Prostitution

[123everton]

Is it right that the government should seek to further criminalise prostitution?
Why should it be illegal for consenting adults to have sex?
Would legalising prostitution make the state guilty of the sexual abuse and degradation of vulnerable adults?

[jno]

as far as I can see the cause for concern was the white slave trade - girls forced into prostitution rather than volunteers - and this seemed to be the best occasion to identify them. Perhaps if brothels were state-licensed it would eliminate the people smugglers and the pimps and ensure that everyone who was there wanted to be?

[Ethel]

I agree with jno that the proposals only apply to trafficked and forced prostitutes, but legalising the sex trade hasn't stopped the huge trade in illegal prostitution in Holland and other countries, sadly

[obNOXious]

It's certainly true that vulnerable adults need to be protected from forced prostitution, however is it not terribly demeaning to all of the 'career' prostitutes of which there are many, the majority even, to have their rights to live and work as they wish curtailed by what is in effect state interference in their lives?
I'm very in favour of prostitution being in all it's forms as transparant and safe as possible for the ladies that work in the industry as I believe that that is not only morally right, but also the best way to tackle the exploitaiton of those at risk. Sadly you will never stamp out traffiking completely or forced prostitution, as life always has it's unfortunate victims, but I think the more open the industry is the safer it is for most concerned and this legislaiton will in effect cause a greater stigma in relation to prostitution in general and thereore cause more trouble than it's worth and possibly make things even worse for those that are traffiked.
You might want to take a look at the ' all women count' website, run by sex workers for sex workers for a really informed view on what they think of things.
http://www.allwomencount.net/EWC%20Sex%20Worke rs/SexWorkIndex.htm

[Octavius]

As I understand it the proposals are that a man who wishes to engage in sex with another woman for a �transaction� (as they put it), he needs to determine that she is not an illegal immigrant/sex slave before going ahead. If he is caught with her and she is found to be on the game against her will, then he will be held up for prosecution and then named and shamed in the local press.

I know the situation is abhorrent at the moment, but how does this really help these poor girls?

[Hotlardlife]

Yet another example of Noo labour wumin not thinking straight and more laws when we have sufficient to cover anyway.

Ms Smith says anyone 'knowingly' could face charges. Just how many would know or how do you prove it? Is a pimp a bothel owner or just someone who forces a woman to have sex. Again, how does the punter know this?

Ms Smith claims 70% are controlled by pimps aor trafficked. If she knows this why has she not used the laws we do have to combat it, or is it as I suspect a guess.

[Ethel]

That 70% is very similar to the figure the Netherlands give for illegal prostitutes:

Wolfsen said that two independent studies had concluded that between 50 and 90 per cent of the women working in the Utrecht prostitution zones were not doing so voluntarily.

ttp://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1440332.php/Netherlands_sex_trade_to_feel_a_longer_arm_of_the_law

[keyplus90]

It will only bring epidemic of disease (psychological as well as physical) never known to mankind before. Try and see.

[youngmafbog]

Ethel, are you saying then that legalizing does nothing ? If run correctly I find that very hard to believe.

[jno]

I imagine, despite the fears of some ABers that illegal immigrants are washing up on our beaches in their thousands, that immigration can be more easily controlled here than in the Netherlands, which has porous land borders around much of it. That, I hope, would make detection of trafficking easier here.

[Haggisdj]

Could it not be that some of these 'illegal' prostitutes just do not want to pay tax?

jno - why did you mention the white slave trade when girls of all nationalities are being smuggled/tricked in to Britian from a multitude of countries?

[Octavius]

Prostitution itself is not illegal, but soliciting, pimping and kerb-crawling are, making it effectively against the law.

[jno]

Haggisdj - yes, fair question; I was just using the 19th-century traditional term for it (at the time, the notion was that black people were enslaved as real slaves but white ones were enslaved as prostitutes). But you're quite right, it's inappropriate now.

[jake-the-peg]

The problem with legalisation is that there's a tendency to promote sex-tourism

Nobody wants London to turn into Amsterdam in that regard.

Legalisation works in places like Nevada because lets face it you've got to be pretty desperate to go right out there to avail yourself of a brothel!

[youngmafbog]

Jake, no I dont believe anyone wants any UK town to end up like that but if it is legalised and carefully licenced then it can be controlled. Pus, think of the revenue !

[sqad617]

Apparently, 70 % of prostitutes in the UK are immigrants either legal or illegal, BUT only a small percentage of the 70% are forced into prostitution, suggesting that trafficking, abhorrent as it is, is not the major issue.

As far as the Bill is concerned, I cannot see how it is going to be enforced, as the basis is, that the �client� has to confirm with the girl, that she has not been trafficked or pimped.
The girl is obviously going to give the appropriate answer, otherwise she will lose a client.

Bill is badly thought out and unworkable in my opinion.

[Rosetta]

Wouldn't it be better to direct resources into drug abuse which is frequently the reason why these women get into prostitution in the first place.

I am not sure that this legislation will reduce the demand side of prostitution either. Unless they are really serious about naming and shaming the punters,which I doubt.

The girls that are forced into & to stay in prostitution do need some protection but again I am not convinced this the only way to tackle the problem. I admit I dont know the answer though I have always thought legalised brothels would be worth consideration.

[123everton]

Just a thought to throw amongst everyone, what if prostitution was legalised and licensed?
Liverpool council devised a stupid idea of a "tolerance zone" with opening hours they knew full well that within a year the zone would be a defacto sex workers area.
So, instead of the above solution why don't they take a city centre multi storey car park, people can walk in or park their cars on the ground floors and then walk around the converted upper areas were there are some sort of booth rented off the local council. The workers would have to be licensed and the license would have to be displayed, they would have to be tested reguarly for infections (at their own cost), there would then be tough laws to enforce against the employment of non-licensed prostitutes, for having sex with non-licensed prostitutes and for operating as a prostitute/brothel outside of the proscribed zone?