Should prostitution be decriminalised?

If you fuck your boss, yes, it is prostitution. Otherwise, you are selling your labour. Like everyone else.

This.

Surely a working girl (lou says dont use tart or hooker) is selling her labour I do not see what the difference is she sells her body I sell my mind to the person that will give us the most money it is all prostitution.

Possibly in my own mind but there you go I can rationalise it and it works for me.

It’s one of the oldest, most widely used and most boring tactics to prevent discussions about other people rights or conditions.

Particularly when talking about women, or sex workers (there’s a pretty strong link there, though that is not to say that all sex workers are women. Clearly, that’s not the case).

“Why are you even talking about this issue? I basically have the same thing, and I just get on with it. You should just stop moaning and get on with it too” - Any random dude (usually white, straight cis) on the internet.

Yes, prostitution is a sex worker’s form of labour. That does not mean all labour is prostitution.

Regardless of mine or KRG’s point of view the answer to the original question is yes.

Originally posted by @PhilippineSaint

Surely a working girl (lou says dont use tart or hooker) is selling her labour I do not see what the difference is she sells her body I sell my mind to the person that will give us the most money it is all prostitution.

Possibly in my own mind but there you go I can rationalise it and it works for me.

There’s a huge difference. If you don’t believe me, tell everybody that you’ve become a prostitute and gauge the reaction.

Pap I work offshore, everybody I work with agrees’s that we are prostitutes and will work for the highest bidder, I can say that none of us have an issue with prostitition as a profession.

This is a moral minefield and I cant see any Government having the balls to table a motion to legalise the sex trade any time soon. The debate needs to be had though and it is good to see that this is now happening. Eventually it needs to be addressed as it is clearly not going to go away. We still seem to have a very old fashioned idea about sex in this country. I watched a programme on sex education for kids the other night where a lady from Belgium came over here and gave a selected group of kids the type of sex education that she provides in Belgium. She was right on the money when she said that our kids are growing up with an idea about what sex is by watching porn. It was very clear from the attitude of the boys that girls were just there to be used - one boy talked about “jizzing on a girls face” as if it was like shaking hands. Whether we legalise the sex trade of not, we need to be more grown up about sex education in school and how we deal with the sex trade. It isnt going to go away and by continuing to turn a blind eye to it people will continue to exploit others for their own gain.

Originally posted by @PhilippineSaint

Pap I work offshore, everybody I work with agrees’s that we are prostitutes and will work for the highest bidder, I can say that none of us have an issue with prostitition as a profession.

Yeah, we all say that too in IT. It’s very funny. “Digital prostitutes!” we exclaim.

That’s a bit different from you putting a price tag on your bum, then telling the whole world that’s how you make your living.

Originally posted by @KRG

Originally posted by @Coxford_lou

It would be much easier to engage with this conversation is folks didn’t use such emotionally loaded terms like ‘tart’ ‘hooker’.

Let em know when you’re ready to have an adult conversation on this, and I’ll join in.

This.

I though this was an adult conversation.

Not sure if the word tart has been used but sex workers call themselves hookers so I dont see much difference between that and prostitute. In fact the phrase High Class Hooker is used more than High Class Prostitute.

Using words that people use for themselves isn’t always a great approach. There’s one pretty obvious example of this, which I’m ofcourse not going to use.

Is hooker a derogatary word then? In the online dictionary I’m looking at it says that a hooker is slang for a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for payment. Is hooker any different to prostitute or call girl?

Anyway getting back to the subject in the OP. I feel we missed a great opportunity to regulate and legalise prostitution in the 80s when the outbreak of AIDS and the need for a more responsible attitude towards casual sex would have made it a bit easier to deal with the moral backlash that would undoubtedly arise as soon as a bill to decrimilise prostitution is proposed. I am sure the Treasury would love to get their hands on all of that extra tax but would find it very difficult to deal with the issue of making money from “immoral earnings.”

I have long been in favour of relaxing the sex laws on prostitution in this country. Apart from the fact that sex workers need health care, it might prevent so many people being coerced into the sex industry by unscuplulous pimps (I am allowed to use that word?) and may give sex workers greater protection. Having said that, I read that relaxing laws in other countries has not always worked that well, so we would have to find a model that worked.

“Working girl” “selling her labour” “selling body” all unnecessary phrases to add emotion drama to your debate.

This has been bothering me this afternoon so I have googled the use of the term hooker and this is what I have found -

The New York Times has used the word “hooker” a number of times in its headlines but it is mostly used in pieces in the arts section. Former President Bill Clinton has used the teem when descibing his first experiences in NYC (not surprised).

Also found this - Hooker, whore or prostitute, when to use which?

They all can mean women who sleep with men for money. Prostitute is the most technical term. Hooker seems most commonly used in the US, while in Britain this term is reserved for a position in rugby. Whore sounds much more violent to me. If one were seeking a woman to pay to sleep with him, he probably wouldnt say I am looking for a whore tonight but use hooker or prostitute

That from a US website.

I have also found a number of articles (from the US and Australia) that tell us that prostitute is an offensive term and that we should call them sex workers.

Still none the wiser but if its good enough for a former President of the US it is good enough for me!

‘Hooker’ is as I understand it, an American term for prostitute, and my general experience of the term as used in Hollywood films, is one of disgust. Whereas I would say prostitute is generally regarded as a more neutral term.

It seems not as we are being told that prostitute is being seen as a derogatory word now and we must use the term sex worker!

Well, you can mock, SOG, but reading some of the language in this thread gets my back up. Maybe it’s because I’m female. Maybe not. But the more neutral language posters use, the better they’ll get a well thought through point across.

(Though I guess if your point isn’t well thought through, then all you’ve got to throw at it is emotive language).

Shame, because it’s a interesting topic, and one worth debating.

I wasnt mocking Lou I was merely reporting back on what I found on the internet today. It does appear that the word Prostitute is rapidly becoming non PC in the US and Australia.

Having looked back over this thread I do think it has been dealt with seriously. I may have missed it but I couldnt see the word tart anywhere. I used the term High Class Hooker a couple of time but mainly used the the terms prostitute or sex worker. I have spent many years on internet forums as the term neutral language is not something you usually find as I am sure you will remember from the Muppet Show. Having said that I think everyone has been well behaved on this thread and I am sure we would like to hear a femal perspective on whether prostitution should be decriminalised or not.