The Duel: Should it be illegal to pay for sex?

Last year it became illegal to pay for sex in Northern Ireland—following the model of Sweden and Norway. The Home Affairs Select Committee is currently investigating UK prostitution laws

by Joan Smith, Molly Smith / October 13, 2016 / Leave a comment

Published in November 2016 issue of Prospect Magazine

Joan Smith (left) is a columnist, novelist and co-chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board (though writing here in a personal capacity). @polblonde

Click here to read more from our November 2016 issue

yesduel We are in the middle of an epidemic of violence against women. In England and Wales, recorded offences relating to rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse are at an all-time high. The number of reported rapes in London alone (a fraction of the real figure) rose by almost 11 per cent in the year to June 2016. In the same period, over 150,000 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded in the capital. This is a highly gendered phenomenon. Almost nine out of 10 victims of sexual violence are women, as are three-quarters of domestic abuse victims.

Something similar is true of prostitution: estimated numbers of male and transgender individuals vary, but most who sell sex are women. In a culture that tolerates appalling behaviour towards women generally, it is not surprising that women who sell sex a…

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Comments

Gaye Dalton
October 15, 2016 at 00:15
I suppose some people think the best way to prevent bank robbery is to criminalise bank customers? Over 140 members of Syrian Civil Defence have been killed at work...I KNOW, let's criminalise being buried by a barrel bomb...that should fix it... Sex workers sell sex because they need the money, criminalising clients will not change that, it will just make it harder and more dangerous for them to get that money...which problem was that supposed to solve again? All about power? When the acceptance of the need to make recompense is the most lowest common denominator of abnegation of power that there is? I don't think so... ...and without that client and his money, precisely how do you imagine these "vulnerable women" will feed, clothe and house themselves, and often their children? Feeding themselves live to clueless and remorseless abolitionists who salivate at the mention of "rescue funding" may not be the healthiest of choices, but without sex work, for some it will be the only option left and not an option at all at the same time... With "help" like that on the table, who needs problems? Sex work is self reliance, sex work is autonomy, sex work is independence, it is only criminalisation and the stigmatisation it reinforces that makes sex work especially dangerous. I hated sex work, I also hate boiled carrots...shall we start by criminalising the carrots and see how that goes before destroying anyone life?

Joan Smith

Joan Smith is a columnist, novelist and co-chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board (though writing here in a personal capacity). @polblonde