ADVOCATES FOR the regularisation and decriminalisation of prostitution in Jamaica are clearly well-intentioned but are batting on a sticky wicket.
The health concerns amid the HIV/AIDS scare and inconsistencies attendant in policing both sellers and those soliciting their services are fully appreciated but there are problems in the suggested solutions.
For example, it was acknowledged at last Thursday's Gleaner Editors' Forum that there is a growing diversity and demand for services in what is now labelled the commercial sex trade from massage parlours, to male escorts, to exotic night clubs where almost anything goes.
With this demand for diversity has also come a more open demand for the services of male prostitutes not only by adventurous foreign women seeking the thrills of local gigolos but from resident men seeking partnerships with other men. The laws against the latter kind of sexual unions remain extant. Therefore any attempt to regularise the trade will mean either a clear policy decision of a bias based on gender or that steps will be taken to decriminalise acts deemed unacceptable to a majority of Jamaicans.
Any such move we suspect will create a firestorm of protests.
The reality, however, is that public health officials are caught on the horns of a dilemma.
There is an urgent need to stem the spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). If not addressed, all of us will be affected in the medium to long term.
Dr. Peter Figueroa, the Ministry of Health's Chief of Epidemiology and AIDS, has stressed the need for meaningful dialogue that accepts the reality of our current situation.
There is also the suggestion that Jamaica should adopt the policy of other countries of facilitating regular health checks for sex workers, perhaps every six months. This would clearly have to be paid for by taxpayers.
No doubt, there will be many among the population, and not just moralists, who object to their tax dollars being used to support an activity to which they are vehemently opposed. The imperative of health checks for prostitutes at taxpayers' expense has not been clearly articulated.
Other countries which have for years taken a more liberal approach to the sex trade have in recent times reconsidered their policies. In Italy for example, the Government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, last December issued tighter measures to deal with the increasing street prostitution.
According to a communiqué issued by the Prime Minister's Office, the revised law arose out of the intention to halt the worsening development of this phenomenon over the last decades, its connection with other criminal activities, its spread onto the streets, the growing exploitation by criminal organisations and its direct contribution to the spread of serious sexually transmitted diseases. Against this background, we endorse Dr. Figueroa's suggestion for dialogue, but caution that careful thought be given to the consequences which might not be immediately obvious. We need to be careful that in attempting to address one problem, we do not make the overall situation worse.
