Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Prostitution: Legal Aspects 8

The idea that prostitution can be eliminated by arresting the customers and thereby “drying up the demand” is not realistic. The “demand side” of prostitution has rarely been studied, but when researchers have taken the trouble, they have discovered a very complex picture that defies easy generalizations (1). Even the “supply side” turned out to be more complicated than expected. In sum, to the extent that prostitution is a problem, it is not an all-or-nothing, black-or-white phenomenon, but a matter of many shades and degrees. It ranges from the most exploitative from of “sex slavery” to the profitable business of self-determined women. Some women depend on prostitution for their sheer survival at poverty level; others work only part-time to augment their already comfortable income. Some prostitutes would prefer governmental regulation and the security it can provide; others oppose it, because they cherish their freedom. Where the selling or buying of sexual services is illegal, it continues undergound with worsening working conditions for the women, but regulation does not necessarily bring all of it into the open. Some forms of illegal prostitution persist, because many women do not want it as a “regular job” with all the controls that it would entail.
In short, there is no single answer. Only one thing seems certain: Those countries that do not treat prostitution itself as a criminal activity have a better chance of reducing the amount of crime that can be associated with it. They also find it easier to combat the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

(1) Julia O'Connell Davidson, Men, middlemen, and migrants - The demand side of "sex trafficking", in EUROZINE, 07, 27, 2006). (For the full text click here).