Hallelujah for Catherine Bennett in the Guardian

[AwkwardSquad]

A consistent feminist voice of reason: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/18/if-paying-for-sex-wrong-in-haiti-why-do-we-tolerate-it-in-uk?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Great article. I had forgotten that Corbyn wants to decriminalise prostitution

@SuperTimbs - and rightly so, prostitutes are mostly vulnerable and shouldn’t be made into criminals

That's not what decriminalising means. It's already not criminal to be a prostitute in the UK. I doubt any feminist posting here wants prostitutes to be treated like criminals. Rather the men who buy sex and those who profit from men buying sex.

Decriminalisation is primarily concerned with making it legal to buy sex / be a pimp.

Note it's not legalisation as legalisation would mean health and safety and regulations protecting workers and so forth and that would mean it had to stop anyway (in any form palatable to the men who buy) as it's so utterly inherently dangerous.

So decriminalisation is this middle ground where the men can carry on with impunity, and there is no protection for the women on the receiving end.

I prefer a harm reduction / demand reduction model myself. If it's decriminlisaed that's a green light for men to do it and demand goes through the roof, leading to all that that leads to. No thanks.

I don't think prostitutes should be charged with crimes! I am in favour of the Nordic Model though, whilst Corby seems to be in favour of decriminalisation as per Germany, New Zealand, Holland, etc. Which I think is a terrible idea!

I notice they've not allowed comments BTL. Can you imagine the outpouring of misogyny there would have been?

Brava, Ms Bennett.

The theory behind decriminalisation was (claimed to be) that it would make sex work safer and reduce the amount of trafficking and coercion in the industry. In fact, it's become clear that the opposite has occurred in countries where decriminalisation has been implemented.

Nordic model (decriminalise prostitution but criminalise pimps and punters) all the way.

(Or, as UpABitLate says, legalise it and then allow prostitutes to sue the arse off their pimps for unsafe working practices and their punters for assault)

That's not what decriminalising means

It means pimping and brothel- keeping and procuring woud be legal. It would mean encouraging young women and men into prostitution would be legal.

It is not illegal in the UK to be a prostitute. It is illegal to solicit. And I don't have a problem with that being illegal.

One of the arguments is that 2 or 3 women could share a flat for safety in some sort of happy commune. The reality would be a flat doing 24 hour business with women doing 8 hour shifts.

I don't think prostitutes should be charged with crimes!

They are not other than soliciting. Pimps and brothel- keepers are.

legalise it and then allow prostitutes to sue the arse off their pimps for unsafe working practices and their punters for assault

I don't have the energy to start on what is wrong with that "solution"

I don't have the energy to start on what is wrong with that "solution"

I'm not serious. I'm trying to make a point about sex 'work' not being 'a job like any other' even if decriminalised

I'm not serious. I'm trying to make a point about sex 'work' not being 'a job like any other' even if decriminalised

Sorry. I didn't spot the sarcasm.

Sorry. I didn't spot the sarcasm

If it wasn't obvious, I'm glad you made me clarify

up, that's a really interesting point re decriminalisation v legalisation. Ugh.

I know it's very telling.

It means they KNOW that prostitution is not a "job like any other", that it is fundamentally dangerous, and that the nature of the job means most of these dangers cannot be mitigated.

Yes, gross when you understand that that is why it's always "decriminalisation". And that the people who support it are lying.

I hadn’t been aware of Corbyn’s position. Nor, until it was mentioned on a thread here I think, Amnesty’s.

Prostitution is clearly not a job like any other when the people who would be employed to clean the room have to follow more stringent H&S regulation that the prostituted women.

There is no way to make prostitution compliant with H&S regulations that every job has to follow, therefore, it can never be a job, and anyone employing a prostituted woman should be prosecuted for doing it, just like if I tried to pay someone to shimmy up my drainpipe to clean my windows rather than use a proper ladder, or if I told someone to clean toilets without gloves, or if hospitals just chucked blood-soaked supplies straight into the wheelie bin outside.

magnificent article. thanks for posting it here

yes, great article

stoneage that is such a good point about the health and safety.

This is another issue highlighting the inherent misogyny in politics. I did not realise all parties backed decriminalization Ffs.

Whenever I hear people talking about decriminalising prostitution, I always just think about that documentary about the 'Super Brothel' in Germany. It made me feel fucking sick and I can't understand why anyone would want that?

Well the libdems are mainly in favour of liberalising where men can stick their cocks

Labour have decided that when it comes to women, class analysis is not relevant, it's all empowerfulisation and female penis and swerf terf

Tories don't know

Greens have also been on too many gender studies courses and believe that working as a prostitute is AOK gorgeous, they have NO policy for women although policies for everything else which is a bit shocking

WEP not sure

That's me who doesn't know / isn't sure, not them. I'm sure they know what they think

Greens presumably don't have any policies for women because they've decided we don't exist. We're officially defined as 'non-men'