Legalizing Prostitution

From an AP report, San Francisco weighs decriminalizing prostitution:

In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest.

San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K—a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes. . . .

Some form of prostitution is already legal in two states. Brothels are allowed in rural counties in Nevada. And Rhode Island permits the sale of sex behind closed doors between consulting adults, but it prohibits street prostitution and brothels.

Polls suggest that even San Francisco may not be ready for this. But can there be any doubt that this is the wave of the future for our culture? Having detached sex from reproduction and from the family, our culture has reduced sex to a consumer good. (Think of advertising, our entertainment industry, the pornography explosion, and the impersonal objectification of sexual partners.) It’s a small step to rendering sex as just another commodity to buy and sell.