Pretty whoa, man!
A Louisiana judge recently altered an ancient law requiring individuals found guilty of soliciting oral or anal sex, or crimes against nature, to register as sex offenders, while vaginal sex is considered a misdemeanor. Louisiana may be the only state to separate crimes based on classification of sexual act, and in New Orleans, where 40 percent of registered sex offenders are charged with crimes against nature, people are wondering just how necessary these laws are.
Requiring these individuals to register as sex offenders may seem harsh in some instances, but we’re overlooking a bigger issue.
These people, desperate to make ends meet, are selling their bodies for sexual favors because they don’t see another option. Instead of trying to alter the laws, we should be thinking of ways to help them get out of the gutter.
Someone found guilty of these crimes against nature fall into the same category as those who molest children and rape others, when their offense is not necessarily a violent one. This may be unfair, but repealing this law completely is unproductive.
Those who were charged prior to this change in law still carry this stigma, while those committing the crimes today are not. The system clearly needs some cleaning up.
Prostitution is illegal for a good reason. Usually, impoverished and poorly educated individuals take on this lifestyle. This likely contributes to the spread of sexually transmitted infections due to lack of proper education and means to protect themselves and others. If there were no consequences for selling sex, it would be rampant in certain areas.
No one aspires to sell his or her body for food, drugs or shelter, and the fact that officials are just altering these charges instead of doing something to prevent more young people from working the streets is repulsive. In the New Orleans area, where 80 percent of the registered sex offenders for crimes against nature are African-American women, it may be related to socioeconomic status.
These laws also catch flak for targeting LGBTQ individuals, as oral and anal sex are typically associated with these groups. Soliciting vaginal sex is in a different category of criminal offense.
Having this stigma on someone’s driver’s license for life, in some cases, seems unfair. A woman may have been charged when she was young, on her own and desperate to survive. She may have turned her life around, but she will be labeled as a criminal, with the same bold, red letters as a rapist or pedophile.
Some may say they chose this path, and that may be true to a degree. Unfortunately, it is difficult for most of us to relate to the difficult situation many find themselves in, and if nothing else, we should be thankful for that.
I doubt anyone decided to strive to make a respectable income soliciting sex, hoping to meet a rich man who buys her clothes and falls in love like Julia Roberts may have us think. It is not glamorous or humorous that these individuals live a life of shame to survive. Instead of judging them and branding them, we should be trying to help those who can hardly help themselves.
We may think it’s acceptable to sleep with anyone and everyone with no emotions involved, but for some it’s a means to live. Be grateful you can choose when and with whom to have sex without worrying when your next meal will come.
Like any other crime, remorse over the event is not enough to merit forgetting the crime altogether. While it’s unfortunate that a young person may commit a crime he or she will later regret, prostitution is still illegal in Louisiana, and so they are in fact sex offenders. Communities and the families within them have a right to know who lives across the street.
And if nothing else, maybe the heavy charge will scare young men and women out of a risky, touch-and-go life in prostitution.
Gabie Bacques is a 21-year-old animal science senior from Mandeville. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_Gbacques.
 
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Contact Gabie Bacques at [email protected]