For as little as £15 - less than the cost of a takeaway pizza - brothels in London offer sex for sale, according to a new report. Shockingly, these numbers only represent the tip of the iceberg: £25 buys you "high-risk" sex, and, while the average age of the women was 21, many of the places admitted to having "very, very young girls".
This ugly reality, often linked to human trafficking (many of the women are from eastern Europe and South east Asia), is a far cry from the media's representation of prostitution as a glamorous career choice. For the vast majority of women, hooking isn't Billie Piper teetering in Manolos; it's violent, dangerous and scary. But as Salon Broadsheet points out, outlawing prostitution may not be the best approach to protecting sex workers. British Liberal Democrat David Howarth looked at the evidence from Sweden in making prostitution illegal, and found that it doesn't help in reducing human trafficking. Instead it increases violence against women.
Where are you getting your takeaway pizza from - the Savoy? £15 indeed :(
Posted by: Neil McGowan | Friday, 05 September 2008 at 09:46 PM
Some teachers charge £15 for one hour private tuition.
If you go to "reputable" escort services, they charge you £150 an hour, I wish I were a beautiful lady :)
Posted by: Nabil H | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 02:16 AM
There is a huge disparity here. There are exploited, often drug addicted women forced into having sex for pitiful sums such as £15, most of which of course goes back to a pimp either directly or indirectly (such as to pay for "rent" or the drug). On the other hand, there are women apparently earning huge sums as escorts and high class call girls, advertising their services on the internet for £150ph+ (and thus committing none of the offences under the law as currently constituted, such as streetwalking). The "let's ban all sale of sex" lobby doesn't recognise this distinction. I suspect many of them are ideologically incapable of doing so. They're also probably incapable of seeing what damage they could be doing in the long run.
Perhaps Ms Townsend could do her adopted country a service and do some investigative journalism on this topic. If so, I'm sure there are people who will able to offer some pointers here.
Posted by: T | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 01:05 PM
I agree with Catherine on the total ban not being able to get rid of this problem. Part of the problem, I think, is that as long as there is a demand of prostitutes, human traffickers will be supplying them. But how do we get rid of that demand?
Posted by: Ellie | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 02:59 PM
You certainly don't eliminate human trafficking by diverting police resources into chasing down genuinely happy and liberated escorts etc. If you want to fight the evil, fight the evil.
Posted by: T | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 08:42 PM
Let's be clear - the problem with prostitution is not the sex, it's the exploitation and coercion. Let us also recognize that no matter what draconian laws we pass, there will still be a market in sex, just as there is in drugs. And as is the case with drugs, it is the policy of prohibition that we need to look at first; it only makes a difficult situation worse. The question we need to ask is not whether prostitution (or recreational drug-taking) is a good or bad thing, it is how to ensure that the men and women who sell sex do so willingly and safely.
Posted by: Nullius | Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 10:14 PM
Just stop immigrants coming into our country who do not have qualifications. Leave the oldest profession in the world to the indigenous women of our island and leave them in peace. This trade should be closely monitored for the protection of the unfortunate clients who do not have a sex life.
Posted by: carolfarrell | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 12:37 PM
This topic of human trafficking fills me with rage. Wilberforce would roll in has grave to know that 100+ years after his death, slavery and the deliberate degradation of another human being still exists. The majority of people being trafficked for the sex industry are woman and children who are forced into sexual slavery. They have little choice in complying with their slave owners as they are bullied, beaten, raped and drugged into the sex trade. But, society and the law will basically turn a blind eye and make superficial attempts it rescuing the woman and children and take less of an interests in prosecuting the men and the woman (betraying their sex out of greed.) who are operating a sex industry based upon human trafficking, because I believe the vast amount of men who visit such establishments. More often then not, these woman rescue themselves or commit suicide.
Posted by: EllieV | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 02:05 AM
Hi, I am from spain so I am sorry for my grammar and vocabulary mistakes, I dont think that making things illegal is the solution, it certainly didnt work with drugs. Sometimes the fact that something is forbidden makes it more exciting and people do it more and more.
I think that the solution may be in having more control on the people who works in this kind of places and even if its legal, make sure that they are old enough and have the papers to be able to work there.
You cant prohibit a person of doing what he/she wants, but u can make and effort to make sure that they really want to do that, and no one is making them do it.
Hope it makes sense!
Kisses, Lola
Posted by: Lola | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 04:13 PM
When you look at who commissioned the Poppy report, you find the name Harriet Harman. (or ought that be the non-sexist Harperoffspring?)
This and a brief browse through it, give me the impression that the so called "researchers" started with preconceived opinions and simply looked for any evidence to back up those prejudicial ideas.
This is not to make light of girls forced into prostitution, but if you are concerned about drug abusers being forced onto the streets, then tackle the drug problem, likewise with sex trafficing, tackle the illegal immigration problem.
What the exponents of the Swedish experiment will not tell you, is that violence against prostitutes has increased since the criminalisation of the trade.
Posted by: Bob from Derbyshire | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 05:07 PM