Second proposing speech
Ladies
and gentlemen, thank you for reading us today. I will start this
rebuttal speech by rebutting the opposers’ point of view – a complete
legalization of prostitution – and then explain furthermore why we
should criminalize the purchase of sex.
First
of all, I would like to define a little bit more clearly our position
in this debate: we are abolitionists, and believe that prostitution is
the issue, not the problems linked to prostitution. […]
by GQ
Second opposing speech
Dear
ladies and gents, thank you for reading this article. We will continue
our debate on this hypocritical and contradictory motion that support
criminalization of sex purchase.
My
friends, this motion is inspired by a law that tries to impose a
certain point of vu, regardless of individual freedom, and that punishes
the wrong people! Let’s be clear and honest, this law is only a
roundabout way to prohibit prostitution without the words. [...]
by JB
Second proposing speech
Ladies
and gentlemen, thank you for reading us today. I will start this
rebuttal speech by rebutting the opposers’ point of view – a complete
legalization of prostitution – and then explain furthermore why we
should criminalize the purchase of sex.
First
of all, I would like to define a little bit more clearly our position
in this debate: we are abolitionists, and believe that prostitution is
the issue, not the problems linked to prostitution. Our ideal would be
to one day suppress prostitution. Throughout times, we made illegal the
having of sex by power (such as the “droit de cuissage” or the lord
raping the peasants) and by force (the rape as it is usually defined),
so why should we tolerate the sex for money any longer? Some may accuse
us of being moralistic puritans. I think that practicing such a
depreciating activity for your body ends up depreciating your soul as
well. Therefore, there is not for us anything such as a “voluntary
prostitute”. If women (because most of the workers are women) do this
activity (which I will not call a job), it is either because they are
forced to do so by fear or by need of money, because the society doesn’t
provide a job for everybody.
So
please, dear opposers, stop calling this activity harmless, because it
is not. It is harmful, sooner or later, deeper or not, for every
prostitute.
Furthermore,
the idea that “sexual urges are natural” and need a way to be expressed
is absolutely revolting. In a society aiming towards equality between
genders, there is no room for such speech. Why should men be allowed to
treat women the way the want to? Just because they have “sexual urges”?
This is ridiculous. The desires of men – and of women – need to be
tempered by a better education, more open concerning sexuality, and
really establishing the idea of gender equality in children and
teenagers minds.
About
the influence of this penalization on the economic trends of the sex
market, may the opposers calm down: I am pretty sure the numbers of
clients will not drastically diminish, causing the prostitutes
difficulties to feed their family. We hope the numbers of clients will
eventually go down, because it one of this bill’s goal. But this will
also diminish the number of prostitutes, due to the law of supply and
demand. From a strictly economic point of view, this bill will really
change anything but the size of the market.
Some
participants in class also mentioned that there was no link between
morality and legality, or even worse that in some cases making something
illegal actually increases its practice. The figures are not very easy
to certify, but for the countries (such as Sweden) which have penalized
the purchased of sex, there seems to have been a decrease in the
activity, as my partner previously said. Take the exemple of road
accidents: once considered unavoidable, and part of how things were,
there are now pointed out and made tragedies, and the drivers are now
judged as criminals in case of harmful accidents. Their responsibility
has finally been recognized.
Finally,
the opposers mentioned a possible rise in hidden networks. I don’t
believe it will rise too much and here is why: the clients make the
networks – any network, legal or illegal – work, so if there are less
clients, the networks will be less numerous and powerful.
I
would like to end this speech by mentioning that this bill should not
been viewed as a short term bill. Of course this bill changes the status
of today’s clients, but it a step on the path of abolitionism, and more
generally on the path of gender equality. Hopefully it will be followed
by others, such as educational and cultural changes, but right now we
urge you to propose.
Thank you for reading and vote for us.
GQ
Second opposing speech
Dear
ladies and gents, thank you for reading this article. We will continue
our debate on this hypocritical and contradictory motion that support
criminalization of sex purchase.
My
friends, this motion is inspired by a law that tries to impose a
certain point of vu, regardless of individual freedom, and that punishes
the wrong people! Let’s be clear and honest, this law is only a
roundabout way to prohibit prostitution without the words. This
naturally brings me back to the intervention of my friend MD who
ensures that the law aims to improve working conditions of prostitutes
while the application of this law should lead to the disappearance of
this job. I think that here is a major contradiction! And this
contradiction is just the mirror of the incoherence of a law that deny
itself. The reason of this deny is simple: the spirit of this law is not
in accordance with the principles of individual liberty! Prostitution
is the provision of sexual services for negotiated payment between
CONSENTING ADULTS. Of course Non-consenting adults and all children
forced into sexual activity deserve the full protection of the law, and
perpetrators deserve full punishment by the law. But unfortunately this
is not what our law plans. Criminalizing sex purchase is also a
violation of the right of individual privacy, because it imposes penal
sanctions for the private sexual conduct of consenting adults. To
conclude this point, whether or not we approve of sex work or would want
our daughters to be thus employed, the moral argument for condemnation
starts to fall apart when we consider the conditions of abuse suffered
by real women working in the industry, or when we touch a more universal
morality which is freedom!!
This
is why, rather than this crazy law, it would be more useful to follow
the example of Germany and Switzerland and to legalize prostitution! No
law has ever succeeded in stopping prostitution. An ad-hoc regulation of
this activity is therefore urgent, to fight against organized crime. In
fact, prostitution is like any other industry, Make it illegal, and you
give criminals a monopoly! Consequently, the question we must ask is
the following: When prostitutes need protection, to whom do we want them
to turn, thugs and Mafiosi, or doctors and police? To sum up this
proposition, sex work is here to stay, and by recognizing it as paid
labor government can guarantee fair treatment as well as safe and
healthy work environment, including overtime and vacation pay, control
over condom use and vaccination, and the right to collective bargaining!
Moreover,
this law is a real headache from a practical point of view and is full
of non-senses if not preceded by a huge amount of other bans. It's all
about coherence! So if I understand the law, having sex with an unknown
woman is permitted, to give money to this woman is allowed, but to do
both at the same time is forbidden! What an idea!
And
if it’s really a moral, ethic, deep, problem, even if everybody is
consenting, everybody is adults, everybody is wearing condoms, everybody
is vaccinated and everybody is happy; what about pornography?? Well
know that all porn actors and producers are in jail, what about those
guys who spend weeks of courtship with fine dining and false promises
only to have sex with there actually “Girlfriend”?? Is there attitude
more morale? Do we send them to prison? The true is that it is again and
again only a question of Money! There’s such a stigma about this
topic!!...
Let’s
sum up where we stand in this debate. Either individuals are
responsible for their own acts –including their choices of
relationships- or the government is responsible for everything you do.
There is no middle ground!
JB
@ GQ
ReplyDeleteYou said that you don't want to change the economic trends of the sex market. But if your goal is, as you've said, to abolish prostitution, it will obviously have a huge impact. For example, that will develop furthermore porn video. So don't you think that this law is too weak for your real goal?
@ JB
Yo said: "make it illegal and you give criminals a monopoly" but we could also say:
"make it legal and give criminals a reason of feeling good, a declared job, a law protection and the congratulations of people."
And encourage criminels is not the best way to improve society.
In addition, even if you defend yourself very well, the experience has prooved that the best way to improve conditions of prostitutes is to follow the swedish example rather than the german one.
Considering the change in economic trends, there will be an obvious rise of french clients in European neighbour countries where prostitution is legal. They will always find a way to bypass these laws.
ReplyDeleteFZ mentionned as an example porn videos : are porn actresses and actors concerned about this law? their activity is, in my opinion, linked to the purchase of sex. Eventhough some porn actresses became famous and work in "good" conditions, many other actresses suffer from their activity as much as prostitutes. Pimps in the field of pornography should be impacted by this law, don't you think?