Should men should be prosecuted for paying for sex

[ICanSeeTheSun]

On channel 4 news now.

I think they should.

There is also talk about legalising prostitution. Which in a way I think in a way it should because at least the women who does it would have more protection.

Prostitution is already legal!!

www.channel4.com/news/prostitution-sex-law-criminalise-clients-buy-sell

Yes, they should. The law should change so that it is harsher on the men buying the sex, and easier on prostitutes in order to protect them.

Definitely punters and pimps should be prosecuted and prostitution decriminalised!

Prostitution is not illegal, soliciting is.

Do you mean for kerb crawling? As far as I'm aware paying for sex is not a crime, soliciting is.

I await the clamour of legal experts' tiny feet to set me straight.

It may not be illegal to sell sex, but without a safe place then how do these women manage to keep safe

I would judge any proposal to change the law on two main things- how will it affect women who want to leave prostitution, and will it reduce trafficking of women for sex. I don't think prosecuting those who buy sex in general would help with either.

I honestly don't know the answer to this. I want to say yes, but it's a catch-22. On one hand, there's an argument for saying that tolerating prostitution encourages exploitation, whether overt or otherwise. However, I'm not at all satisfied that large numbers of women won't in fact be placed in danger if the whole business is driven further underground. There are good statistics from Sweden about harm reduction ad a result of criminalising paying for sex, but then the UK isn't Sweden, and by definition collecting reliable data on illegal, hidden activity can be extremely challenging, if not impossible. There are no easy answers here, mainly because for a variety of reasons I just don't see it going away, no matter who is sanctioned for what.

Definitely as it can encourage human trafficking. The worse the punishment the less men will do it, The less the demand, therefore the less human trafficking. Simples!

No, I don't think they should.

I know a couple of disabled men who use prostitutes. Reality is, it's the only way they will get to have sex.

I know I'd be pretty gutted to think I could never have sex ever again through no fault of my own, so I wouldn't inflict it on someone else.

No. Nor should women. It's a service.

Resources would be better spent dealing with the poverty and other social ills that often go hand in hand with the bad side of prostitution.

It's a business. It should be regulated.

Its just so knee jerk to assume female prostitutes are forced into it - there are rent boys, male hetro prostitutes.

No, I don't think so. I just don't think paying for sex in itself is (or should be considered) a "proper" crime.

If you prosecute the men you should do the same to the 'seller' and this would drive it further underground and more women would be shipped in that would then disappear and more women would be harmed so no is the answer. Like geese on a field of wheat buyers and sellers should be disrupted as much as possible, you will never stop it.

I think it all depends on what the law is trying to do ... Sounds to me like a very blunt instrument not dealing with any real issues.

Yes, I think it should be a crime to pay for sex, and not a crime to solicit.

No-one has the right to sex.

i see no problem with men or women paying for sex

yes it should be safer for the "service provider" but whether that's realistic is another matter

i think where it is drug related will make it very difficult to reform imho

Long (1000) post thread in FWR:
here.

Basically the German model (legalising the purchase and sale of sex) has led to a doubling of the number of women in prostitution, an increase in trafficking and the commodification of prostitution (in the form of "super brothels" where prices are pushed down to bargain basement levels such that women are having to have sex with large numbers of men every night just to pay the rent on the "room" which they use as an "independent contractor" with no employment protection).

The Swedish model (criminalise the purchase, decriminalise the sale, and put a lot of money into exit strategies for women who wish to leave prostitution) has led to a decrease in numbers of women in prostitution overall and a decrease in trafficking (subject to the usual caveats that it is difficult to get precise figures).

The thread also has what can only be described as some "charming" contributions from men who use prostitutes (such gems as men congratulating themselves on the fact that the 19 year old student who turned up shaking with fear because it was her first time, but she was so desperate for cash because of bad debts that she needed the money - but the guy was "nice" to her before he fucked her anyway, which apparently made him a nice guy) which are really quite stomach turning. (By the way, this thread will be invaded by "good guy" p..nters very soon, and lots of sock puppet happy hookers, I predict).

So, yes, I support the prosecution of men (and for that matter the tiny minority of women) paying for sex. I do not support the criminalisation of women (and men) who sell sex - they need all the support and help they can get.

Yes, I think they should penalise the customer. At the moment the prostitutes are the ones taking all the risks and the customers get to walk away. Seems very unfair.

I think you should be allowed to pay for sex and recieve payment for sex if, as a consenting adult, that's what you want to do.

But the whole thing needs to be regulated so that prostitutes (of both genders) and punters (again, of both genders) have protection against abuse, disease and all the other "dangers" that come along with it.

According to the Swedish police there has been no downturn in the number of men being reported or prosecuted even ten years after the law changed. If anything the numbers are growing considerably.

I would suggest it is very unlikely that numbers of prostitutes have declined over the last 10 years in Sweden:-

factsaresacred.ie/politics/has-demand-for-prostitution-declined-in-sweden/

the official data on purchasing sex and sex trafficking in Sweden give no indication that either offence has decreased – and/or that it continues to decrease – since buying sex was criminalised.

The Swedish police themselves admit to being unaware of the extent to which commercial sex is being transacted online, the largest sex industry sector. It may still be true that demand actually has decreased since 1999 – but it could equally be true that it has increased. The available facts simply don’t justify a conclusion one way or the other.

LurcioLovesFrankie Do you have any sources to back up your statement? It is certainly true that street prostitution has fallen significantly but then, like in the UK, this is only a tiny part of the overall market.

Do you have any stats for that, nicky? Or for relative danger?

The 'Swedish Model' isn't the magic feminist button that will make everything OK, you know. It doesn't even appear to work, let alone make sense