In our "free society", why is selling one's body illegal?

[thermodynamic]

We manage to sell just about everything else; except for air which is remarkable...

So why not our bodies?

Don't say it's immoral. Big corporations do immoral things all the time and nobody complains. Hell, they even get government subsidies even though not a penny of it is needed.

[midnight mouser]

1. Because of biblical law regarding women as property...

If a women sells herself, she's stealing from her husband or father.

Do you have any idea how much time and legalese it took to rewrite the rape laws as assault and not crimes of property?

Oh, wait, that was a little more serious than you probably intended!
Forgive me...I'm new!

mm

[thermodynamic]

5. Welcome to DU!!!

I don't mind the seriousness at all! Though I do have a reputation of occasionally, and quite rarely, posting some weird stuff...

[ForrestGump]

2. You mean renting by the hour or selling for keeps?

Some of the jobs I've worked also required that I sold my soul. Well, put it up as a deposit, anyway.

[trof]

4. Beat me to it.

I'd be against selling, but renting's OK.
;-)

[ForrestGump]

6. Really?

So, how much do you charge? :D

[trof]

7. Oh MERCY!

I didn't mean ME.
I meant those guys over there.

[ForrestGump]

14. Yeah....

it's always 'those guys over there.' :-)

[lcordero]

3. I have doubts as to whether it is really illegal or not

If somebody pays somebody else to have sex...provided that a camera is nearby, somehow it becomes legal. I'm having a hard time doing the math on this.

[tsipple]

8. Air *Is* For Sale

Take a look at this oxygen bar's prices, for example. Most gas stations have coin operated compressed air pumps. (Those used to be free, now they're profit centers.) Scuba divers, high altitude pilots, and hospitals all pay for air.

[CarlBallard]

10. Air is still free in some places

When I moved from Oly to the Seattle area, I was saddened that I had to pay for the air pumps. I mean I supose I was filling my bike up on their dime (er 50 cents in quarters), but whatever.

[DarkPhenyx]

9. One simple word explains it all.

Hypocrasy.

[Skip Intro]

11. Always wondered that - same for drug use and gambling

Its my body and my mind and my money, sure as hell isn't the governemt's. Like someone once said, I'm the one who has to die when my time is up, so let me live my life the way I want to.

But either we're a free country or we aren't. And if we aren't, we ought to stop running around shouting that we are. (Especially with the bush gang doing it)

Not that I personally ever engage in any of these activities. Not me.

Heil bush, under God, and all that...

:evilgrin:

[KG]

12. the 'freedom' some speak so highly of is just a dellusion

[Melsky]

13. It's legal to have sex for money

as long as it is in front of a camera for the enjoyment of people at a later date. But it's not legal to have sex for money if your sex partner is paying for it because they enjoy it.

HUH?

I'll never understand our society.

[lazarus]

15. oddly enough

In Alabama it's legal so long as a cop doesn't actually see you transfer money. So no stings are possible. The cop would have to actually go through with the sex, which is likely not to happen.

Although that brings up an interesting volunteer position in the vice squad.....

[amazona]

16. it isn't especially illegal, lots of legal avenues

Actually, it's a pretty huge industry. There are lots of fairly safe ways to sell your body -- set up a web site, get a job as a stripper, get a job in a legal brothel (Nevada is one state that has them, maybe there are others), get work with a careful porno producer who demands that all the actors have the proper HIV/AIDS certification...

It is never going to be legal to run a whorehouse out of your house, any more than you can run most other commercial businesses out of a residential zoned area. It is probably never going to be legal to stand on the corner and sell BJs to all comers, without regard to what you are doing to property values or your own health.

While there is an argument that can be made for more and safer legal brothels, I believe that there are plenty of avenues for people seeking legal sex work to get work today. If I really wanted to, I could go out and get work in this industry tomorrow, and I'm in my 40s.

If you really want to sell your body, I believe you can.

[TreasonousBastard]

17. Pay her...

$1000 per scene to do it on front of a camera, that's 1st Amendment protected.

Pay $500 for show tickets, transportation and dinner at a three star restaurant, that's OK.

Pay for a few rounds of drinks and take her home, that's OK.

Marry her and pay through the nose, that's expected.

Pay her cash and eliminate the middleman and we both go to jail.

It's capitalism, man, just capitalism. The middleman always has to take a cut, and the small businesswoman just gets screwed.