Some governments advocate for the legalization of prostitution, primarily with laws designed for governments to regulate the sex industry. Others support partial decriminalization, which penalizes the buyers of prostitution while condoning the sellers of sexual activity. To understand how countries regulate prostitution laws and adapt to the model, the effects must be analyzed within the government 's specific political goals and measures it takes to address the issue. This paper will focus on the political implications of the attempts of various governments in regulating prostitution.
In 1999, the Swedish government took an unprecedented approach as the first country to prohibit the purchase of sexual services by passing the Sex Purchase Act (citation). This model became known as partial decriminalization which primarily focused on the Swedish government’s stance regarding prostitution as intrinsically harmful to women and a hindrance to the government’s goal
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In 1971, Nevada passed a law giving counties the ability to legalize brothels. According to Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, the law on prostitution started out similarly with the political culture of a libertarian system of government which legalized prize fighting, divorce, and gambling as well (Las Vegas Review). Although Nevada is the only state in the United States where prostitution is legal, it is subject to restrictions. The law permits prostitution in brothels in eight of the sixteen counties and does not allow any county with a population over 700,000 to license brothels (citation). This type of legalization, also known as the Nevada Model, decriminalizes prostitution in brothels but requires government supervision with strict