[dragonwriter]

> In the same way that hiring illegal immigrants hurts the market position of low-skilled domestic workers, hiring prostitutes hurts the market position of women who could otherwise demand more in exchange for sex.

People (women or otherwise) who are trading sex for goods and services in the market are prostitutes.

[oneshot908]

Except that there are acceptable forms of doing so and unacceptable forms of doing so. Compare and contrast gold-digging versus being an escort.

Not to mention that there are acceptable places to do (small counties in Nevada) and unacceptable places to do so (everywhere else in the US). I won't even get into the number of countries that have either legalized or decriminalized this practice.

Finally, the best way to find sex trafficking victims seems to be decriminalization which removes the stigma of speaking out. What's really broken here is that the foot soldiers of sex trafficking seem to be against all this pending legislation, fearing it will drive the practice further underground, rather than assist with battling it.

[dragonwriter]

> Compare and contrast gold-digging versus being an escort

Honest trade reduces opportunity for dishonest exploitation? Sure, I'll agree that's the case, but...

[thaumasiotes]

> People (women or otherwise) who are trading sex for goods and services in the market are prostitutes.

That's pretty much all women; what defines a prostitute is the transparent price schedule and lack of exclusivity.