Brazil to U.S.: Keep Your Money

[jaguar]

Silent is on the right track, you can't stop prostitution, making it illegal just makes it harder for them to get help and keep safe. At least with regular screen, treatment and promotion of the use of protection you can minimise the damage rather than moralising and pretending it doesn't happen. It doesn't make the problem go away but it's better than nothing. Very detailed writeup here. To quote:

With sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and herpes, prostitutes must be monitored to prevent the spread of these afflictions. Chancroid, a STD typically found in third world nations, is occurring in places throughout the U.S. due to transmission brought on through illegal prostitution (Schmid, Sanders, Blount & Alexander, 1987). Chancroid makes ulcers in the vagina that assist with the spread of HIV/AIDS.

A Public Health Review of Chancroid from the World Health Organization stated:

In Kenya, where the importance of chancroid in HIV transmission was first described in the late 1980s, interventions targeting sex workers and STD patients were implemented. Reported condom use by sex workers has since increased to over 80% in project areas and the incidence of genital ulcers has declined. Chancroid, once the most common ulcer etiology, now accounts for fewer than 10% of genital ulcers seen in clinics in Nairobi, Kenya.

In Senegal, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has been below 1% for more than a decade. A strong multisectoral response, an effective STD control programme and early legalization of prostitution have been credited for this low level. Special clinical services, for example, offer regular examination and treatment for registered sex workers. Not only has there been a significant decline in STD rates among sex workers and pregnant women between 1991 and 1996, but genital ulcers are also no longer common and chancroid is reportedly rare. (Steen, 2001)

[lookout123]

i'm not suggesting that it be made illegal. it will continue no matter what laws are in place. since that is the case i think theat standardized testing, etc. is a good thing. but have you ever been to Brazil? maybe, just maybe if it wasn't quite so openly acceptable and pervasive in their society then you could lower some of the traffic, keep some of the miles off the girls, and hopefully reduce SOME of the possible negative DNA transmission.

[Silent]

Columbia, but not Brazil.

I would love to hear your plan for changing their culture and making sex for money "less acceptable" The catholic church has been trying hard for years, I'm sure they'd love to know too.

[Troubleshooter]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...5&section=news

BOMBAY (Reuters) - Indian authorities have decided to close some 600 cabarets in the commercial capital Bombay, a government spokesman said Wednesday, robbing the country's entertainment hub of one of its major attractions.

...snip...

The bars are not illegal, but police say some act as a front for prostitution and had cracked down on them last year and arrested hundreds of girls.

But the closure of the cabarets was likely to render jobless more than 150,000 people across the state, including dancers, waiters, bouncers and security guards, officials said.

Bar owners and dancers staged street protests after the decision to close cabarets outside Bombay and they threatened Wednesday to step up demonstrations.

"The government's decision will force a majority of the 75,000 girls working in bars into the flesh trade at one go," said Varsha Kale, president of Bharatiya Bar Girls' Union.

"Most girls working in bars are the only breadwinners in a family. They will now be unable to pay their rent and starve."

[lookout123]

once upon a time, in America, nobody could imagine a future where smoking would be looked at as a negative. now the smokers are crying that the world is against them. i'm not saying i want to villainize whores... but it isn't that hard to take it out of the advertising, take it out of sight. if someone wants a whore, they'll still call or go and get one. the person who just compulsively makes his purchase because the woman is right there, might not make the effort to go looking.

in the end, i don't really give a shit about whores in brazil, or their HIV problem... except for the fact that they seem to think it is appropriate to spend my tax dollars on their problem as long as we don't make any demands for change.