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Prostitution should be decriminalized. We can't effectively "legalize" it any more than we can legalize love or pain or masturbation. The definition of prostitution is the performance of sex for money. Okay, so is the exchange of sex for power, influence, glory, a promotion, a job, college tuition, as a reward after a nice dinner, or the ability to buy a loaf of bread exempt from the taint of prostitution? If the john offers a bag of groceries instead of cash, is the hooker off the hook for prostitution?

There is a very thin line between the young man who is "chartered" to accompany an executive woman in town for a business trip and accompanies her to dinner and a concert and ends up in her hotel room bed, and the inner city "ho" who plies her body to make ends meet because she has no other marketable skills. We must remember that prostitution isn't the exclusive domain of underprivileged women but is a fact for both sexes.

Long before the word "prostitute" was coined with all its negative connotations, men and women exchanged sexual favors for all kinds of reasons from basic survival to personal gain. The real question is how or why the age-old practice became "illegal" in the first place. Men, undisputed leaders in the purchase of sex, still leap to the pulpit or podium to legislate against it. What's up with that? Does guilt lead social doctrine?

In 1920, the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibited drinking alcohol in a futile attempt to restrict human behavior. In 1933 the amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment. Good lesson. The edicts of Christian outrage and the pandering of self-righteous politicians to make sex outside of marriage illegal are futile. Past decades of spurious legislation have treated us to the incredible fallacy of laws that define what is "proper" sex and what isn't. One has to wonder if this constipated posturing is a result of erectile dysfunction or if sex is so fearsome that it must be officially regulated. Freud postulated that sexual repression is the root of all evil. Kinsey studied the phenomenon, found that most American men and women admitted to extra-marital relationships, and started his own free-love mini-culture. Now we have Viagra.

Is it possible that our opposition to prostitution is our fear of inadequacy? Do husbands fear their performance isn't pleasuring their wives? Do women fear their attentions aren't keeping their husbands satisfied? Are we afraid that we're insensitive to the sexual needs of our

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