Alaska Prostitution

After reading our class textbook, The Psychology of Human Sexuality, I became interested in Alaska Laws on prostitution and sex trafficking. I found a document that describes the Alaska statutes of Crimes ofHuman Trafficking, Promoting Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. This document gives the Alaska definition of human trafficking and prostitution and laws that prohibit the acts.

 I also found this  article that discusses an Alaskan advocacy group that wants Alaska’s sex trafficking laws rewritten in order to provide safely for Alaska’s sex workers. In this article a group of “about a dozen” people gather in an Anchorage bar to advocate for sex workers and their need to have laws that protect them instead of causing more violence.  This article brings light onto the fact that Alaska’s sex workers do not have the rights that the need in order to protect them, in fact, they do not even have the same rights that sex workers had in decades past.

People that work as prostitutes are vulnerable to be victims of sexual assault but do not call the police for help. And it is understandable why they do not call for help when they are putting themselves at risk for their line of work they are in.  As out textbook points out, prostitution is typically a line of work that people feel forced into instead of choosing. Are these people worthy of being protected? I believe they are.

Another story about an Alaskan prostitute is the true story of the prostitute Cindy Paulson. She was abducted and raped by Robert Hansen. Hansen abducted, raped and murdered at least 17 women found around Anchorage, Alaska. The point I am trying to make is that Cindy Paulson went to the police after she escaped from Hansen. Because she did this Hansen is now in jail. This story is the plot for the movie Frozen Ground starring Nicolas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens, and John Cusack.  Her strength saved the lives of other women that Hansen could have killed.

Considering the story of Cindy Paulson, should Alaska work to change the laws to decriminalize prostitution? Would decimalizing or legalizing prostitution keep prostitutes safe? Do you think that the rate of sexual assault would drop in the state? Rise? What do you think the result would be if society treated prostitutes as equals instead of shaming them?