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Perhaps to deflect attention away from the second oldest profession in the world – politics – the ANC decided to legalise the oldest: prostitution … a move which has already got religious conservatives hot under the collar.
The debate worldwide about whether sex work should be legal or not has been raging for almost as long as the profession has existed, it seems.
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Humanity has gone through many changes in morality over the centuries and we are currently in a phase dictated to by the globe’s main religions over the past few centuries.
That morality, almost uniformly across the main faiths, has it that sex is something which should be only engaged in between people who are married – and in the vast majority of cases, that means a marriage between a man and a woman.
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Sex outside the marriage is seen as a sin.
The debate now is about whether secular governments should be applying religious standards in a world where many are moving away from religion.
The other reality is that, religion notwithstanding, many are indulging in sex outside marriage – often hypocritically.
Faith, then, doesn’t look like it’s working in preserving the sanctity of marriage. People will seek gratification where they can.
Governments policing behaviour based on religious standards, such as outlawing prostitution, has not stopped it.
Making sex work legal will, however, offer some degree of legal and health protection to all involved. It may also reduce the incidence of gender-based violence against sex workers.
When something is illegal, it tends to attract the criminal sharks and brings with it a host of other illegal activities, including human trafficking and drugs.
Legalising sex work is a humane decision … and wouldn’t that be what a deity – whichever one you believe in – would want?
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