Why is it that Americans are so obsessed with sex and yet so scared by it?

All of this hoopla about prostitution is moot. You wanna see what happens when prostitution is legal? Go to Holland, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand etc. etc. etc. You think society goes to hell in a handbasket if hookers are free to ply their trade? I got news for you, any and all of the above countries are safer & cleaner than the US.

This isn't a religious or moral issue. Nor should it be. "Separation of church and state" and all that jazz? If you personally don't like something... don't do it. Prostitution is not going away. Keeping it illegal only serves to put it in the domain of criminal syndicates and pimps. In more rational societies, it is regulated and safe. Condoms are obligatory, working conditions are controlled... You never see prostitutes getting beaten, abused, or killed in European brothels. They have security who will pummel you into a coma if the hooker gives them the alert. Besides, wouldn't you prefer that the loser guys who can't get laid have some outlet rather than exploding one day and becoming a rapist?

This is all just an extension of the peculiar neurosis of our puritanical freak-out that leads to madness like our movie rating schemes where ultra-violence and gore are considered more acceptable for young viewers than someone's bare ass. Kids can come home from school and flip on the news at 4pm and see real, live, mutilated, dead bodies from some atrocity somewhere, but god forbid someone should ever see a nipple?

Just so you know... Most civilized countries laugh their asses off at the us.