Title: Why is prostitution illegal? - The Straight Dope
Headings: Why is prostitution illegal?
Why is prostitution illegal?
Content: What’s not legal are various nuisances associated with prostitution such as soliciting on street corners, living off “immoral earnings,” and keeping a brothel. In short, prostitution is legal in theory, illegal in practice. English prostitutes complain of police harassment just as American ones do, and receive similar punishments. So: different legal theories, same result. That’s the thing about prostitution, see. Whatever may be said for the rights of prostitutes in the abstract, streetwalkers don’t do much for a neighborhood’s property values. Sure, in these liberated times, we all have healthy attitudes about sex, right? But even among defenders of prostitutes’ rights, the fundamental reaction to the business itself remains: ick.