to think that truely feminist stance on prostitution, is to support legalisation?

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

I recently moved to an inner city area.

There is a known brothel here and a homeless shelter.

I have seen some very sad, desperate sights walking past our home lately.

I wouldn't want any child of mine involved in this trade, however this does strike as something which desperately needs regulating - for the sake of the women, girls and boys involved.

Prohibition has failed miserably.

AIBU?

I think all jobs are selling your body.

I think bad working conditions, or lack of choice in survival methods, shouldn't be encouraged or allowed.

The actual act of selling sex, if the person in question is willing to do so, should imo be legal. As long as the conditions were right, I'd much rather do some types of prostitution than some currently legal jobs I can think of. In some cases I really do see sex purely as a physical act.

Ditanny, I agree that the psychological pressures of the work mean it's not suitable for most women (and particularly not vulnerable drug addicts), but your statement that "many prostitute women come out of the job with PTSD" isn't really supported by the evidence on the link you kindly provided the other day. That looked at a tiny sample (about 130 IIRC) of street-workers in a country where prostitution is illegal. Of those women, yes, a horrifyingly high number suffered terribly, including with symptoms of PTSD, but those were also closely related to having experienced physical violence as a child.

However, I really don't think you can extrapolate from such a tiny number, in a foreign country, to "many" prostitutes working legally in Britain today.

And I agree that there's something sick about men who seek out the most vulnerable, and get a buzz out of it. Is there any research being done into that psychology, do you know? Perhaps if we knew what drives such men, we could do something about it.

"The easier thing to do would have been to legalise heroin so you didn't have to prostitute yourself to obtain it. And anyway, if prositution was so great, why aren't you still doing it."

Pretty obvious answer to that really - I have never said it is great I have said I look at the situation realistically and the best way to have a system in place to protect the girls, also I now have three kids and quite a good job so y'know we all move on and I don't think anyone is promoting prostitution as a great way to live (its not).

I also object to the term Smackhead.

What drives some men is their dicks and their need to have sex.

Some guys get turned on by paying for sex, some are just drunk and can't find anyone to have it with them for free.

Its pretty simple.

Do you have any concept of personal boundaries ditanny - with the emphasis on "personal"? I decide who touches me where; so do you, so does a prostitute. And just as it is not for me to dictate your personal boundaries, neither is it yours to dictate those of a prostitute.

You find the whole idea repellant; OK, we got the idea. But not everyone else shares your feelings. Get used to it.

It won't be and its unrealistic to even try.

And how patronising to suggest some women who chose to do this don't take the desicion as an intelligent choice.

Your views cloud others rights to take their won desicions dittany

"They are standing up and saying that prostitution is wrong, harmful to the women in it and needs to be combatted."

In a country where it's illegal. It's still legal here. The situation is quite different.

And btw I don't even believe that it is wrong.

I take it you are of faith dittany?

dittany you do not have the right to dictate anyones personal boundaries with their own body.

If I choose to use my body for sex I can - because its mine.

Sometimes we do shit jobs because there is a pay cheque at the end of it selling sex is no different.

And a lot of women who work as prostitutes share mine, ditanny, that really proves nothing. Except my point that most women are not suited to work as prostitutes, but that doesn't mean we should ban those who are, from doing so. Or from having customers/clients/johns....

I am not ashamed of my past dittany, you can make as many disparaging comments as you like, such a cheap shot for one who professes to be such an intellect on an internet forum.

I asked where the research was from and who paid for it (IMO V important info when looking at research) nd you declined to provide that info so I chose to ignore the research.

I always wonder what part "feminists" play in todays society. We have equal rights we have the vote, we have it pretty much all out own way to the extreme that a lot of guys don't know where they fit in to society anymore.

A lot of people who say they are "feminists" actually come across as bullies who want to dictate to other women what they can/can't and should/shouldn't be doing.

Am bemused by some comments on this thread:

• 'What drives some men is their dicks and their need to have sex.' - no we don't need to have sex. What happens if we don't have it? Do our bollocks explode and we die? No. Some men chose ot pay a woman to have sex with them, coz they can.

• '

Sometimes we do shit jobs because there is a pay cheque at the end of it selling sex is no different. No it's entirely different. Most poorly paid jobs don't involve performing sexual acts for complete strangers, being vulnerable to physical attack whilst doing it or afterwards, and living in a world dependent on class A drugs.

For the vast majority of prostitutes they see 'the game' as a feature in their poverty, and in their poverty of choice.
Is this really in AIBU?

Prostitutes are not criminalized now; how can you decriminalise them?

"Or do your friends, family and work colleagues constantly have their hands all over your breasts and arses all the time, and penetration whenever anybody feels like? "

There are a few issues with this statement.

A: My friends, family and work colleagues don't get to do anything 'all the time', or 'when anybody feels like'. They get to interact with me in context-appropriate ways. I might work in an abbatoir, but that doesn't mean my friends and family get to make me chop up their dead cows.

B: Even once we've seperated the categories of 'work' and 'not work', not all prostitution involves an absence of control. Some men get off on being told what to do, some prostitutes talk extensively with their clients about what is and isn't allowed well before any clothes come off... it's not all as simple as you get on a bed and suddenly you're a sex doll.

Pan read my posts properly - I am aware of those facts.

YABU/YANBU depending on your definition

I think soliciting should be legalised.

But I also think that buying sex should be criminalised.

I don't think regulation would help. It would just confirm that the government's approval of the availability of women's bodies for hire. AFAIK any time a country legalises prostitution in the sense of making it into an accepted "industry", the number of prostitutes vastly increases. Also the "legal" prostitutes would fuel the demand for, and make it easier to hide/move the trafficked women.

What concerns me with the argument of 'to sell should be illegal but to buy should be illegal', is the question of in that scenario, exactly who are the sellers supposed to sell too?