This thread makes me think of the "registered companions" from Firefly.

One point you forgot to mention: if it is legalized, it can be taxed.

Hello Yellow Robin. I don't have an opinion on prostitution. It's as old as the human race and I just care about people involved. It sickens me that men who pay for it are prosecuted - what a stupid law that is when women offer it. And it sickens me that we put down women who do it.

I had a call from a single mother today who is putting her body forward for medical research. I am concerned about that also.

I will tell you what I have an opinion about. Heterosexual sex is not prostitution.

Like many things, prostitution was made illegal for a reason..

Quote from felixblue

Like many things, prostitution was made illegal for a reason..

Because of things such as rape, assaults, trafficking and theft affecting sex workers? All these things can be illegal without criminalizing consensual adults who choose to engage in prostitution and do so safely and show respect to sex workers. But wouldn't it be logical to have the practice itself legal so sex workers can contact the police if they need to without fear of arrest themselves?

The Swedish have a law where buying sex is illegal but selling sex isn't, so the clients are prosecuted but the sex workers themselves aren't (even if the sex worker is a consenting adult). Sweden refuses to accept some women choose to become sex workers and views them all as victims. They also view all clients as dangerous sex predators. They do a bit of stereotyping and tarring groups of people with the same brush.

The "Swedish model" (which was passed without consulatation from sex workers- sex workers and their groups were excluded from the debate) isn't perfect though. Do you think sex workers (the ones who aren't trafficked) are going to want to testify against their cients and have them put in prison? Would a shopkeeper want all his best customers thrown in prison? Then how will they get business and money? Remember prositution is a job like any other, and the workers have a right to respect like anyone else. The law may deter a few clients but it tends to be the clients who were safe and reliable who were detered- the abusive ones tend to be undettered by a law against prostiutiton which means sex workers have less client and therefore cannot afford to be as picky and may have to accept bookings from abusive clients and lower their prices (lower prices attract the weirdos).

Here is a page written by a Swedish sex worker herself on the Swedish law. A refreshing unbiased look at the law which differs from typical media stories:
Sexworkes Critique of Swedish Prostitution policy

And here's a Swedish news article which claims the law is a "success" because it halved the number of streetwalkers... before going on to say it has simply moved from the streets onto the internet. Do the Swedish really care about reducing prostitution or do they just want it out of sight and under the carpet?
Sweden's prostitution law a success: report - The Local

Quote from FloatyBoaty

This thread makes me think of the "registered companions" from Firefly.

One point you forgot to mention: if it is legalized, it can be taxed.

"registered companions"? Is that an escort agency or something?

Yes a valid point about tax. The sex industry (love it or hate it) along with the drug-industry is a multi-billion (trillion?) dollar industry. I know some might counter this argument and say "well women's safety is more important than money". But it's clear the sex industry is going ahead regardless of the law, wouldn't it be better for the billions generated to go to the government (and help get the country out of the recession?) instead of the pimps and traffickers?

Iceland (one of the most feminist countries in the world) in recent years criminalized porn, strip clubs and prostitution. The entire country also went completely bankrupt in recent years also. They borrowed $4 billion (I think) from the UK and Netherlands and still haven't paid us back. Too bad the government will never see any of the billions of dollars the sex industry generates to help them out. All the money generated will now go to the guys on the underground market.

If prostitution were taxed the money generated could go towards services or groups which help sex workers or represent them and advocate for their rights? Just a suggestion.

Quote from felixblue

Advertising the trade should be totally illegal. That would reduce its impact. Those websites such as (deleted) should be taken off the web as they are simply shop windows for prostitution. Seems like every other woman in the UK is on there!

Advertising could be extremely difficult to implement. Sweden has banned advertising (and has had over 10 years to implement their solution) yet all it takes is a quick Google search and one can easily find contact details for call girls in Stockholm. Money and resources spent trying to stop advertising may be wasted.

As mentioned above a good thing about legitimate advertising sites is they have a feedback system- if a client is abusive or a timewaster the sex worker can leave negative feedback warning other workers not to take a booking from him. Online forums are also used by workers to share contact details of clients to avoid.

Well... they don't call it the world's oldest profession for nothing. Seems like it's pointless to try and criminalize it.

Reducing the human sexual relationship down to the level of being just like another item on the shopping list.. Has an effect on people and on societies..

When sex becomes so obviously a commodity.. What hope is there for good marraige? Good relationships? Fidelity?

I think one of the main reasons the trade was banned back in victorian days was because of the belief that many many women were going into that trade for easy money, and of course, the main demand was for young women.. Very young women..

And, isn't that a damned dangerous thing?

What do you think will happen to the mind of a young female when she has had, well, lets say, 500 cocks shoved up her before the age of 21?

Her experience of men will be basically that they are, fucking tossers, wankers, easy money, cheaters, shits, saddoes, or whatever.. Or maybe she will think they are really nice guys whose wives don't understand them..?

Is it a trade you would want YOUR daughter to be working in?

It may be slightly superior to certain professions that I could mention (law, social work etc..)..

But really, its more something for the TRUlY adult woman who has a life of experience behind her..

Do we want to see the ruin of young women en masse?

I mean, who is going to want to marry and settle down with the village bike?

The key is, not so much punishment of either punters or "workers", but active discouragement, and not advertising that which is not exactly a service that has a real need anyway..

A man can always find a pro if he wants one.. Legal or not!!

Quote from YellowRobin

If prostitution were taxed the money generated could go towards services or groups which help sex workers or represent them and advocate for their rights? Just a suggestion.

Indeed. The state could help women expel their husbands from the family home who have been found frequenting the state run brothels. The whole sex industry is easy to use for misandric purposes and state regulation will go a long way to ensuring just that..

Women profit from sex enough without getting the right to charge a fee for it from men who cant get it any other way as well as being able to marry a bloke then deny him his "needs" or divorce him when he goes elsewhere..

The sexual deal between a man and a woman should be between a man and a woman.. Not the state, not advertisers of "services", brothel keepers, pimps, madams or anyone else..

No one else should be profitting from it..

Quote from YellowRobin

"registered companions"? Is that an escort agency or something?

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"Registered companions" are the "legal prostitutes/escorts" of the Firefly universe.

Many prostitutes are, in fact, men. A casual search gives a percentage of around 20%.

There's an interesting article here about male prostitutes:

Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice (MSc), Edinburgh Law School

Specifically, the article has this to say about male prostitutes (or "sex workers")...

"The research by Dennis (2008) highlights some important challenges that male escorts face. Male sex workers are essentially invisible to social services and media. Inadequate support and money for services can be attributed to professional and social ignorance, homophobia and a denial that men sell sex. In contrast to female sex work, there is unwillingness and fear by professionals to assist male sex workers (MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, 2003), Violence against a female sex worker is seen as a source of possible concern, whereas the male worker’s experiences of violence are seen as normal (‘they can deal with it’). Moreover, avoiding the fact, that both male and female workers engage in unwanted and usually violent sex, males to larger extent face the need to engage in sexual acts which conflict with sexual self-identity, and project key aspects of self-identity as desirable commodities (MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, 2003), which can be more traumatic and damaging to one’s masculinity. Furthermore, AIDS, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are discussed ad nausea in relation to male sex workers, however, typically in the degrading context of the prostitute being referred to as ‘the dangerous one’, the one, spreading the infection on innocent heterosexual men who then go on to infect their partners.
The issue of terminology can be addressed as well. The use of the term ‘prostitute’ is usually used when describing females, whereas male prostitutes in most of the research are described as a ‘sex workers’, highlighting the possible implication that females are forced into selling themselves, in comparison to men. It implies that males choose to become prostitutes, and that it is, to certain extent, positive use of their sexual talents. In conclusion, majority of research that discusses male sex workers, frequently provides and focuses on the sexual orientation of the prostitutes who were accessed through the study, which does not come across the studies that focus on females, creating the assumptions, that females, working in this industry are heterosexual."

Keeping prostitution illegal doesn't keep people from doing it, but it does create a boundary. It says, "this is bad". Which means fewer are likely to do it than if there was no law.