Over the past few years, Rome has developed a serious problem with prostitution. There are sex workers all over the city, and many of Rome's citizens have become fed up with the situation. Officials have decided that the solution is to move all prostitution to a specific zone where it would be legal, sort of like Amsterdam's Red Light District.
The current laws around prostitution in Rome are a bit hazy. Pimping or operating a brothel is illegal, but prostitution itself is not. Creating a zone for this activity to happen would allow it to be pushed away from places like schools and churches. Residents who support the proposal argue that the area where the district would be is already overrun with corruption. There's even specific streets you can go to depending on whether you like young girls, transvestites, or men.
Interestingly, the Catholic church and many of the prostitutes themselves have taken the same side, both opposing this issue. The church says that by legalizing prostitution, even in just one area, it is effectively legitimizing the sale of the human body. The sex workers say that by pushing everything into one location it will create intense and violent competition. There are so many of them that it will end up causing chaos.
The other issue is that the majority of Rome's prostitutes are immigrants that were trafficked from Africa and eastern Europe. Many believe that if prostitution is legalized in one area it will encourage further human trafficking and possibly even sex slavery. The one hopeful part of this plan, however, is that it would include a call for specially trained health and social workers to assist the women involved, both with any physical ailments they may be suffering from, and to help them get out of the sex industry all together if they so desire.
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Rome's Plan For Prostitutes Upsets Sex Workers And The Catholic Church
Rome's Sex Workers And The Catholic Church Both Oppose Planned Prostitution Zones