Personally, I could never have sex with a complete stranger. Nor could I exchange sexual pleasure for money. A few of my vagina friends have admitted to fantasies about that, but I doubt they'd follow through with it. Still, I think prositution should be legal in every state.
I've heard it called "the oldest profession," which makes sense to me. The fact of the matter is, people have been doing it for centuries, and they're going to keep on doing it. Discriminating against them for being "whores" and treating them poorly is just another case of returning sin with sin.* Punishing the prostitutes and their clients who are caught never stops those who are not. If one is so concerned about the immorality of prositution, or so worried about the souls of escorts and their clients, one can take them into one's own heart and personally show them a "better" path. Preaching at them or legislating against them does not stop them.
If prostitution were legal, it could be regulated for the safety of all involved. Escorts would have better protection against rape and violence, and when such horrible things happen to them, they could seek justice without fear of being incarcerated themselves. Of course I am not naive enough to think this would be easy to implement, and yes, people would certainly try to abuse that system; I simply posit that the pros outweigh the cons. Besides, regulated prostitution could mean better health care for prostitutes, including mandatory testing for sexually transmitted diseases, thus stymying their spread; and affordable birth control, thus limiting the potential for unwanted pregnancies. Safer escorts would mean safer clientele. Legal, regulated prositution would also decimate the profession of pimps, reducing the drug addictions forced on prostitutes in order to control them, as well as violent crimes against both prostitutes and their clients. Let us not forget the human trafficking: regulated prostitution could ensure that escorts were always willing and never minors.
Legalized prostitution would also mean taxed prostitution. Escorts would have to pay income taxes and clients would have to pay a sales tax on every individual transaction. You don't have to have a degree in economics or political science to know that a country, especially one as large as the United States, needs money to support itself. There are military expenses, legislative expenses, regulatory expenses... I don't need to include the whole long list here. My bottom line here is that the government could benefit greatly from a source of revenue that does not have any negative financial impact on the citizens who have nothing to do with prostitution.
Besides increasing governmental revenue, legalizing prostitution could also reduce state and federal spending. Police could stop arresting consenting adults for what they do with or for their money, and have more time to focus on more harmful crimes. Jails and prisons would not have to house, feed, guard, or provide medical attention to escorts and their clients. Public defenders would not have to represent them, and judges would not have to deliberate on their cases.
I'll even go so far as to argue that legalizing prostitution could get it off the streets. If the safest, easiest, most comfortable way to pay for sex was to visit a bordello or hire an escort from an agency, no one would want an unreliable hooker found on some street corner. Prostitution, which many find socially unsavory and which would probably retain its taboo even when legalized, could be less visible to those who do not actively seek it (as well as those who want to shield their children from it).
Legalization does not have to mean the acceptance of trading money for sex, nor does it mean the government or society condones such an action. It can simply mean tolerating the fact that it happens no matter what, and realizing that this reliable and ever-present industry can benefit the country.
*As far as I'm concerned, the word "sin" can retain its religious connotation, or simply mean abuse of oneself or others.
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