Topic: Should prostitution be legalized in the United States?

Context: As the last two Great Debates chosen by the general Debate Spot population failed, I decided to choose this one myself. As prostitution is an interesting but underdeveloped debate at this debate spot, I felt we could explore it a little more here.

Debaters:
Cinders (Affirmative)
mac (Negative)

Judges:
hooch-is-crazy
amazondebs
dazl

Moderator:
Gstine

Winner of the number game chooses the side s/he wants to represent. If the other debater decides they cannot do that side justice, s/he can resign but ONLY IMMEDIATELY AFTER learning what side they are representing. Debaters (including myself) by agreeing after the sides are chosen "sign" a non-abandonment contract that gives their word that they will not abandon the debate in the middle. If they do, it is a forfeit and their opponent will have won.

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RULES

The debate question will be posed in a "For" or "Against" fashion, or "Affirmative" and "Negative." That is, debaters will either agree or disagree with its statement.

The format will be as follows (I will introduce and elaborate on each section when we come to it):

Format of the Great Debate:

1) Affirmative: Give opening statement
2) Negative: Cross examines/addresses flaws, or issues in For's argument and asks For questions.
3) Affirmative: May respond to cross/answer questions (MUST answer all questions).
4) Negative: Give opening statements (Repeat steps 1-3 in opposite order)
5) Affirmative: Give closing statement (will elaborate on this later).
6) Negative: Give closing statement (may not respond to For's closing statement).

The moderator will make sure no one steps out of line, and will "give the floor" to the debaters.

The judges will NOT participate in the debate, and will come into the debate with little opinion and/or previous knowledge of the subject. The judges will determine who should win the debate based on their persuasive skills and argument alone, not based on topic matter.

The Affirmative begins with an opening statement, which is a few paragraphs including proofs and supports for why the debate prompt is accurate. Proofs can include relevant examples, statistics, expert quotations, historical trends, etc. You may use pathos, ethos, and logos, that is to say you can appeal to our morals, emotions, and sense of logic in any way you see fit. The Affirmative's opening statement is different from the negatives in that it should provide an alternative plan to stand against the status quo (the question will generally pose a change to the current status quo).

Your opening statement should be around five hundred words, but we won't be counting. If you feel you can say it all in three hundred words, or if you feel you need seven hundred words, then that's fine. The only reason I'm giving you a word count is in case you want a guideline. Take as many words as you need, and as much time as you would like to organize your response (though preferably respond by the end of the week so we can keep the debate going). This is a generous allowance designed to encourage quality in an argument, as in actual verbal debates, opening statements are timed and cut off if they go past three minutes, and it's embarrassing to end after only two minutes.

:o) Remember! This is all in good fun. If you find you aren't enjoying yourself, then you can drop out at any time, but if you're a debater, you will be ceding your title over to your opponent.

WINNERS: Yes, I have decided there will be a prize for the winner: A banner/image/certificate that will be uploaded to the image section of this spot celebrating the fact that they one Fanpop's first ever structured debate. Hopefully, if this goes well, we'll have more debates and more people can win.

If anyone wants to design this banner/image/certificate please contact me. If no one contacts me, I'll design it myself.

In addition to the above, if you drop out of the debate, or don't respond for longer than three weeks, you are disqualified, and the last person who debated wins by default.

Kegel, dazl, I have not forgotten you. Your prizes can be found in the "images" category on this site.