Heidi Fleiss on Legalizing Prostitution
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 12:49 PM

In the September/October Legal Affairs, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss has this short essay (as told to Nadya Labi) entitled "In Defense of Prostitution." Ms. Fleiss takes a pretty extreme view of the tradeoffs involved in legalizing prostitution -- she thinks that there are no tradeoffs: "There is no downside to legalising prostitution." She notes that the current (general) US policy of criminalization makes prostitutes vulnerable to contractual breaches and violence, because criminalization often precludes taking such issues to the authorities. Fleiss also invokes a futility-style argument: "You can't stop sex. And sex for money will happen no matter what. Why make it a criminal experience?" (Vice Squad is skeptical about futility-style arguments in general: you might not be able to stop sex, but you can alter its frequency and the nature of harm through criminalization. It might not be a good idea to use the criminal law as the chief method of regulating prostitution -- indeed, I think that criminalizing adult prostitution is a policy error -- but it is not a futile endeavor. And if I were to be so rash as to speculate upon motives, I might suggest that most folks who argue against a policy proposal on futility grounds actually oppose the proposal precisely because they fear that it would not be futile.) Ms. Fleiss paints a pretty rosy picture of legalized prostitution, especially that which takes place at the Melbourne, Australia brothel with which she has an affiliation. A former prostitute herself, however, she does not suggest that ambitious young woman should flock to the trade: "I wouldn't recommend prostitution as a career because it doesn't have great long-term prospects. Still, a woman should have the right to do what she wants with her body."

Labels: Australia, prostitution