If prostitution were to be legalized...

[Rand Al'Thor]

Would like to hear some random speculations on various topics regarding the business if Texas/US were to legalize prostitution.

Effects on safety?

Reduction of SW and seedy dealings associated with the industry now?

Would it increase the number of high end escorts?

What would it do to the current social taboo on prostitution?

Rates - going up due to taxes and fees or going down due to increased competition and decreased danger?

LE, the new pimps?

Would it decrease the satisfaction level for thrill seekers who enjoy the danger?

Any other random or interesting thoughts on the matter?

[Damon Bradley]

How about government regulation? Taxation? This is a good topic for conversation.

[WyldemanATX]

It is to our advantage that it stays illegal...

If providers are taxed then prices will go up...

The government is not very good at regulating anything that is fun..

[Sir Hardin Thicke]

I look at prostitution like I do gambling; if it is legal then the riff-raff associated with it tends to go away. Gambling in the modern age has pushed out crime families and replaced them with corporations. You do that with prostitution then out go the pimps and in come the marketing specialists.

[Rand Al'Thor]

Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

It is to our advantage that it stays illegal...

If providers are taxed then prices will go up...

The government is not very good at regulating anything that is fun..

Would that be such a bad thing?

I'm willing to bet that many would pay a 20-30% premium for the peace of mind of not getting busted and having to deal with legal issues as well as being able to deal in the open instead of taking chances at BP girls.

There will still be SW, government regulations tend to put roadblocks in place for those who may get into the business out of need. Phone, address, licensing fees, health exam fees before they can even get started...

Originally Posted by Sir Hardin Thicke

I look at prostitution like I do gambling; if it is legal then the riff-raff associated with it tends to go away. Gambling in the modern age has pushed out crime families and replaced them with corporations. You do that with prostitution then out go the pimps and in come the marketing specialists.

I can definitely see the upside. Out go the pimps because they won't pass background checks, nor can they compete with bigger companies with more efficient operations. I can see a company like Rick's or Hustler getting in and throwing some money around... but up some hotels and run brothels out of them. We have a shortage of Asians in town? Float the money to import some from the East, pay for passports and visa, they sign a 6 month exclusivity contract (just like porn stars), make their money and go home), rotate a good number back and forth, and the shortage is gone.

[Damon Bradley]

Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

It is to our advantage that it stays illegal...

If providers are taxed then prices will go up...

The government is not very good at regulating anything that is fun..

Agreed. Our govt is definitely not good at regulation of the good things in life.

Originally Posted by Sir Hardin Thicke

I look at prostitution like I do gambling; if it is legal then the riff-raff associated with it tends to go away. Gambling in the modern age has pushed out crime families and replaced them with corporations. You do that with prostitution then out go the pimps and in come the marketing specialists.

pushed out crime families and replaced them with corporations. You do that with prostitution then out go the pimps and in come the marketing specialists.

I honestly don't know which of these are worse....

[Elephant]

Originally Posted by Rand Al'Thor

I can see a company like Rick's or Hustler getting in and throwing some money around... but up some hotels and run brothels out of them. We have a shortage of Asians in town? Float the money to import some from the East, pay for passports and visa, they sign a 6 month exclusivity contract (just like porn stars), make their money and go home), rotate a good number back and forth, and the shortage is gone.

I can only dream....

I'd gladly pay a premium if I didn't have to spend half of my Saturday looking for a decent lay on BP/Eccie. Drop by the brothel, have a drink, and negotiate a session all within the hour.

[Rand Al'Thor]

There is also the thought that legalization reduces the social stigma and will increase the number of providers coming into the market...

[KosherCowboy]

Originally Posted by Rand Al'Thor

Would like to hear some random speculations on various topics regarding the business if Texas/US were to legalize prostitution.

Effects on safety?

Reduction of SW and seedy dealings associated with the industry now?

Would it increase the number of high end escorts?

What would it do to the current social taboo on prostitution?

Rates - going up due to taxes and fees or going down due to increased competition and decreased danger?

LE, the new pimps?

Would it decrease the satisfaction level for thrill seekers who enjoy the danger?

Any other random or interesting thoughts on the matter?

based on other western countries models, all set up differently, the hobby would be safer from both an STD point of view and reduction in crimes that often surrounds prostitution , not eliminated by any means. Health cards would for sure be required which means any girl who engages in CIM, BBFS or Greek will increase the odds of contracting something which means they'd be forbidden to work. You'd have to ' hit the street, newspapers, internet' for those activities. Brothels would be safer without a doubt. In NV ( at least as of 2005 when I went) BBBJ was forbidden. Only CBJ.

Speaking of the street, there is always a market for that, even in Amsterdam, Germany, Prague where you have thousands of sex workers you still have girls on the street, their pimps, their activities which we can't discuss here, that will never go away. Just go to NV, take your pick of driving to a legal brothel or picking a street walker up in the seedy parts of Vegas or Reno, still can. That will never change.

LE will focus on streetwalkers and making sure that licensed parlors are safe and secure. 99% of those places have their own security already. This is one argument for legalization, let LE go after the skumbags and let the rest of us behave in a newly regulated and safe ' underworld.'

High end escorts will always exist, they might work in expensive brothels or work by word of mouth. Rates I don't see spiking, there will always be demand for a $100 quickie and a $10,000 overnight and a $100,000 one week trip to Paris and Milan where the john will buy the lady fine clothes and shoes and wine and dine her. Ladies would have a trade off, they could charge $300 on their own on the black market which won't go away and risk arrest, bodily injury ( all the things ladies screen for) or they could work in a brothel and be safe, legally and physically yet bring in only $200 because of the house cut. Likewise, the guy could go to a brothel and pay more for the ability to choose on the spot, no booking, no cops outside watching the hotel room, no pimp in the room next door etc. The brothels if legalized would see the least crime ( the black market would) and they'd also have a much lower rate of STD's as has been proven in other western countries.

Go to Vegas, Canada, Germany, Holland etc. and you can find anything from a cheap blowjob to a thousand dollar pop. If the legal brothel is too much a guy will find it for less in an alternative paper or the street or the internet.

This is a great topic for discussion but the answer to many of the good questions is going to be determined on what model of legalized prostitution we choose. The Canadian way? The Dutch way? The Thai way? The German way? Etc. Some countries ' tolerate' it but don't legalize it.

That's the mystery question that will answer many of the other great question asked; the only correct answer is ' we won't know' until it happens, if it happens and I think in our lifetime it will.

If the 49 states where prostitution is currently illegal consider otherwise, I'm sure Nevada would be the first place they'd study..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Nevada

[RALPHEY BOY]

I do not see how rates would go up?.. when you take the illegal part out, what is your risk premium?

its a cash business, they or anyone would still not pay taxes, making it legal is not a guarantee

[Rand Al'Thor]

We won't know, so this is a speculation thread.

Toleration is not the same as legalizing it. Canada is on the fence about this, legal for the most part, but "house of ill-repute" and profiting from prostitution of others illegal. I understand their reasoning, it's just flawed.

@REB: you can make a case for either way. Risk premium is gone, but as a legal, regulated business, many who don't pay taxes now will have to pay income and sales tax, possibly a sin tax like liquor. If large companies got involved, they would definitely be paying taxes. On the other hand, it seems logical that a greater number would enter the market, it would be more readily available, so competition would limit price hikes some.

[Guest102513-1]

Well, if it's legalized and then some type of "sin tax" similiar to gambling industry...

perhaps we could begin to pay off some of the gov't deficit, LOL

Next would be to legalize marijuanna, and that combine with above sin tax, we probably would go from a deficit to a surplus

Above is partly tongue in check, but not completely!

[txAustin202]

Brothels are legal in Australia. That so happened to be my first "hobby" experience. Penis exam prior to session and CBJ. Even though one time a girl pushed me against the door, bbbj, and swallowed. Suffice to say I went back to see her again. :-) Australia does have a surplus so maybe you're onto something there vkmaster.

[sixxbach]

Legalization would take the fun out of it for me. It is taboo in general society and should stay that way IMO....

sixx

[jenesys]

Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

It is to our advantage that it stays illegal...

If providers are taxed then prices will go up...

The government is not very good at regulating anything that is fun..

Not necessarily true. I have a friend from Windsor, Canada and the prices there are more affordable than in Detroit & Milwaukee. Legalization created more competition and prices are down because of that.