dittany, I don't judge individuals morally, at least I try very hard not to and I'm always happy to be pulled up if I seem to be. I'm only human after all and nobody is perfect!
Personally, I don't like the sex industry. Personally I would wish very much it could be stamped out. But then I, personally, think the same about abortion. What I accept is that any woman should have the right to do what she likes with her own body. I refuse to judge, or treat differently, or discriminate against in any way, or be hostile to, any woman for making a decision which is not in tune with my own, personal, moral code.
I am also a realist. When abortion was illegal a great deal of money was made by back street abortionists who put the health and, indeed, the very lives of women in grave danger.
I don't buy for one minute that woman will be better off if prostitution is made illegal. Prostitution is not called the oldest profession for nothing. The plight of some women in the sex industry today is heartbreaking but it pales into almost insignificance when compared with the situation such women were in historically.
As to prosecuting punters while leaving prostitutes alone, I can't see how one can criminalise someone for buying any product which someone is selling legally. I find it a weirdly cock-eyed idea quite honestly and I think if were applied to anything other than sex many people would be up in arms about it.
Pimps I can understand. No-one should be coerced into doing something that they don't want to do, particularly when it can put their health and welfare at risk. But criminalise someone who is purchasing something from someone who has made their own decision to sell and is not to be prosecuted for doing so? I just, honestly, can't get my head around the concept, sorry.