What do Pretty Woman, Taken, and Requiem for a Dream all have in common? Illegally practicing escorts, trafficking victims, and troubled substance abuse addicts are all groups that represent different facets of modern prostitution. While Hollywood often gets poor reviews for authenticity, the way these movies have shaped American perspectives on prostitution does not completely misrepresent the world’s 42 million sex workers.  

Prostitution is often termed the world’s oldest profession.  While it may not sound as unifying or beautiful as the love between a mother and a child, prostitution is a phenomena that has manifested in almost every society throughout history and constitutes shared human experience.  Our question, then, regarding prostitution is not what cultures engage in this taboo activity, but how different cultures address the taboo of sex work.

Navigating world prostitution laws can be complicated; different definitions of brothels, specific acts, and prostitution itself all cloud ideas of how to classify countries and understand what is legal where.  The United States is classified in the charts below as “Limited Legality” because of eleven counties in Nevada which allow regulated sex work and brothel ownership.  In fact this label is given to many countries, including Australia, that have some of the world’s most liberal prostitution laws.

There are many reasons countries have chosen to legalize prostitution.  Few have to do with ending the taboo surrounding the sex industry, though they still tackle important issues.  Some believe legalizing sex trade helps women and men in difficult situations by freeing them from concerns of jail time, reduces trafficking, and keeps customers and proprietors safe from diseases and other health concerns.

Two European Nations, however, have taken steps not only to address all these concerns, but end the taboo surrounding prostitution.  Germany and Greece have a unique set of laws that help free prostitutes from a cultural taboo.  This same stigma causes their counterparts in other developed nations, such as Australia and Ireland, to keep their source of income a secret.

Since legalization in 1927, Germany has passed legislation  that continues to expand rights for sex workers and women across the nation.  Legal contracts between prostitutes and clients must be established, requiring health checks and defining what acts the worker is willing to perform.  More significantly, the government recognizes prostitution as a professional trade by withholding a portion of earnings to pay social benefits such as pensions and health insurance and guarantees a standard forty hour work week.

A 2004 statement from the United States State Department captures the opposite perspective, “State attempts to regulate prostitution by introducing medical check-ups or licenses don’t address the core problem: the routine abuse and violence that form the prostitution experience and brutally victimize those caught in its netherworld.”  While many positions diverge on the subject of the sex industry, all legislators can agree that it is the routine abuse and violence we must stop.  Only after we accept the reality of prostitution, and eliminate the cultural taboos imprisoning sex workers, can we work towards ending cycles of cruelty and victimhood.