides a full service for 15€? Oh, and don't even start on quality - Some street prostitutes are attractive and efficient. Why should I trust the government to provide me drugs if I've used the same dealer for 10 years? Do you think people magically decide to change suppliers because one is a public entity? In fact, I have bad experiences with government services on a general rule, so why should I trust it for drugs?  I'm not saying regulation is a bad idea, I'm saying that's a simplistic idea and it's not how it works.

No one is saying that the illegal prostitution would be put out of business. But it would make a difference.

I believe so, but that is only possible with coherent, wise and economically rational measures - People like to pretend it's very simple, and I like to point out that's wrong. I think a system to regulate prostitution should be realistic and not idealistic. With the amounts of taxes that exist, prices would be so high that it will be far away from erasing illegal prostitution. From what I know (thanks youtube videos) prostitutes in the Netherlands charge 50€ for a normal service, that's a super high price compared to prostitutes who work just 5Km away from my house - sometimes I'm in the car or just walking by and some of them will say "Hey honey, it's just 10€ for a full service)".

I also have a doubt - Why do some people always ignore that some prostitutes just DON'T want to work in a regulated work, may be happy by working independently, want to avoid healthcare checks and make higher profits on the street than inside a legal brothel? How do we deal with this? It's funny that we do everything to improve the lives of sex workers but we forget that some of them are actually against full regulation because they do things they couldn't otherwise do if it was regulated - I'm thinking about heavy drug users, illegal immigrants, people who work in conditions that are very profitable but wouldn't be accepted by government regulation, etc.