Legalise prostitution to counter feminism (yes really)

[grimbletart]

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11785628/Prostitution-Legalise-sex-work-for-modern-men-says-think-tank.html

Absolutely no comment necessary for this

Well it's like saying, some people like punching nurses in the face. This is not what we want, but there will always be people who punch nurses in the face. So, we need to provide people who are prepared to dress as nurses and act like nurses to be punched in the face. This hopefully will stop actual nurses from being punched in the face. Oh, and the people who dress as nurses and get punched, they get well paid for it and hold all the cards so really it's a positive choice for them.

or something

Terrible analogy I know. And someone will come along and say, sex isn't like being punched in the face. Well no, but the author wants to supply women in order to stop men raping. So logically she must mean supply women for them to rape, as sex and rape are not the same thing. Additionally, plenty of prostitutes are subjected to violent attacks including being punched in the face. So, there you go.

The sex industry is estimated to be worth over four billion pounds to the British economy

In what sense is it of any worth to the economy? Most of it will be going through the black economy.

It'll include stuff like ann summers, lass. And I think some prostitutes pay taxes, as Do other cash in hand workers.

Jane is a privileged white woman and she feels like being racist today. Is hakim going to advocate providing her with a black person she can pay to assault and harass to "contain" her urges?

Of course not, because it's an obscene and demeaning idea.

What a twatbadger.

Hotel rooms, serviced apartments. Condoms, lube, tissues, babywipes, showergel, sheets and towels, washing powder, electricity. Restaurants, bars, theatres, taxi drivers, flower, perfume and chocolate sellers... The sex industry isn't only street prostitution.

Oh, sorry, that was trying to be an analogy! If Jane wants to do something distasteful/criminal that isn't related to sex, does Hakim (the twatbadger) also think it's fine for her to pay someone to do that?

I think whirlpool's analogy was better..,

Hotel rooms, serviced apartments. Condoms, lube, tissues, babywipes, showergel, sheets and towels, washing powder, electricity. Restaurants, bars, theatres, taxi drivers, flower, perfume and chocolate sellers...

Apart from rent by the hour hotels you cannot calculate how much money spent on these legitimate items is being generated by being connected with prostitution. The figure of £4 billion is a random figure.

I agree it's pretty much a random figure and impossible to ascertain, but the gvt started publishing the numbers a couple of years ago, something to do with EU regs on what constitutes GDP.

I thought that figure related to the sex industry, not just prostitution?

Yes sex industry includes things like lovehoney, anne summers, phone sex, webcam, strip clubs, sex shops, all that sort of stuff + prostitution.

I imagine that most prostitution is cash in hand, surely.

Yes, prostitution is mostly cash in hand (unless you're a Lord, of course) but that doesn't mean tax isn't paid. Taxi drivers and window cleaners are mostly cash in hand too., but fill out tax returns.

The IEA is a rather extreme outfit. Essentially their ideology conflates "lack of government intervention" with "freedom". My understanding is that this is consistent with people being allowed to pay other people to be punched: market exchanges are a matter of free choice, and we make the world a worse place if we attempt to curtail people's freedom.

The people I know who get paid cash in hand don't declare all of it! Some don't declare any of it....

do you seriously think that! That's quite funny

Sorry I don't mean to laugh so much but, really???

I mean, I'm a bit boggled!

You think that everyone who gets paid cash in hand declares all of it? Ah hahahahahahahahahahahhaahah

Um

Just, what?

Do you know any people?

I didn't say all prostitutes pay tax, nor did I say that cash-in-hand workers who do fill out tax returns do so entirely honestly. But neither of those things are impossible, either.

If anyone fancies calling in to share your views ) she is on BBC radio Scotland tomorrow morning at 10am. Along with a woman in prostitution (she have evidence in the northern Ireland inquiry and said she was a rep of the international union of sex workers, which has 8-10 members). There is also a rep from a woman's organization which campaigns to decriminalise those who sell sex but criminalize punters and pimps.

Sorry hirples I didn't mean to be mean.

Obviously it doesn't preclude it, but it's a bit optimistic to imagine that it's even common, for people working cash in hand to be declaring it all. If it's a company with employees and they are paid in cash and it goes back to the central place and they get paid PAYE and so forth then sure, but individuals working casually or by themselves and so forth, I mean, that's really optimistic.

Oh, I get the hilarity! But the thing is, if you're earning quite a lot of cash in hand, it's actually quite difficult to spend. You need to bank it to spend online, for example, and if you want to save it instead of blowing it all on shoes and handbags. And once it's banked, there's a papertrail should HMRC get interested...

So a lot of prostitutes do pay income tax. They might claim to be massage therapists or whatever, though.

Lass, I was actually seeking to use the language I would use for any other profession out of respect, if that makes sense.

Re imagining a world with no paid sex workers, it's not a question of it being difficult. I can imagine a world with no religion as well. I just don't think it will happen. Plus I am a pessimist and I really don't see that there is much point talking about an ideal world.

That said, even as a pessimist, Hakim's attitude horrifies me!

To get rid of prostitution you would need to get rid of money. If you read the whole report Hakim quotes a study where Monkeys were taught to use "money" and the moment they understood money males would spend "coins" for sexual favours. So best thing to do is hand out food and housing free and take money away and then there is no benefit in selling sex.

So assuming that money wont disappear in the near future there will always demand and so long as there is demand and money some people will sell sex. Of course so long as people fear the police no one will come forward to highlight any trafficking. And there is the issue of trafficking victims and those who are migrant workers doing sex work to pay for the journey. I believe that is covered in Hakim's report as well.

I agree. Lots of terrible things used to happen and are now unthinkable. Lots of things which were unconscionable are now accepted.

I did mean "considered unconscionable " not certain things still are unconscionable but are accepted, if that makes sense.