Considering the plight of 5 prostitutes in Ipswich..........?

Question

Do you think stricter laws should be applied upon prostitution.
Or should it be made legal. Prostitutes have always been a target for murderers how can we stop this rearing it's ugly head every few years??

Answer 1

This makes me mad cos Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world and isn't going to go away! We need to make it safer for these girls whilst making them realise they have choices.

Here in Edinbrugh the girls hang about the bottom of Leith but the snobs have moved in and decided it lowers the tone and the tolerence zone has been removed so these girls are back trying to find somewhere to work.

The ones in Brothels are lucky and usually prettier and less haggered than the ones that have to work the streets.

Answer 2

Well, there is an argument for legalisation in that if prostitues can work in a safe environment and form good links with local police and health services this sort of thing is obviously less likely to happen.

Part of the reason these situations develop is that it happens at the margins of society - working women are afraid to talk to the police and activities go on in run-down and deserted areas where there is less help around.

However, it does raise the essential ethical question of whether we as a society think that it's OK to be able to purchase another person for sex.

I can see both sides of the arguement - I really go back and forth. However, a MSP I saw on the news the other night made the important point that in these situations, attention always focuses on the women and what actions they should take to stay safe, rather than the perpetrators and what makes men behave in this way. Once again, we have a situation where all women in the area of the crimes are being advised to stay indoors, and are essentially under informal curfew. How come all *men* are never advised to stay indoors so the streets are safe for women? I'm not saying all men are violent, just why do (potential) victims have to change their behaviour, not (potential) perpetrators?

Answer 3

I live in Ipswich and the police ignore the redlight area until something like this occurs- all they say in recent media about how the local force 'advise and help' sex workers on the street is such bull, I can't believe they have the neck to pretend they have concern! I have no doubt it's the same everywhere else . I just think if it was legal then maybe the girls would have a safer operating enviroment, ie licensed brothels must be a mildy safer option than street walking, current law means if two prostitues share a house, even if they don't take clients there can be charged as a brothel!

Answer 4

I think you are probably right, if the girls worked in a shop or local bank there would be more sympathy because they would seem as being totally innocent. Some would say that that they deserve it because of the job they do. There will always be a stigma attached to the world of prostitution. But they probably save lots of everyday women from being raped every year by doing what they do. They entertain some of the most deranged and deprived members of society. I think they are very brave. No wonder then that a lot of them are hardend drug users, maybe it helps to separate the mind from the body when they are working.

Answer 5

Unfortunately I don't think you can entirely stop these kinds of madmen going after prostitutes, legal or otherwise, as long as children are brought up with judgemental parents. We would need to change the way we think and how we value the people around us before we can extinguish any kind of murder and especially those murders who feel justified in their actions.

As far as prostitution is concerned I think that legalising it will help control it to a larger degree but it will not eradicate it. Wherever there are women who find themselves with nothing left to give, except themselves and men who are willing to pay to take advantage of that, there will continue to be prostitution. Those who will not agree to the constraints put upon them in legal brothels will look elsewhere and sadly until we get rid of poverty and debt there will always be those willing to sell themselves.

We need to stop trying to treat the symptoms of our problems and start trying to change the causes. We need to find a way to educate ourselves and the next generations to find a solution to the way we live. Idealistic I know but if we don't try we will never know.

Answer 6

Trying to regulate morality is a hopeless cause. IF it worked, prostitution would have died out long, long ago. But it hasn't. So it should be legalized, so it can be controlled and monitored. The girls could have clean safe places to use, they could get regular exams and blood tests, and everyone would be better off. Right now the girls are more victims than anything else.

Answer 7

Brothels are brilliant fun, let's get it out in the open.

Mind you there already ARE plenty of brothels. The problem of disease ridden, junkie street prostitutes would still remain. And what really annoys me is, half they time they are paying for their BOYFRIEND's habit, as well.

I'd say, legalise brothels then come down HARD - not on the street prostitutes, but on the weirdos ( mainly married men by the way) who cruise up and down looking at them for hours at a time. The whole thing shouldn't be tolerated in the 21st century.

Answer 8

Legalise and legislate for brothels and their workers. Making prostitution illegal has never prevented it, just driven it underground. Brothels should be subject to regulations and inspections and the people who work in them should be protected and also pay tax like everyone else. People who then choose to work on the streets, and those who pimp them out, should have the book thrown at them and be looking at long prison sentences.

Answer 9

Prostitution IS NOT illegal, running a brothel (more than one hooker in one building) IS, as is soliciting for 'johns', selling your body for sex is not against the law. Street walking is. Look in your local paper, there are loads of hookers advertising, as long as the clients come to them, and they don;t go out to actively seek them, they are legal.

I think brothels SHOULD be legal, it makes sense as there is greater safety in numbers, and the girls would be more reaqdily able to pay for 'muscle' to protect them.

Answer 10

Legalise it they'd have more protection that way, another thing to consider prostitution is one of the oldest forms of business going.