Should prostitution be legalised?

[Benjamin]

Well.

[Joelle.]

Yes, the same with drugs within reason. People do it regardless so it can't be any worse if it does become legal.

[Jack_]

Yes. Then it can be regulated. And if people want to pay for sex, that's their choice.

[Jords]

No.

[Omah]

No

[Shaun]

Yeah... I just don't understand why it's such an issue... if it's regulated and trafficking is eradicated then it's completely fine. It's two adults exchanging goods.

Making it illegal takes it down very dark and untraceable routes, and we're facing smuggling, drug addiction (prostituting themselves to feed the habit) and rape.

Just another excuse to say "look at how better Europe are than us", really.

[Ammi]

..prostitution has always been been described as 'the oldest profession', so it's not going to go away or anything..after the Peter Sutcliffe murders and more recently, the 5 females that were murdered in Ipswich, I think so much more should be done to protect these ladies...it's ok saying, oh these are bad people that do these things and put them in prison etc..but that does nothing to protect them from another bad person coming along and harming them...to me, that's just ignoring the situation and in way, treating them just as badly because not helping to make their environment safer doesn't put much value on their lives....

[Ramsay]

Yes

[Ramsay]

The fact its illegal is just silly...its going to go down no matter what..like shaun said, at least if its legalised the trafficking will be gone

[Ammi]

..yeah, I agree..and especially with child prostitution Karl..

[Ramsay]

Well yeah, child prostitution should be illegal no matter what

[Ammi]

..also, I know the government could argue how difficult it would be to protect them because these ladies put themselves in danger by the very nature of what they do..but then, they could say the same about female police officers and yet if they were constantly the targets for rape, violence, murder etc, the way that prostitutes are, then I would imagine that procedures and steps to protect them more would be addressed as a priority...I understand that it would be hard to remove all dangers involved in prostitution but these ladies don’t seem to be given any priority whatsoever and yet they are constant victims of violence...

[AnnieK]

If it were legalised it removes the seediness of the profession, the ladies come out of the shadows as it were and stop having to put themselves in danger by going in cars, down dodgy black alleys etc and therefore would immediately become safer.

[Ninastar]

yeah, if it's safe.

[Jesus.]

Of course it should, but there should be minimum standards for hotness.

[thesheriff443]

Of course it should, but there should be minimum standards for hotness.

when you have a crack habit to feed you cant spend the time you would like staying in shape!

[Nedusa]

More Tax revenue...!!!!

[thesheriff443]

this subject was used at a group discussion for big brother.

[joeysteele]

It isn't something I personally approve of but I would say it should be,yes.
It may better protect the women who engage in it and so be a great deal safer,also removing the harrassment too of them by the Police.

[GypsyGoth]

Being illegal it only benefits criminals. So yep I think it should be made legal.

[Marc]

Well.

For your sake it better be.

[Roy Mars III]

it should be legalized but I do not think that will change anything for the better. There will still be 'pimps' who run the business and the same type of drug use. Look at the porn industry

[Vicky.]

Yeah... I just don't understand why it's such an issue... if it's regulated and trafficking is eradicated then it's completely fine. It's two adults exchanging goods.

Making it illegal takes it down very dark and untraceable routes, and we're facing smuggling, drug addiction (prostituting themselves to feed the habit) and rape.

Just another excuse to say "look at how better Europe are than us", really.

Exactly this.

[Livia]

It should definitely be legalised. It if was, it could be more regulated and safer for the women.

[Jesus.]

It should definitely be legalised. It if was, it could be more regulated and safer for the women.

I've got 65p in my pocket.

[Jack_]

I can't really think of any reason why it shouldn't be legalised other than moral and religious ones which are just silly to apply to such a potentially dangerous industry like this.

[Z]

I was fortunate enough to get to visit the Estonian National Archives when I was there in February and we were shown a police log book with pictures and details of all of the prostitutes in Tallinn. The log book was subsequently updated if the women got married and stopped being prostitutes or had passed away or whatever the case may be. It just bolsters their safety and protects their rights more than anything to legalise and control prostitution. It takes the stigma away too. Being a call girl is what prostitution should in theory be. Being paid for a service. Not being treated as a criminal. Sex isn't illegal, so why is selling sex illegal?

[Omah]

Apparently :

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2012/12/Legalised-prostitution-increases-human-trafficking.aspx

Countries where prostitution is legal experience larger reported inflows of human trafficking, according to new research that investigates the impact of legalised prostitution on what is thought to be one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.

Every year, thousands of men, women and children are trafficked across international borders. The vast majority of countries in the world are affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The United Nations estimated in 2008 that nearly 2.5 million people from 127 different countries had been being trafficked into 137 countries around the world.

Research on human trafficking is still in its early stages, but is growing as the seriousness of the problem becomes more apparent. It is thought to be second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry.

The article, Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?, by Professor Eric Neumayer of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Dr Seo-Young Cho of the German Institute for Economic Research, and Professor Axel Dreher of Heidelberg University, was published in the January 2013 edition of the journal World Development.

Describing international human trafficking as “one of the dark sides of globalisation”, it explains that most victims of international human trafficking are women and girls, the vast majority of whom end up being sexually exploited through prostitution. Domestic policy on prostitution in countries of destination, it says, has a marked effect.

The researchers used a global sample of 116 countries. They found that countries where prostitution is legal tend to experience a higher reported inflow of human trafficking than countries in which prostitution is prohibited.

The article’s authors also looked in more detail at Sweden, Germany and Denmark, which changed their prostitution laws during the past 13 years. Sweden prohibited it in 1999, while Germany further legalised it by allowing third-party involvement in 2002. Denmark decriminalised it in 1999 so that self-employed prostitution is legal, but brothel operation is still forbidden.

Germany showed a sharp increase in reports of human trafficking upon fully legalising prostitution in 2002. The number of human trafficking victims in 2004 in Denmark, where it is decriminalised, was more than four times that of Sweden, where it is illegal, although the population size of Sweden is about 40 per cent larger.

:idc:

[Tom4784]

Yes, when you legalise something like prostitution you can regulate it to protect the people involved so that women aren't forced into it and the workers are safe while they're at it. Plus it would be a gold mine for taxes.

If it's illegal it can't be controlled.

[Cherie]

this subject was used at a group discussion for big brother.

Get you with your BB audition process insider knowledge.:devil:

[arista]

Yes, when you legalise something like prostitution you can regulate it to protect the people involved so that women aren't forced into it and the workers are safe while they're at it. Plus it would be a gold mine for taxes.

If it's illegal it can't be controlled.


Yes Dezzy
but is it Moral?

[Redway]

Yeah. It would be a lot weird the government allowing that kind of sexual action to go on but as with drugs it's their choice, no matter how harmful that may be.

[InOne]

It should be yes. But there's still the problem of the women who do it because they've got a drug habit. They're usually not allowed to work in Brothels and advertising a Brothel where the women are all on drugs wouldn't really do too well. It's really complicated and would take a lot of work I think.

[Kazanne]

I think for the safety of the girls it should be legalized,but,I personally think it's immoral,but it will go on,so best to keep people safe.

[lostalex]

Absolutely. I've never heard a good reason why it shouldn't be legalized. Making it legal will prevent a lot of disease and abuse for the girls and boys selling their bodies as well as protect the men paying for it.

[Lee.]

Yes. I've got calves like Arnie's running from the old bill constantly

[Cherie]

Yes. I've got calves like Arnie's running from the old bill constantly

:laugh:

[Cherie]

It should be yes. But there's still the problem of the women who do it because they've got a drug habit. They're usually not allowed to work in Brothels and advertising a Brothel where the women are all on drugs wouldn't really do too well. It's really complicated and would take a lot of work I think.

I agree, while in principal I would say legalise, in practice what would happen to the pimps in that scenario, is that giving them carte blanche to sell women into slavery :conf: not really thought about this too much so maybe someone else will have the answer.

[Kazanne]

[/B]

I agree, while in principal I would say legalise, in practice what would happen to the pimps in that scenario, is that giving them carte blanche to sell women into slavery :conf: not really thought about this too much so maybe someone else will have the answer.

It's a hard one all round,you have a point about the pimps.:hugesmile:

[Kazanne]

Yes. I've got calves like Arnie's running from the old bill constantly

:joker::joker::joker:

[InOne]

[/B]

I agree, while in principal I would say legalise, in practice what would happen to the pimps in that scenario, is that giving them carte blanche to sell women into slavery :conf: not really thought about this too much so maybe someone else will have the answer.

Even if you legalised it the slavery thing would still go on. Women from say Lithuania are promised good jobs over in England but what it ends up as was criminal gangs who send them into the sex trade. The family are threatened back home and they're basically trapped. It's so easy to say to make it legal and suddenly everything will be okay. Human trafficking will still go on. The police can't cope with it now so imagine if it was legal... It basically opens up for human traffickers to do what they want as a lot of it would get overlooked as normal brothels.

[Ninastar]

the one thing i'm not to sure about is the safety of it all... surely there would be a MASSIVE increase in the number of STI's... and you can't do much to ensure that it's definitely safe...

[Z]

Even if you legalised it the slavery thing would still go on. Women from say Lithuania are promised good jobs over in England but what it ends up as was criminal gangs who send them into the sex trade. The family are threatened back home and they're basically trapped. It's so easy to say to make it legal and suddenly everything will be okay. Human trafficking will still go on. The police can't cope with it now so imagine if it was legal... It basically opens up for human traffickers to do what they want as a lot of it would get overlooked as normal brothels.

If it was legal, brothels would be better advertised and wouldn't be these seedy "heard about it from someone who knows" places that the general public aren't immediately aware of. Prostitutes wouldn't automatically avoid the police or be hostile with them if it was legalised and would probably co-operate with the police to figure out which prostitutes were there under their own free will and which ones weren't. Human trafficking is a problem either way, but if prostitution is legal then there's more chance the police can regulate it and figure out who's running these rings.

[Tom4784]

Yes Dezzy
but is it Moral?

There's plenty of legal professions that can be seen as immoral so I don't see how that impacts on anything.

[InOne]

If it was legal, brothels would be better advertised and wouldn't be these seedy "heard about it from someone who knows" places that the general public aren't immediately aware of. Prostitutes wouldn't automatically avoid the police or be hostile with them if it was legalised and would probably co-operate with the police to figure out which prostitutes were there under their own free will and which ones weren't. Human trafficking is a problem either way, but if prostitution is legal then there's more chance the police can regulate it and figure out who's running these rings.

Unless they're a high class hooker; most women in the UK are on drugs or do it because there's no other choice. I just don't see how making it legal would help the women who are already in trouble. They have teams dedicated to that kind of thing but they need to really clamp down on the problem before they even think about making it legal. The police already know most brothels that operate, but if it was made legal they would be popping up at a massive rate. There's already police cuts as it is so they couldn't pick them all with a fine tooth comb. I think it would just make it easier for criminal gangs to make it out as a legitimate brothel with the police doing a lazy job of properly searching. And who is to say any of the women would cooperate anyway? Some are in fear of their lives. People are just making out it would be an easy switch. But the UK isn't like Amsterdam or other places, it's just not in our culture.

[Z]

Unless they're a high class hooker; most women in the UK are on drugs or do it because there's no other choice. I just don't see how making it legal would help the women who are already in trouble. They have teams dedicated to that kind of thing but they need to really clamp down on the problem before they even think about making it legal. The police already know most brothels that operate, but if it was made legal they would be popping up at a massive rate. There's already police cuts as it is so they couldn't pick them all with a fine tooth comb. I think it would just make it easier for criminal gangs to make it out as a legitimate brothel with the police doing a lazy job of properly searching. And who is to say any of the women would cooperate anyway? Some are in fear of their lives. People are just making out it would be an easy switch. But the UK isn't like Amsterdam or other places, it's just not in our culture.

Yeah, but if you legalise prostitution, it cuts out a huge part of the problem. If prostitutes and police co-operate, it eradicates a lot of the problems that come with prostitution. If a prostitute is beaten to within an inch of her life, she's not going to go and report it to the police because she was committing a crime when she became the victim of a crime, in the same way that a burglar wouldn't report being beaten up by a home owner while he was in the middle of a burglary, because he would be at fault. But if you make prostitution legal, prostitutes can talk to the police more freely.

As I side in a previous post, having something as simple as a log book or database of prostitutes with pictures, known aliases and personal information goes a long way in helping to monitor things. Prostitutes wouldn't go missing if someone knew where they were meant to be, their home addresses, their family situations, their usual haunts - if said database had photos of the prostitutes, it would help police to spot unfamiliar faces. Police laziness is another matter entirely, I still think legalising it and regulating it makes far more sense than ignoring a problem that is not going away and is only getting worse by ignoring it.

[JohnnyBB]

I Thought It Was Legal?

Adultwork.com

[Niall]

I suppose it should be legalised, but I've always felt so weird about it. It's odd really, because I'm liberal in just about every other topic like this, but prostitution has always had this aura of extreme sleaze in my mind. I just can't shake that perception, which makes me kind of hesitate over the idea of its legalisation.

But, as others have already stated, legalisation would allow proper regulation of an underground industry that is currently inseparable from grotesque abuse of those that work within it, so maybe it would help more people than it would harm. I mean pornography in many ways is a form of prostitution, yet there isn't as many qualms within people over that nowadays (myself included).

It's just there are so many problems with the implementation of a legalised version - the method in which such a system is regulated being my main area of concern.

[Mystic Mock]

I think it should be as it isn't harming anybody so I don't get why it's illegal, obviously you would need to have the system that Holland has in place so that the prostitutes are safe.

But it will be a long time before it gets made legal as a lot of people are quite snobby and ignorant when it's things they don't understand.

[Nedusa]

The problem with prostitution is that its not as simple as a transaction between two parties carried out in safe business like way. It often involves violence, control, drugs, human trafficking, blackmail, coercement , underage sex etc...

So it would be difficult to legalise as these elements could not be legalised and as such you would still have illegal prostitution which would then have to be cheaper to compete with the legalised equivalent and as such would make conditions for these women even worse.

It's a difficult topic to just try and bring in one law and hey presto everything's fixed.I imagine the Govt would love the new revenue stream it would generate but any party that crossed this line( similar to legalising Drugs) may find itself facing a voter backlash at the next general election.

[InOne]

Yeah, but if you legalise prostitution, it cuts out a huge part of the problem. If prostitutes and police co-operate, it eradicates a lot of the problems that come with prostitution. If a prostitute is beaten to within an inch of her life, she's not going to go and report it to the police because she was committing a crime when she became the victim of a crime, in the same way that a burglar wouldn't report being beaten up by a home owner while he was in the middle of a burglary, because he would be at fault. But if you make prostitution legal, prostitutes can talk to the police more freely.

As I side in a previous post, having something as simple as a log book or database of prostitutes with pictures, known aliases and personal information goes a long way in helping to monitor things. Prostitutes wouldn't go missing if someone knew where they were meant to be, their home addresses, their family situations, their usual haunts - if said database had photos of the prostitutes, it would help police to spot unfamiliar faces. Police laziness is another matter entirely, I still think legalising it and regulating it makes far more sense than ignoring a problem that is not going away and is only getting worse by ignoring it.

They do report it in some cases. The law on prostitution is weird here. It's something like that it's legal for a man and woman to exchange sex for money but the curb crawling and hanging around on corners is against the law. I'm not totally familiar with it as I read up on it a while ago now. But it's more the curb crawlers who are getting arrested rather than prostitutes. The police do try to protect them but often they're unwilling, scared or too far gone on the drugs for help.

I do agree about that thing in Estonia though, it seems a good idea. But no doubt you'd still get the women who don't register. I guess the cold fact is you can help some but not them all.

[Omah]

The problem with prostitution is that its not as simple as a transaction between two parties carried out in safe business like way. It often involves violence, control, drugs, human trafficking, blackmail, coercement , underage sex etc...

So it would be difficult to legalise as these elements could not be legalised and as such you would still have illegal prostitution which would then have to be cheaper to compete with the legalised equivalent and as such would make conditions for these women even worse.


Precisely - recent court cases have highlighted the dingy world of enslavement and abuse of young women and girls.

[lostalex]

The problem with prostitution is that its not as simple as a transaction between two parties carried out in safe business like way. It often involves violence, control, drugs, human trafficking, blackmail, coercement , underage sex etc...

So it would be difficult to legalise as these elements could not be legalised and as such you would still have illegal prostitution which would then have to be cheaper to compete with the legalised equivalent and as such would make conditions for these women even worse.

It's a difficult topic to just try and bring in one law and hey presto everything's fixed.I imagine the Govt would love the new revenue stream it would generate but any party that crossed this line( similar to legalising Drugs) may find itself facing a voter backlash at the next general election.

But it think it would cut down on a lot of the problems you mentioned because the Johns would prefer to go to a professional establishment, where he knows the girls are clean, and also knows that he's safe. A lot of Johns are also victims, they approach a prostitute, goes back to a hotel room, then when he gets there her boyfriend is there and beats him up and robs him, then he feels he can't go to the police cause he'd be admitting to a crime himself. So i think most Johns would prefer to use the legal prostitutes, even if it is more expensive.

[Omah]

But it think it would cut down on a lot of the problems you mentioned because the Johns would prefer to go to a professional establishment, where he knows the girls are clean, and also knows that he's safe.

IME, the opposite is frequently true - after all, the "john" is not after a bag of peas ..... :pipe:

[lostalex]

IME, the opposite is frequently true - after all, the "john" is not after a bag of peas ..... :pipe:

You mean the risk and danger is part of what turns them on? Maybe that's true, I hadn't thought about it like that.

[Omah]

You mean the risk and danger is part of what turns them on? Maybe that's true, I hadn't thought about it like that.

Even Hugh Grant ..... ;)

[waterhog]

Yes, the same with drugs within reason. People do it regardless so it can't be any worse if it does become legal.



i like your way of thinking.