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The British View of sexwork Highlights from The Economist

January 6-12,2001

The Economist, published in Britain, has established its reputation as one of the most respected periodicals in the world. An international newsweekly on politics, business, finance. In Britain as in Canada, much of Europe and much of the rest of the world, except the U.S., private adult sexwork is legal. Streetwalking (called kerb-crawling) is illegal as is pimping etc. The current debate in Britain and Canada is about further liberalizing laws to help get rid of the street prostitution problem by encouraging other legal options.

As the article says about the moves to encourage more legal options,"One reason why the government should support these moves is moral. In a liberal society, buying sex for money should be regarded as a legitimate commercial transaction, where it takes place between two consenting adults. It might be a transaction with peculiar psychological implications for both parties, but that sort of anxiety is beyond the law's remit."

"There is a practical reason as well. The costs to society, and dangers to the participants, would be reduced if prostitution was legalized. Current British law on prostitution defeats its own objectives. Where prostitutes are arrested and fined, they go back to the streets to earn the money to pay up. If they are imprisoned, they become less employable. Crackdowns make much-needed medical checks difficult. Serious crimes, such as child prostitution, are harder to monitor in the general climate of criminality. Coercive pimping and drug dependency flourish."

"Given that Britain's controversy-shy government is not going to leagalise the business at a stroke, there are two possible ways forward. One approach, adopted by the Australian state of Victoria, would ban street prostitution but allow it to take place indoors, in "massage parlours", or other euphemistically-named premises. The other model was practiced in the Netherlands, until it legalized prostitution last year. In a number of Dutch cities, prostitutes were shepherded into "zones of tolerance". There were plenty of arguments about where the zones should be, but they worked."

"Britian's laws in this area are arcane and complicated, but it would be possible to make soliciting illegal only where it causes harassment and offence (as would be the case in residential neighbourhoods). Unfortunately, the somewhat puritanical Labour government, which is also painfully sensitive to headlines in the conservative press, is moving in the opposite direction. It recently announced plans to make kerb-crawling an arrestable offence. It should reconsider. A liberal framework would make moral and practical sense - and free police to get on with chasing proper criminals."

Dave notes, if only we had the legal situation here like it now is in Britain, Canada and most of the world. In private sexwork is perfectly legal, but street prostitution is illegal. I agree "in your face" street work should remain illegal. But certainly not private sexwork between consenting adults.

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