Urgh. *Red light district coming soon* to my home town.

[BeyondTheWall]

Just seen this on national news!

www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/13500277.Police_plan_designated_prostitution_area_in_Newport/

Urgh.

Mide they would hardly say "yes you can all work here and come here to buy sex" and then just swoop in and nick everyone because then they'd go back to where they were before and never go there again! Whole idea only makes sense if there's an "amnesty".

No I know but it would make it easier to patrol wouldn't it?

If your say in an industrial estate at 2am then unless there is a unit with a shift change at that time then it's likely your in the area for one thing.

Some feminists find it hard to understand why so many women don't identify with feminism. The more I talk to feminists the more I understand why. It's not feminism they don't identify with it's feminists.

I don't identify as a feminist. I am completely opposed to the legalisation of prostitution. It is degrading ,debasing and dehumanising.

I can think of other reasons to be in an industrial estate at 2am!

I don't think it's useful to make assumptions about who would be where and when? This is the sort of thing that leads to trouble when crimes are committed and everyone looks at the victim and says "what were they doing there anyway huh seems fishy to me".

Yes I'm sure you can but it's going to be less busy than a city centre I would have thought

Police will always make assumptions those I think. It might not always be useful but it has its place.

And how would this work on an industrial site ?

Are you going to install toilets and maybe rent by the hour coin operated bedded cubicles? Bins for disposal of used condoms or used needles?

And presumably you will avoid any site which has shift workers or self-storage units with 24 hour access?.

Or are women going to be picked up in cars and taken who knows where.

Prostitues don't usually streetwalk in the centre of town IM (admittedly not huge) experience.

I don't think there's a place for making judgements about victims of crime based on "being in the wrong part of town" or whatever at all personally, I think this is a huge problem with our police (and I mean everywhere it's human nature to judge unfortunately) and has led to shitloads of crimes going unpunished / un-looked-into for ages. Women selling sex being a case in point - there has been at least one case I can think of where the police didn't pull their finger out until there had been a string of murders because the victims were prostitutes and so, you know, they're pretty likely to get murdered anyway and whose going to miss them and they're probably all drug addicts anyway type thinking. These types of judgements around people's "value" are unhelpful and have no place in police work IMO.

That's a good point lass.

Will they be in areas with less CCTV / CCTV is removed as part of the "amnesty" and so with less of that and less people around generally there's less witnesses and stuff.

I don't see how this can possibly be safer than working on a residential street where you are near people.

I think it's NIMBY pressure, nothing more, nothing less.

Blimey. How sad

The local council in a city near us voted against a lap dancing/whatever it was club, I think, or they wanted to but the people who wanted to run it said that they would retaliate by using different venues all over the city instead for their horrible business.

So the council let them have it in the end.

Bastards. I give them filthy looks whenever I go past, not that they probably even notice. People who make money out of selling women's affection and sexual favours should be locked up.

I agree about assumptions whirlpool.

But for example if a sex worker went missing then having a known area would help narrow the list of suspects. You could look at cctv or whatever and have a list of cars that came through the area with a time span.

Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of criminal minds

I am talking about people who run these establishments. I don't mean the women themselves should be locked up.

Selling your own body and someone else's are totally different things IMO, one is forgiveable as it is normally done only under duress and the second is unforgiveable and hideous.

I think maybe you have

It's on at the moment. So you aren't the only one!

It is a massive feminist fail obviously, we call it "women being horribly murdered" in this house, but hey, a person can't be on-message all the time.

And it is unintentionally hilarious quite a lot too

I'm laughing a hollow laugh at "if a sex worker went missing". Because generally nobody cares. I lived in what was considered a non residential past of King's Cross when it was rather less glitzy than now. A sex worker was beaten to death in a car park down the road and it got a 1cm by 3cm section in the local rag.

but it must be true whirlpool it's on TV.

Saw this on the Welsh news tonight. Tbh given how much inward investment there is in Newport and how the city is trying to smarten itself up I can't see the idea being taken toward, whatever the ideology behind it.

Well this is it isn't it SirVix and I'm sure it's fairly common knowledge that when you get disadvantaged group X and put them over there you get

out of sight out of mind
much more danger (in this case) due to concentration of criminality
less understanding and compassion amongst the general population as where before maybe you saw some of the women when you were out and about now THEY are all OTHER and over there IYSWIM

And we have the additional problem that Mide flagged that potentially it will lead to an increase in victim blaming as all and sundry including the police make all sorts of judgements about people who do stuff, or have stuff done to them, around this area

There was a woman who was raped, or sexually attacked, wasn't there, a few years back and the papers? judge? someone said something about "oh well it was in an area known for prostitution" or something as if that negated the crime and somehow put guilt onto the victim. Or maybe it was a thread on here! I definitely remember that attitude and it's not helpful is it. To anyone. Not anyone who is there "by accident" or for the women who intend to be there and still deserve not to be harmed even though they are prostitutes.

It's not me saying "even though they are prostitutes" but the public. The lack of concern compassion for people on the wrong end of the sex trade is staggering.

Even looking at the papers you get all this mealy mouthed stuff, with people who are trafficked they rarely use the term rape for example when describing what's happened to them. It's minimising.

SirVix... I lived in a part of SW London famed for it's red light district. Every so often one of the women would be killed by a john or a pimp and all you'd hear about would be how annoying the police cordon was. Having a RLD in an industrial estate would merely increase pimps' power over the women, hide kerb crawling scum bags from their neighbours and make it even harder for the women to get out.

Reactions www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/13502479.Pill_prostitution__safezone__plans_would_turn_area_into_a__ghetto___warn_residents/?ref=mr&lp=4

The stupid thing - There is no "non-residential” area in Pill. There are small industrial bits, surrounded by regular and student housing. Oh and with a Bannatynes gym. Or do they mean commercial street, which is mainly shops yes, but with flats above them.

And yes to what lolli says. There is (and has been recently) big investment in the city centre. Even the furthest end of Pill is about a 10 min walk from the new uni campus and the mid-built super department store. Bang smack in the middle is an Asda.

If it is commercial street, I used to walk that in the dark to get to and from the gym. Imagine how fun that would be for a young woman in an area where its a-okay to buy women off the street.

And this is all without going into the ethics of prostitution.

Yes I agree baking and whirlpool. I was kerb-crawled and when I gave his number to the police the response was "young lady, do you know the area?". Possibly whirlpool you are thinking of the tourist who was gang raped in King's cross by a group of teenagers? That was right opposite me and we were all so upset that we hadn't heard her, it had been a terribly noisy night. Really grim to wake up to all the police tape and hear what had happened. Also grim - the prostitute who had to swim for her life across the canal while a man with a machete screamed abuse at her from the other side. my neighbour had to rescue her from barbed wire after she tried to scale a fence to get away. Or the other prostitutes I saw who were either very young, or totally off their faces and barely able to stand, or both. Being taken off by "respectable" suited men, who no doubt would be protesting at a red light district near their homes, bringing the house prices down.
I like the Swedish system, my Swedish friends feel it is a good one.

YY basic victim blaming isn't it.

The idea that men shouldn't drive around / walk around offering teens / young women money / drugs / whatever in return for unwanted sex doesn't seem to cross anyone's minds

Sorry to bump this but been away with no internet! Just wanted to say thanks for the replies as I'd previously only seen "good" press about designated zones and hadn't considered the alternative so this has been very enlightening!