Legalizing prostitution

This Women’s Month our female secretary of labor made an interesting proposal: Patricia Sto. Tomas wants prostitution decriminalized. It’s not the first time that I’ve heard the suggestion. If I remember right it was activist Nelia Sancho who started pushing years ago for the legalization of prostitution.

The proponents probably have in mind some European countries, where there are specific areas for the flesh trade and where sex workers need to get regular medical checkups and health certificates. The attitude is that you can’t stop people from selling their bodies anyway so might as well regulate the trade, promote safe sex and keep away AIDS.

I don’t know if Sto. Tomas cleared her suggestion with her boss President Arroyo, who needs Church support at least until 2004. But the proposal has an even slimmer chance of hurdling the legislative mill than those bills seeking to legalize divorce.

Sto. Tomas can argue till she’s blue that she just wants society to stop treating prostitutes like criminals, since most women are driven to the world’s oldest profession by poverty. But I can see the princes of the Church arguing in turn that even one concession to the neighborhood hooker can open the floodgates to sexual promiscuity.

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I agree that women become prostitutes mainly due to poverty, and that we should stop treating sex workers as criminals. But even without opposition from the Catholic Church, I don’t think legalizing prostitution will work here at this time.

If the aim of legalization is to regulate the flesh trade, minimize cases of sexually transmitted diseases and generally promote better health for sex workers, just consider what local government health inspectors are currently doing. A little grease money and they will give even a woman with AIDS a clean bill of health. You also wonder if women in dire need of cash will invest time, effort and money in regular health checkups. In the age of AIDS and HIV, if you’re worried about your health you’ll stay away from the sex industry.

And if the aim is to force customers to wear condoms or else the women will call the cops, I don’t know what macho Pinoys think about this. Isn’t the customer always right?

There will also be endless debates on whether or not legalization will encourage more women to become prostitutes. With no criminal record to worry about, and with the social stigma minimized due to legalization, wouldn’t women – the poor and uneducated, in particular – be encouraged to put up for sale the only marketable asset they’ve got? And since our Third World country has so many of these women, wouldn’t we see more of them entering the flesh trade if prostitution is legalized? Should the State encourage women to sell their bodies, or should they be given opportunities instead to pursue other means of livelihood, say through microfinancing?

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I don’t know how many women in the flesh trade actually get a criminal record for prostitution. Suspected prostitutes are booked either for vagrancy or violation of Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code, for committing a crime against public morals.

Article 202 is one tough charge to prove. It must involve sexual intercourse in exchange for a fee and must be habitual – a woman gets formally charged only on the second or third offense. How do you prove intercourse? You can get a client to testify. But unlike in other countries, our cops can’t pose as paying customers; they could be charged with instigating a crime and the woman can’t be charged with solicitation.

It’s easier to crack down on nudie and live sex shows than on prostitution. If the cops can’t book a club owner for featuring lewd shows, his establishment can be shut down for incomplete business papers, lack of health permits, violations of building and fire safety codes. If local government and police officials are serious about discouraging "passion shows" and prostitution, they get the pimps and night club owners, not the sex workers. Then the girls disappear (or, in the case of Manila, they move to Pasay City).

I think even Pat Sto. Tomas isn’t too optimistic that her proposal will be approved. She’s up against not only the Catholic Church but also, I’m sure, millions of wives, many of whom already have enough problems with philandering husbands. Sto. Tomas will just have to find other ways of helping sex workers and curbing the exploitation of women.