State Regulation & Involvement

The level of state involvement with the management of legal brothels varies depending on location. However, it is common for the state to enforce testing for sexually transmitted diseases, the purchase of necessary I.D., and restictions on age of employes, and where brothels can be located in most cases. Questions about the intentions of extreme regulations arise when the state chooses to legalize brothels. This exhibit subscribes to Michel Foucault's belief when it comes to understanding state intentions: 

“All this garrulous attention which has us in a stew over sexuality, is it not motivated by one basic concern: to ensure population, to reproduce labor capacity, to perpetuate the form of social relations: in short, to constitute a sexuality that is economically useful and politically conservative?" 

Through analyzing current case studies in Nevada, Amsterdam, and Tuxtla, it seems that the state fails ito treat sex workers as regular workers and the sex industry as a regular industry. When the state is involved, certain working and living conditions seem to be superior in terms of saftey and health due to regulation. However, the imposed restrictions often create financial burdens for the workers and supress the brothel industry. Sex workers and sex workers right activists advocate for the state to completely exit the business of regulation. Additionally, research suggests that even in cities where brothels are legal, brothels and sex workers are stigmatized.