Why is the world's oldest female profession still seen as the seedy grind of drug-addicts and stupid little girls?
The answer reveals something rather damning about 'tolerant' Britain that I'd rather not admit - we still think we have the right to tell women what to do with their own bodies, under the false pretense that in doing so we are saving them from a life of debauchery.
It seems almost ludicrous to accept that thousands of girls are opting in to sex work entirely of their own volition, yet those who doth protest too much are often the ones who can barely see past their own noses.
It is truly perplexing, considering that a lot of positive, world-altering things have happened since the turn of the millennium. Homosexuals are allowed to stand in Parliament, women are now managing international companies with huge profit margins, and a black man has become President of arguably the most powerful nation on Earth.
Gone are the tenuous restrictions of race, sexuality and gender. We are now taught from an early age that there are to be equal rights and opportunities for all. We are also fervently reminded that we have moved out of the Dark Ages forever and that we live in a liberal society, yet the all-encompassing blanket of tolerance appears to have unraveled just short of sex work. Colour me surprised.
Is it preposterous to accept the fact that, for many women, prostitution is simply a self-regulated alternative to a life of hardship or, even more controversially, a career choice? Apparently so.
The answer reveals something rather damning about 'tolerant' Britain that I'd rather not admit - we still think we have the right to tell women what to do with their own bodies, under the false pretense that in doing so we are saving them from a life of debauchery.
It seems almost ludicrous to accept that thousands of girls are opting in to sex work entirely of their own volition, yet those who doth protest too much are often the ones who can barely see past their own noses.
It is truly perplexing, considering that a lot of positive, world-altering things have happened since the turn of the millennium. Homosexuals are allowed to stand in Parliament, women are now managing international companies with huge profit margins, and a black man has become President of arguably the most powerful nation on Earth.
Gone are the tenuous restrictions of race, sexuality and gender. We are now taught from an early age that there are to be equal rights and opportunities for all. We are also fervently reminded that we have moved out of the Dark Ages forever and that we live in a liberal society, yet the all-encompassing blanket of tolerance appears to have unraveled just short of sex work. Colour me surprised.
Is it preposterous to accept the fact that, for many women, prostitution is simply a self-regulated alternative to a life of hardship or, even more controversially, a career choice? Apparently so.
Perhaps it has something to do with the recent debacle surrounding the super-injunctions and the many 'vice girls' deemed responsible for home-wrecking and knowingly sleeping with successful married men, despite the law consistently acting as a crutch for male stupidity and promiscuity.
Or maybe it's our inherent collective pomposity that turns the national stomach when a woman steps froward to admit what I suspect many think but dare not say - that she'd rather charge for promiscuous sex than do it for free, if she had the choice or the inclination.
Whatever the answer, prostitution doesn't sit well in tolerant, 'liberal' Britain. We do, after all, live in a society where David Cameron can lash out with a dated sexist insult without repercussion, and where, despite his adultery, Ryan Giggs is publicly celebrated while his mistress Imogen Thomas cowers behind a mountain of death threats
The underlying problem, of course, concerns the coarsening and barbarizing of female sexuality in a world where we like to think we treat women equally. After decades of tireless campaigning for women's rights, we don't even come close, for despite the sexual revolution in the 1960's and the advent of the birth-control pill, there are still those who would limit sex to the marital bed, every other Tuesday at 8pm, after a hot cup of Bovril and Songs of Praise .
Yet even the early feminist warriors wanted to see an end to prostitution on the faulty grounds that it enslaved the female body by turning it in to a salable commodity. This is a tired assumption.
Yet even the early feminist warriors wanted to see an end to prostitution on the faulty grounds that it enslaved the female body by turning it in to a salable commodity. This is a tired assumption.
They fervently believed that selling one's body in an act traditionally reserved for man and wife was degrading - that most pernicious of gender-based insults, intended to make women feel bad when they make a conscious choice to indulge in promiscuous profiteering - something men have been doing legally for centuries!
The only thing that enslaves women in prostitution is the antiquated and utterly ridiculous belief that sex is - and ought to be - 'performed' out of duty, not pleasure. By prescribing to this narrow and pejorative way of thinking, we are dooming women the world over to a life of true sexual servitude.
That, and the further belief that prostitutes are always forced on to the streets by a drug habit or an accidental pregnancy is similarly enslaving.
That, and the further belief that prostitutes are always forced on to the streets by a drug habit or an accidental pregnancy is similarly enslaving.
It all sounds positively Dickensian and somewhat anachronistic, given that Rihanna can sing about bondage sex and Beyonce can declare that girls run the world, and both to the sweet tune of a massive female fan base. Yet you'd be the greenest of fools to think that the only women who partake in prostitution are struggling, working-class thralls with rental arrears and young mouths to feed.
Consider the pantomime outrage when it was revealed that as many as 1 in 6 female Cambridge University students - typically from well-to-do families - had joined (or had considered joining) the lucrative sex industry to fund their degrees. The fervor surrounding this apparent non-sequitur would have been comical, had it not proven just how entrenched we are in our classist image of prostitute as stupid, short-sighted little girl.
The fact is, many women from all backgrounds, age groups and salary brackets are choosing to turn something they'd gladly do for free in to a business, with huge earning potential and a lot of extra 'perks' on the side. And in this day and age, where sex has been desensitized almost to the point of blandness, who can blame them?
For many it is a largely safe and routine affair. Britain now has numerous organisations in place to protect the rights of sex workers, from street prostitutes to £5000-a-night escorts and, although it is strictly illegal in the UK, many have a friendly - and qualified - face to turn to in the event of assault or trouble.
Despite this, the people of Britain still decry prostitution as a forfeit of basic human rights, and the treatment meted out to prostitutes reflects this. They are hurriedly moved on by the police or are arrested on the spot. Those operating in brothels are often turfed out when the establishment is closed down, and many are now scouring the more dangerous areas of the UK in a desperate attempt to stay below the radar.
Indeed, to the average British male, there is nothing more offensive nor more deserving of vilification than a woman who dares to exist outside of their enforced gender roles. A woman who doesn't wish to give herself wholly to one man but who would rather make a living off of promiscuity is, therefore, seen as public enemy number one.
For some it is undoubtedly a treacherous, miserable way to make a living, and thousands of girls are forced in to the industry by the awfulness of their circumstances. These women are often trafficked or beaten by their pimps, and hundreds long for a 'normal' existence.
Despite this, the people of Britain still decry prostitution as a forfeit of basic human rights, and the treatment meted out to prostitutes reflects this. They are hurriedly moved on by the police or are arrested on the spot. Those operating in brothels are often turfed out when the establishment is closed down, and many are now scouring the more dangerous areas of the UK in a desperate attempt to stay below the radar.
Indeed, to the average British male, there is nothing more offensive nor more deserving of vilification than a woman who dares to exist outside of their enforced gender roles. A woman who doesn't wish to give herself wholly to one man but who would rather make a living off of promiscuity is, therefore, seen as public enemy number one.
For some it is undoubtedly a treacherous, miserable way to make a living, and thousands of girls are forced in to the industry by the awfulness of their circumstances. These women are often trafficked or beaten by their pimps, and hundreds long for a 'normal' existence.
In these instances, it is surely better for the police to tackle the perpetrator and not the profession, to avoid running the risk of holding the victim accountable for the atrocities committed against her. After all, it is not prostitution that is to blame but the faulty dispositions of those who use and abuse sex workers.
It hardly seems fair or democratic to exclude these women from society based solely on the work they do. It is similarly unfair to condemn a woman for choosing how she wants to use her own body, after decades of enthusiastic campaigning to give her that specific right.
Needless to say, double standards have prevailed once more, for while men can take out super-injunctions - costing anywhere upwards of £25,000 - to protect and justify their promiscuity, women are doomed to cover up and shut up. The law provides no such crutch for their urges and desires.
Alas, an over-burgeoning sexuality seems to be a decidedly male privilege, one determined by the size of a man's wallet and a shameless propensity to cheat the public as well as his own spouse.
This creates an environment where the sexual rights and freedoms of men are protected and enshrined, and women who choose to go above-board with their sex work are regarded with open hostility and contempt. It is utterly hypocritical and the polar opposite of liberality. .
This creates an environment where the sexual rights and freedoms of men are protected and enshrined, and women who choose to go above-board with their sex work are regarded with open hostility and contempt. It is utterly hypocritical and the polar opposite of liberality. .
We must bring sex workers from the periphery of our social and moral consciences right in to the mainstream, where they can operate without prejudice and fear of discrimination. For it is surely this fear of social exclusion that puts them at risk, as they feel increasing pressure to ply their trade in deserted, poorly-lit areas.
In Amsterdam, they have led the way in sheltering their sex workers from danger by giving them safe, clean spaces in which to operate. It is no longer taboo there, with free health plans and HIV tests available to all prostitutes upon request.
This degree of protection and acceptance is also proving safer for clients as well as providers, as many prostitutes set up and work within full view of the general public. To them, it is a relatively normal way of life, and violence against prostitutes has drastically decreased as a result of the heightened visibility.
In Amsterdam, they have led the way in sheltering their sex workers from danger by giving them safe, clean spaces in which to operate. It is no longer taboo there, with free health plans and HIV tests available to all prostitutes upon request.
This degree of protection and acceptance is also proving safer for clients as well as providers, as many prostitutes set up and work within full view of the general public. To them, it is a relatively normal way of life, and violence against prostitutes has drastically decreased as a result of the heightened visibility.
Conversely, many Brits prescribe to the warped idea that sex is cheapened when it is paid for, and that those who auction off their bodies to strangers are similarly cheap and deserving of violence and public shame. It isn't, and they aren't.
This is a similar attitude to that which ensured the legality of marital rape well up in to the early 1990's - the attitude that sex should always be free, and 'on tap', whether the woman wants it or not. And all out of a sense of duty - to be used, and to provide without question or recompense. To charge for something they should be giving out for free is, therefore, seen as deplorable.
It may come as a surprise to the more prudish among us, but sex can still be sacred and spiritual, even it does come with a tab. It may also be much more appealing to women to be engaging in sex entirely on their own terms, with their own rules, rates and regulations.
This is a similar attitude to that which ensured the legality of marital rape well up in to the early 1990's - the attitude that sex should always be free, and 'on tap', whether the woman wants it or not. And all out of a sense of duty - to be used, and to provide without question or recompense. To charge for something they should be giving out for free is, therefore, seen as deplorable.
It may come as a surprise to the more prudish among us, but sex can still be sacred and spiritual, even it does come with a tab. It may also be much more appealing to women to be engaging in sex entirely on their own terms, with their own rules, rates and regulations.
For some, prostitution is simply a means to an end, born out of a conscious choice to utilize one's own assets to make ends meet. For the majority, it is as respectable and routine an occupation as weekend shelf-stacking at the local supermarket, whereby women can indulge in one of life's greatest pleasures safe in the knowledge that it will also put food on the table or supplement a separate lifestyle.
Where the line between good, honest profession and debauchery blurs, however, is in our own unerring attitudes toward the female body and a woman's right to do with it as she pleases. To many people in this country, and to those who lean to the right of the political spectrum, women's rights should have been shelved long ago. It seems absolutely trite to these people that women are making good of the rights they were long overdue.
The bottom line is that prostitution no longer needs it's flashing red light, regardless of the public fervor or right-wing candor. It is not the self-perpetuating cycle of misery it used to be, at least not to the thousands of women who take it up voluntarily.
Granted, it is often a murky profession that isn't always gleefully chosen as the most suitable alternative to an office job, but it advances the radical notion that female sexuality exists in as many forms as male sexuality, and is capable of flourishing outside the banal realm of marital or religious duty.
Until we can realize this and eradicate the stigma surrounding prostitution, we risk making pariahs of them all. Instead of stamping out prostitution, this alienation would push them even further in to the perilous jaws of the sex trafficking trade or the pimping industry. By showing them our collective support and by bringing them in to the fold, perhaps they can operate safely and with some shred of dignity in an era that has, up until now, misguidedly styled itself on tolerance and acceptance.
The bottom line is that prostitution no longer needs it's flashing red light, regardless of the public fervor or right-wing candor. It is not the self-perpetuating cycle of misery it used to be, at least not to the thousands of women who take it up voluntarily.
Granted, it is often a murky profession that isn't always gleefully chosen as the most suitable alternative to an office job, but it advances the radical notion that female sexuality exists in as many forms as male sexuality, and is capable of flourishing outside the banal realm of marital or religious duty.
Until we can realize this and eradicate the stigma surrounding prostitution, we risk making pariahs of them all. Instead of stamping out prostitution, this alienation would push them even further in to the perilous jaws of the sex trafficking trade or the pimping industry. By showing them our collective support and by bringing them in to the fold, perhaps they can operate safely and with some shred of dignity in an era that has, up until now, misguidedly styled itself on tolerance and acceptance.
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