So as many of you have read recently, the website RentBoy.com was shut down after Federal agents raided the Manhattan headquarters of Rentboy.com as part of a money laundering and state prostitution investigation on Tuesday.

While this has caused an avalanche of great jokes, catchy memes and sassy sayings, there is a bigger issue that the news is missing – why is escorting illegal? Before people jump to conclusions, I fully understand the problems with some forms of prostitution; ie sex trafficking, forced sex slavery, under age prostitution, and pimp based abuse. This is not what I’m referring to. Honestly, Rentboy.com's escorting seems to be a victimless crime. There is absolutely nothing in the official complaint that even hints at the idea that there is anything nonconsensual happening; these are consenting adults having consentual sex.

The “rent boys” are adult men who choose to become escorts. Many of them, because they love the work they do. Rentboy.com has even recently started the hashtag #LoveWhatIDo and interviewing the men on their site that truly love being an escort.

Now, I understand that prostitution is still illegal, but so is pot and so was alcohol for a few years (we know how that one turned out) but we have to simply ask why? It seems that there has always been this quiet understanding – as long as it’s off the street, we let it be. Rentboy.com has been around for 19 years, not to mention those pages in the back of most local newspapers featuring scantily clad women – and in some cases men too – so why now? No one is under the false impression that they were just selling their time. And there is a reason prostitution is called the world’s oldest profession. People are willing to use their means to buy companionship.

We as a community are fully aware of the struggle to legalize sex between consenting adults. Lawrence v Texas only recently legalized gay sex (sodomy) in 2003. That's right, less then 12 years ago, it was against the law in many states to have gay sex (or even engage in a consenting bj between a heterosexual couple)! Why are we still allowing the government to dictate how we have sex based on outdated, puritanical ideals? We should be outraged!

In talking with local escorts, many are nervous as to what will happen next. Will they start cracking down on individual escorts? Are they now at risk for jail time for doing what they do? Shutting down RentBoy.com already means an end to the income from that site… Will this open a new conversation about the legality of escorting? The hypocrisy of porn being legal but a similar act in privacy and with a different funding source seems dumb… Why is one legal and the other not? Will closing down RentBoy.com encourage escorts to “come out of the closet” as to what they do to destigmatize the profession in the hope of changing the laws around money for sex?

We hope to work towards destigmatizing sex work in our new series, “Sex-4-Sale.” We'll talk to escorts, porn stars, and other sex workers to talk openly and honestly about their profession, their lives and show you a side of the multi-billion dollar industry that you haven't seen before.

Sex 4 Sale Series

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