This post arises from a discussion on my Facebook page.
Prostitution is the 'oldest profession' . Rehab has a mention in the bible, as do the subjects of sodomy and male prostitution. Down the ages literature refers to prostitution. It is not the preserve of any specific class and is more prevelant than many wish to believe.
My earliest 'experience' of prostitution was in my home town. A madam sent her girls out into the town to do the business. She drove around in a convertible car and wore a Davey Crockett hat. As she passed the school I attended she always 'tooted' her car horn.
Our innocence was destroyed by the Profumo Scandal and the Denning Report.
When I was reading law a case of considerable importance was Shaw v DPP. Shaw had produced a 'ladies directory' which set out the services 'working girls' offered. The importance of the case was the decision by the House of Lord that there existed in common law a power for the courts to protect public morals.
Prostitution is not illegal, soliciting is: as is the situation where two or more people share the same premises for prostitution. To drive prostitutes off the streets kerb-crawling became an offence.
You don't need to be a Google genius to find a considerable amount of material on the Internet relating to prostitution. The 'ladies directory' has gone electronic. Free weekly papers publish advertisements. Many 'massage parlours' are fronts for brothels.
Although there are news items from time to time of massage parlours being raided, for the most part the police take no action. When they do it is because women are being trafficked from abroad to work in brothels.
The key issues around prostitution are: much of it is in the grip of organised crime, the violence to women by pimps and clients and the sad fact that some women are 'driven' to prostitution to pay for a drug habit. I wonder how many women make prostitution a life-style entered into freely?
So, should brothels be legalised and subject to inspection as happens in some countries? Some will say prostitution itself should be illegal, others that by legalising and controlling brothels some of the worst vices will be diminished. However, there will be the problem always of people who will conduct the business underground.
I believe we should be pragmatic, accept the fact that the 'oldest profession' will continue, make life less fraught for the women caught up in it and offer advice and support to draw them away from what they are engaged in.
See also: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8731046/Bonn-prostitutes-to-use-parking-meters.html
KENT COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: acerbic, carping, caustic, curmudgeonly,critical, cynical, grumpy, moaning, sardonic and plain speaking.
Yes I think they should. There should be 'regulated premises' and 'professional escorts' should have to sign a 'code of conduct' for which a fixed penalty can be issued for its breach. Regulated premises can include tattoo shops, shops selling sex products, and sun-tanning centres for which one would have to be sixteen to enter if it offered such services. This no-under-sixteen sign should be a discrete way of letting people know they offer those services. In the future, when the taboo is gone then the ‘tattoo’ may not be needed as regulated premises could be dedicated brothels.
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