[Z]

Interesting question as I've just come back from Amsterdam which might have influenced my answer, but here goes...

I think prostitution is given a bad rap. Ignoring the drug culture amongst prostitutes in the UK, and instead looking at Amsterdam, it's a very safe, well run operation. The prostitutes aren't ruled by pimps. They aren't doing it for drugs, at least for the majority anyway. They're doing it to pay off rent or debts or, hell, because they enjoy it. It's a business transaction, it's not like you're hiring yourself out to be intimate with someone, you're just selling your private parts as an object and you name your price. You can refuse customers and you can decide what you want to offer as a service. The police are there within 30 seconds if something goes wrong, all the girls have a buzzer they can press to get them there. A guy who slept in my hostel room there came back from just having had sex with one of them and he told us what it was like. He said it was mechanical and weird but it was a worthwhile experience because he said he'd never do it again and he saw the cold distinction between intimacy and sex. These women don't care about you, they care about your money, so I think it's something I would probably do if push came to shove and I needed the money and it was regulated here like it is in Amsterdam. It's insane how backwards the UK can be - if we legalised prostitution and gave prostitutes better conditions to work in, we'd see less people on the streets and less of a drug problem I think.