SCENE: A dark city street, late at night. 'Ladies of the night' prowl their pitches, waiting for trade. A dark, nondescript car pulls up, and our heroine stoops to the driver's side window. . .
LOTN: Looking for a good time, luv?
John: Er. Yes. Um.....how...much?
LOTN: Tenner for hand relief, 20 for oral or 30 for the full Monty luv.*
John: OK.
{he fumbles in his glovebox, and comes up with a stack of papers}
John: Before we do it, please would you fill in this questionnaire? It's to verify your freedom of choice in selecting prostitution as a profession. And I'll need to see your passport or your Home Office 'Leave to Remain' certificate to prove you've not been trafficked.
{More fumbling for something}
John: I'll also need you to supply a urine sample, to prove you're not being controlled by a drug habit. And if you'd just sign this affidavit confirming that you're trading sexual favours with me of your own free will - you'll need two witnesses to countersign.
Yep, that'll kill demand. Except it won't.
Criminalising those who sell sex hasn't worked. Criminalising those who buy sex won't work either. It's already illegal to 'kerb-crawl', and that hasn't stopped the demand, so how will further criminalising those who pay for sex in any way solve the problem?
Sex has always, ALWAYS been sold. It's not called 'The Oldest Profession' for nothing. Surely even the most man-hating of Home Secretaries can see that if criminalising has signally failed to work, then the sensible option is not more criminalisation, but legalisation?
Legalise. Regulate. Institute healthchecks and a support structure. the Goonvernment may even make some tax receipts out of the whole thing. That may not make for as good a soundbite - but it'll do a damn sight more to protect women than limp-wristed pseudo-gestures of criminalisation.
*I have no idea whether these prices quoted are accurate - I didn't research.
3 comments:
The other issue is that it doesn't matter if the prostitute lies to the punter, proof is not required to prosecute.
Yeah, I noticed that but couldn't work it in.
That's pretty much typical for Jacqui Smith - she's the archetypal 'all men are rapists' type.
It's another scary example of the degree of control this Government wishes to exert. When will Blogging become a crime, I wonder?
D
Very good points. Those areas where prostitution has been legalized but regulated show much lower crime and disease rates. If you don't have to hide it, you can make sure things are safe.
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