Sex-workers of the world, Unite!

All you have to use are your whips and chains :)

"When you can provide evidence that such things as pornography and prostitution don't damage in equal measure as their supposed benefits I might listen"

The New Zealand experiment has been around for a while, but who listens when it goes against what they believe?

Though maybe you could prove that they harm in the first place, without referring to statutory violations or the other effects created by criminalizing and stigmatizing ANY activity.

"Gee Bob, Bheer drinking sure leads to a lot of gunplay by Chigaco racketeers; its a good thing we made it illegal."

"but I doubt you will find most involved in prostitution or pornography to be doing so willingly if they had other options."

You clearly haven't been listening to many sex-workers. I suggest moving to hipster-burghs like San Francisco, CA, Portland, OR, or others and then actually listening to what empowered sex-workers say about their work.

Or, if you can't be bothered to befriend a stripper or two; try reading Margo St. James. Really, its the Feminist sex-workers who are the best at spotting the patronizing "save wimmins by criminalizing their chosen employment" argument.

Further, you could try listening to Pronz stars. But I doubt that they will all tell you what you want to hear.

Of course, the industry, like all others trading on a large number of wannabes, a small pool of successes, and a fickle public looking for the next sweet young thing tends towards the exploitive; but still, advising John Lennon to not pick up the guitar was not the best thing his mum did.

I'm not sure that I understand the impulse to feign concern about the employee, but not listen to what they have to say when they choose to talk.

Though again, you seem flabbergasted that people freely chose for themselves that which you would not. And you seem inclined to treat sex as some magical exception to all other human transactions involving free-trade.

Coercion, fraud and violence are the enemies. Not people whose choices differ from yours, or whose choices involve sex.

And trying to drive these things underground by claiming that they're so exploitive and abusive that nobody could freely chose them IS WHAT creates the conditions required for the exploitation and abuse. ( Well, THAT and more would-be America's Next Top-Model than actual employed Top-Models. ) This is true in distilling, true in the schmattas trade, and sex work is not some oogly-boogly magical exception.

Dante