
Backpage helped keep me safe during one of the scariest times of my life - DyslexicAtheist
https://twitter.com/sarahthemoose/status/982720956463505408
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relics443
While this is a very sad story, it doesn't change the fact that prostitution
is illegal. Even if it helped save her life, it's still illegal.

Until it is made legal (not happening in the US), there is no argument that
should work in favor of making it easier.

There are reasons prostitution is illegal. There are reasons to make it as
difficult as possible for someone to find a prostitute. There are enough
stories of people who tear apart their lives and families because it was too
easy to find a prostitute (implication is that they wouldn't have used a
prostitute if they couldn't find one easily and quickly).

It's sad that she suffers from bi-polar, but this is not a utilitarian
society. Backpage helping her doesn't justify the fact that it directly led to
a proliferation of illegal activity.

~~~
thecrash
Deferring to the law is a thought-stopper. It's entirely possible that
something is illegal but should be tolerated or accommodated in some
circumstances.

Equating the law with a perfect moral code - i.e. it is always wrong to break
the law and always good to obey it - is a flawed way of understanding human
society.

~~~
relics443
I'm deferring to the reasons why it's a law.

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sky_rw
So the argument here is that without backpage she would not have been able to
efficiently prostitute herself to support her abusive heroin junkie pimp? I'm
fairly certain that the argument "backpage is super effective" is the exact
argument used to take it down.

~~~
samschooler
No, the key point is: She was in a situation where whether Backpage existed or
not, she would still be doing sex work. With Backpage, she could screen her
clients instead of approaching strangers at a gas station not knowing if she
would live to see the next morning.

~~~
yters
Why does anyone have to do 'sex work'?

The argument "I'm going to do it anyways, so you might as well make it safe
and convenient for me" doesn't sound very persuasive to me, especially if we
generalize this principle.

~~~
darawk
Some people choose to do sex work. Making that more dangerous for them when
their choice of work isn't harming anyone else seems fairly petty.

~~~
yters
No one is making it more dangerous. Backpage may or may not make it less
dangerous.

~~~
darawk
The claim by the woman on Twitter is that it made it less dangerous for her.
The general claim made by most people who look at this is that it makes it
less dangerous. I've not studied it personally, but I see no reason to doubt
those claims.

~~~
DanBC
It's probably true for prostitution ads in general, but Backpage in particular
did make things more dangerous.

They applied filters to ads which made it harder for law enforcement to search
for and find trafficed women; those filters were instant and permanent and so
evidence was destroyed.

Backpage themselves claimed (in many of the lawsuits brought against them)
that they were unable to take any action on ads for children who were being
solf for sex because of the Communications Decency Act.

And people seem a bit confused by the offer: street work is obviously terribly
risky. But small ad sex work is still very dangerous. The _vast majority_ of
people who sell sex do so to feed an addiction, or because they're being
coercively controlled. This is not a willing exchange of a good for money.

~~~
darawk
> The vast majority of people who sell sex do so to feed an addiction, or
> because they're being coercively controlled.

That may be true for the vast majority of sex work in general. But I think
it's pretty unlikely to be true for the vast majority of sex work advertised
online, particularly in places like this. This is an empirical question, of
course, but the sexworkers subreddit is some decent evidence in this camp.

~~~
yters
Why is prostitution something worth promoting anyways? It is harmful to the
person selling themselves, and the people buying. Capitalism doesn't magically
make all 'products' morally good. Nor should we allow immoral products merely
because 'capitalism'.

~~~
darawk
Who's promoting it? People should be free to choose to do what they want with
their own bodies. That seems like a pretty basic moral principle. The burden
of proof is on anyone looking to contravene that.

~~~
yters
I think it is a basic moral principle to stop someone from committing suicide.

~~~
darawk
Fundamentally disagree.

