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After watching the films and reading Kempadoo's article, I think the two things that I'm really left with are that I feel the two biggest issues with prostitution are the conditions and the lack of other options. I'm still not entirely positive where I stand when it comes to prostitution as a moral issue, whether it should be allowed, whether it's also degrading, whether it's possible for prositution to be separated from it's demeaning and misogynistic history. But I do believe that the conditions that many/most sex workers have to deal with are more troublesome than the concept of prostitution itself.

Also, I think that everyone who cares about the effects of prostitution must fight for other options. Especially if you think that prostitution is wrong, you should then be really focused on what else people can realistically do that will earn them a similar amount of money. It reminds me a bit of an article I read about child labor in an econ class. Some people try to simply ban child labor and don't think about the consequences. However, the study the article referenced showed that most families do not have their children work unless there is no other option. If families' income rises, they put their children into school. (I'm not saying that this is what always happens, just that that's what the study showed.) Therefore, the children can be assumed to be working because there are no other options; they need the money to survive. In order to eradicate child labor in a way that truly benefits children, there must be other realistic ways for families to earn enough money to support themselves. Similarly, it would not be enough to simply work on a stricter ban on prositution. People need other viable options, regardless of whether you think prostitution is morally acceptable or not, if you actually want to help the people who go into prostitution.