Pro-trans group funds campaign to keep use of prostitutes legal

That does feel very uncomfortable to me - if selling sex has been normalised in your family growing up, I can understand seeing it like that, but at the same time I can't see how having sex with randoms each day would seem easier. What other options did these girls have?

I do agree that a woman choosing to sell sex to earn more money isn't forced/paid rape as some people on here argue all prostitution is. I wish there were better options though if they wanted to earn more money.

Prostitutes vary more than you might imagine. I've known one who decided to do it as she didn't have qualifications to fund the life she wanted for her and her daughter, she was a single parent. She bought a house for cash and sent her DD to the most expensive school in the city. I knew many who did it occasionally when money was short. Yes I knew some who were funding drug habits. I knew a family where mum was a prostitute dad was a pimp and their daughters became prostitutes with their son being a pimp. Just the family business to them. There were also girls groomed and pressured into it. It isn't as straightforward as you think.

That’s not how it works, legal prostitution is legal consensual sex that someone pays for. They are not being “raped” (look up the definition) and it’s one of the oldest professions in the world. I know people who do it because they enjoy sex, the moneys a bonus, two it can reward greater than minimum wage jobs. Only illegal prostitution is rape but if someone wishes to do it legally than they should be allowed. You’re spreading a whole lot of misinformation, it can be unsafe despite in legal countries however the women I know vet their clients to ensure they minimise the risk.
You wouldn’t know they do this in their private time unless they told you as they live very comfortable lives and aren’t addled with mental issues like you suggest. How many sex workers do you actually know?

Sounds to me like the girls in the “family business” were also groomed into it.

What exactly was the contribution of the father to that “family business”? Disgusting man.

Prostitutes vary more than you might imagine. I've known one who decided to do it as she didn't have qualifications to fund the life she wanted for her and her daughter, she was a single parent. She bought a house for cash and sent her DD to the most expensive school in the city. I knew many who did it occasionally when money was short. Yes I knew some who were funding drug habits. I knew a family where mum was a prostitute dad was a pimp and their daughters became prostitutes with their son being a pimp. Just the family business to them. There were also girls groomed and pressured into it. It isn't as straightforward as you think.

Well surely that's because they're not going to be making any money any more if they can't sell themselves - and as a very high percentage of women who work on the streets are also drug users they are going to have to find another way to fund their habit.

Of course they're going to want to be able to continue to prostitute themselves, they don't feel they have any other real options.

That’s not how it works, legal prostitution is legal consensual sex that someone pays for. They are not being “raped” (look up the definition) and it’s one of the oldest professions in the world. I know people who do it because they enjoy sex, the moneys a bonus, two it can reward greater than minimum wage jobs. Only illegal prostitution is rape but if someone wishes to do it legally than they should be allowed. You’re spreading a whole lot of misinformation, it can be unsafe despite in legal countries however the women I know vet their clients to ensure they minimise the risk.
You wouldn’t know they do this in their private time unless they told you as they live very comfortable lives and aren’t addled with mental issues like you suggest. How many sex workers do you actually know?

Very true. I used to work for the vice squad in a big city. I well remember the amazement of a group of women from local uni who were trying to make changes to legislation on prostitution, instead of being grateful the local prostitutes were up in arms against them.

That’s not how it works, legal prostitution is legal consensual sex that someone pays for. They are not being “raped” (look up the definition) and it’s one of the oldest professions in the world. I know people who do it because they enjoy sex, the moneys a bonus, two it can reward greater than minimum wage jobs. Only illegal prostitution is rape but if someone wishes to do it legally than they should be allowed. You’re spreading a whole lot of misinformation, it can be unsafe despite in legal countries however the women I know vet their clients to ensure they minimise the risk.
You wouldn’t know they do this in their private time unless they told you as they live very comfortable lives and aren’t addled with mental issues like you suggest. How many sex workers do you actually know?

Loads of female sex workers (past and current) want sex work decriminalised. Many of them work closely with charities that support female prisoners and volunteer themselves because many female prisoners have a history of sex work.

Decriminanlising sex work isn't a trans thing or whatever. It's a movement mostly led by natal women.

If you listen to active prostitutes of either sex, be aware that you are talking to a human being who is being raped for money regularly and who is in a mental state of terror, regardless of how they present. Because rape is what it boils down to. There is not one single little girl on planet earth who dreams of becoming a prostitute when she grows up. It is not a profession, not work, it's horrendous abuse, even more psychologically than physically. A lot of women - and girls (let's be honest) - in the trade cannot recognise this, because then they would break down. Or they had issues with their families growing up. Once they've made it out of the trade (and I'm counting porn and OnlyFans as well), this process may begin but it often results in suicide and also takes decades.

That’s not how it works, legal prostitution is legal consensual sex that someone pays for. They are not being “raped” (look up the definition) and it’s one of the oldest professions in the world. I know people who do it because they enjoy sex, the moneys a bonus, two it can reward greater than minimum wage jobs. Only illegal prostitution is rape but if someone wishes to do it legally than they should be allowed. You’re spreading a whole lot of misinformation, it can be unsafe despite in legal countries however the women I know vet their clients to ensure they minimise the risk.
You wouldn’t know they do this in their private time unless they told you as they live very comfortable lives and aren’t addled with mental issues like you suggest. How many sex workers do you actually know?

That’s not how it works, legal prostitution is legal consensual sex that someone pays for. They are not being “raped” (look up the definition) and it’s one of the oldest professions in the world. I know people who do it because they enjoy sex, the moneys a bonus, two it can reward greater than minimum wage jobs. Only illegal prostitution is rape but if someone wishes to do it legally than they should be allowed. You’re spreading a whole lot of misinformation, it can be unsafe despite in legal countries however the women I know vet their clients to ensure they minimise the risk.
You wouldn’t know they do this in their private time unless they told you as they live very comfortable lives and aren’t addled with mental issues like you suggest. How many sex workers do you actually know?

If you listen to active prostitutes of either sex, be aware that you are talking to a human being who is being raped for money regularly and who is in a mental state of terror, regardless of how they present. Because rape is what it boils down to. There is not one single little girl on planet earth who dreams of becoming a prostitute when she grows up. It is not a profession, not work, it's horrendous abuse, even more psychologically than physically. A lot of women - and girls (let's be honest) - in the trade cannot recognise this, because then they would break down. Or they had issues with their families growing up. Once they've made it out of the trade (and I'm counting porn and OnlyFans as well), this process may begin but it often results in suicide and also takes decades.

Entirely fair. I may well have over-estimated the benefit to be had in listening to active female prostitutes.

To be clear though, when I said "I think it's important we listen to them" that is something that I think is true of any issue. I think it's important to listen to convicted grooming gang rapists, because I think that it might be possible to learn things that enable us to fight grooming gangs, or it might help people realize how evil these men are and that we should punish them more severely. Or there may be some other benefit I have not thought of.

I did not mean to apply that we should take the words of vulnerable or mentally damaged people at face value and do what they say.

Female prostitutes have higher PTSD rates than soldiers returning from combat.

"I think it's important we listen to them" and all of that waffle is a dog whistle. Listen to the ones who have made it out of the trade.

Female prostitutes have higher PTSD rates than soldiers returning from combat.

"I think it's important we listen to them" and all of that waffle is a dog whistle. Listen to the ones who have made it out of the trade.

It's funny how on a board full of women trying to protect women and children the problem often appears to be or have links to "trans". Only it's not funny at all, it is depressingly predictable.

It seems to me that men and women who sell sex, and men and women who claim to be trans, are similar. They are two groups who should be listened to, but whom are ultimately very vulnerable and often very very damaged, and who very often need society to tell them what is good for them, and not have society simply green-lighting everything they say they want.