AIBU to not want brothels legalised?

[RoseanneDownton]

A lot of people aren't aware that our government is currently considering changing the laws on prostitution so that it will be legal to set up huge brothels.

They did this in Germany, not envisaging that they would end up with chains of 'megabrothels' in which 400,000 girls are needed to meet the demand. These poor girls are awfully degraded and have little control over anything. They are obliged to accept any man and do anything he wants, or get excluded by the owner. The majority have to be lured (or worse!) from other countries, as there aren't enough German women to 'service' the ever-increasing numbers of 'customers'.

Surely I am not the only MumsNetter who can't bear the thought of my daughters and grand-daughters being recruited into such places once they are legal in the UK. The thought of them having to go with an endless stream of strange, random men off the street really turns my stomach.

It's obvious to me that naive young girls will be persuaded that this is an 'easy way' to pay their student fees, get a deposit for a flat etc.

The other thing is, women have been fighting for equality for over 100 years, and this feels like a huge step backwards. I don't see how we can ever persuade men to respect women as equals when they can buy and sell us for sexual use.

It seems to me that the girls and women who will end up in the brothels are going to be the vulnerable and the desperate. It just seems like a way for men to exploit this vulnerability for their own selfish ends, and that's wrong.

Most ordinary folk don't think prostitution is any of their business, and to be honest, if it's just a 'discreet housewife' seeing a few 'gentlemen friends', I'm not bothered, either. But this national lack of interest means that those who want to open big brothels here are currently able to put a lot of pressure on the government behind our backs.

AIBU to not want brothels legalised, but to want to leave the law as it is?

Sirry, nut I think YABU

It may not be intelligent, MrsJavy, but it is free choice if she can decide NOT to do it (ie is not being forced).

You may not agree with the choice, or imagine how you, or your daughter, or your mother could make that choice but it is a choice made by many women freely.

I saw the 'hot girls wanted' porn documentary (v. similar thing IMHO) and the young girls going in to that industry seemed blinded by the money. If you're young and poor, you don't have the opportunity to earn that much.

It's a sale of morals for cold, hard cash. That's the choice that's being made.

I don't agree with the choice personally, but I think women should be free to make it (don't want to live in a nanny state), and find out for themselves whether it was the right choice or not.

Can we lose the "it's a sale of morals" crap, as though having sex equals losing one's morals? That really isn't the issue. It's the fact that it's practised in a patriarchal society where the power balance between men and women is so intrinsically skewed that it's the only way some women can make a living. It's the fact that it's the sale of one's bodily orifices, at considerable risk to safety and health, in situations often involving violence and/or coercion into other acts which weren't wanted - anal, bareback, etc. That's the problem, not the prostitutes' morals (or loss thereof in exchange for money).

The people with the dubious morals in this story are the pimps and punters.

it's a sale of self respect then, if that word offends you less than morals.

But why I don't understand the sale of a body for a man to stick his penis anywhere he likes have a say in how the time he had bought will go can't do a woman's mental health any good. It isn't selling morals it's selling your well being to a man for money and nothing else it's all false it's not consensually it's tragic

I tend to agree MrsJayy - when the women are forced by either poverty, or because sexual abuse has led them to feel they're worth no more, or pimp 'boyfriends' or addictions - this is not 'free choice'
It's not as if she can wake up and say 'So what job would I like bank manager or prostitute' !
Would we say a sweatshop worker in Bangalore had 'free choice' ! Of course not !

Decriminalisation of brothels is not the same as legalisation of pimping. It would not lead to German megabrothels - which would still be illegal because of anti-pimping laws. Pimping should be illegal. Two or more women working for themselves from the same premises for safety? I don't get why anyone would object to this. A sex worker working from premises alone will not be subject to criminal charges, why should she be when she works in premises with others for safety? Try not to let your horror at the idea of a woman choosing to sell sex outweigh that basic moral imperative to keep all members of society safe, even if you don't like their choices.

We don't have horror at the idea of women 'choosing to sell sex' - it's a horror at women being told this is an acceptable solution to their poverty and disadvantage.
Of course it would be better if women could work in groups for safety.
Though I wouldn't say it's a choice when they're coerced by poverty etc.
What I would like to see is women having the choice not to sell sexual use of their orifices !
A society which gives women economic equality, gives single mothers decent support, stops child sexual abuse.
We should be looking to government or local authorities to implement exit packages to support women out.
After all studies show the vast majority want out but cannot !