Paying for Sex

Now that should get someone's attention. There is a professor at a local university who runs a website dedicated to rating and finding sex in Thailand. The University was contacted and he refuses to shut down the site.

College and Sex Sites

Now, paying for sex is legal in many countries including England and Australia. Personally, I do not believe in prostitution. Heck, I do not believe in promiscuity; but, these are personal beliefs. They are in regard to what I would endulge in. If the sex trade with adults is legal in Thailand, how can it be illegal or even improper for someone to post about it.

I want to be clear, according to the article, the Professor specifically states that sex with minors will not be discussed nor condoned. We can discuss what is the appropriate age of consent; however, in the United States it is usually under 18.

The question then becomes should people in America be allowed legally to support things that are illegal in America being done in other countries where it is legal. The question is harder than one might assume. In Europe it is legal to have sex with animals. It is not legal in America. Should Americans be allowed to travel to Europe to have sex with animals? How would we know their reason for travelling?

The general rule is very biblical, when in Rome do as the romans. This is to say that you must follow the laws of the country you are in. It gets complicated if you marry a ten year old in Saudi Arabia and then bring her to the United States. You are now in violation of our laws and have chosen to be here so you have chosen to be under our laws. Jail time.

The internet makes national boundaries less clear. The answer is still to be found. If all one does is talk about it then it would seem to be a matter of free speech. If they are making money from it then they have crossed the boundaries. This is to say that putting up a website that had people pay to have sex with minors in other countries violates our laws regardless of the country that the sex occurred in.

Marijuana is illegal in Japan, very much so. Should a Japenese blogger go to jail for rating marijuana sold in America? What if he told Americans who to buy it from? What if he had people in America selling it and taking a profit?

These could be questions of international law or local law. The decision will be left to the courts and congress. The right decision is to allow societies to choose for themselves rather than having international law imposed on them. Think about it.