Crossinator

“Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute,
or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.”
Leviticus 19:29

“They cast lots for My people and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine that they might drink.”
Joel 3:3

Back in August I wrote about Legalizing Prostitution. That post was inspired by an article in Evangelical's for Social Action (ESA)'s PRISM Magazine Sept/Oct issue's cover story (pdf): Portrait of Exploitation.

Other bloggers have since written about the issue of Legalizing Prostitution, including The Moderate Voice,  where a self-described Libertarian points out some of the reasons why prostitution should not be legalized and Only Wonder Understands, where the author points out a CBS News Series.

ESA has a weekly e-newsletter entitled "ePistle" which had this quote in the 9/4/2007 issue:

For the vast majority of the world's prostituted women, prostitution is the experience of being hunted, dominated, harassed, assaulted, and battered...In prostitution, demand creates supply. Because men want to buy sex, prostitution is assumed to be inevitable, therefore 'normal.'... Prostitution must be exposed for what it really is: a particularly lethal form of male violence against women. The focus on research, prevention, and law enforcement in the next decade must be on the demand side of prostitution.

From "Prostitution: A critical review of the medical and social sciences literature" by Melissa Farley and Vanessa Kelly in Women & Criminal Justice (2000, Vol. 11), available at ProstitutionResearch.com.

The 9/19/2007 issue of ePistle has the following links/resources:

• Legalised Prostitution: What Sex Workers Say by Troy Martens and Vivian Attwood for The Daily News/South Africa
• A Salute to New York Times columnist Bob Herbert by Lisa Thompson and Kristyn Komarnicki
• Editor's Pick: Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada - Making the Connections by Melissa Farley, Ph.D.

TAKE ACTION

ESA's list of actions can be found here.

Second Annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting for the Victims of Human Trafficking Sept 28-30, 2007

The Salvation Army has resources for the Weekend (above) including a Bible Study and Prayer guide.

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women has several campaigns and a section about the Case Against Legalization of Prostitution.