[Firewire]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

So long as the attempt to keep the people who are unfortunately still engaging in it as safe as possible - much as addiction services try to keep drug users as safe as possible - isn't mistakenly perceived as it being ACTUALLY safe, or new, or different. It's not just a horrific history, it's a horrific present and a horrific future. There is no sanitised version of sex work and like I said... pretending that there is or can be is just dangerous, and can inadvertently lure young women (especially) into a financial trap that they can't get out of and eventually wish they had never entered. It should never, EVER be regarded as a good or attractive "career"... or anything but an absolutely awful way to make money that most people regret and exit with a myriad of mental health problems - if they exit at all.

I don't disagree with any of this. I do think you're right. I just think safety starts with respecting the workers from the beginning. Changing the term from prostitution to sex work might mask the issues, but it helps transform attitudes towards the women and men who do it as a form of work. It's like calling someone a "drug addict" instead of "junkie" – one respects them as a human and the other doesn't (not that sex work and drug addiction are similar, but the attitudes towards people with addiction are changing and changing terminology does help).