Good Should Prostitution Be Legal In The UK? Essay Example

The question of whether prostitution should be legalized is a major one. If one is to narrow this question to UK alone, it is still imperative to obtain an insight into existing practices and procedures in other European countries which have a similar judicial system with Great Britain. According to the study conducted under the auspice of the European Parliament, international law hardly separates prostitution from sexual exploitation and human trafficking (Schulze et. al. 2014). Furthermore, due to the closed nature of the business, there is no clear picture as to the number of prostitutes and the customers, the profits of prostitutes as well as their promoters are not known (Schulze et. al. 2014). Therefore, advocates of prostitution legalization may only rely on estimated numbers that will supposedly go into the budget, once made legal.
Although the profit numbers are rather obscure, a study (2015) undertaken by the European parliament reveals that revenues from prostitution globally “can be estimated at around $186.00 billion yearly” (Schulze et. al. 2014, p. 6). This is a huge number, and although global, one may roughly estimate that a lion’s share of the revenue is contributed from the UK.
It is essential that both pros and cons should be taken into account when deciding whether the prostitution should be legalized or criminalized in the UK. According to the report published by the Institute of Economic Affairs (2015) prostitution, if legalized, is able to help reduce sexual crime rates (Joseph 2015, para. 1). The above mentioned report reveals that sex industry in the UK is estimated to be worth 4.3 billion pounds for the economy each year (Joseph 2015). As the name of the Institute suggests, Economic Affairs, one may immediately feel that the study is biased and is targeting only one side of the issue. The report goes on to suggest that men need sex twice as much as women and this gap cannot be eliminated. Therefore, sex trade should not be criminalized, conversely, it need to be legalized to allow men to quench their sexual desires in a legal way without the fear of breaking a law and being accountable for it. Furthermore, much to the disappointment of the organization for protection of women’s rights, the report shared evidence, allegedly, according to which “'All the available evidence points in the direction of prostitution and erotic entertainments having no noxious psychological or social effects, and they may even help to reduce sexual crime rates” (Joseph 2015, para. 6). The report seems to be tackling one side of the issue and is considering male’s preferences as a customer, what it fails to mention is the lack of insight into women’s coercion into the profession. It is true that legalization of prostitution in UK or elsewhere will result in increased revenue for the country’s budget as taxes. It is also true that for brothel keepers it would be much easier to handle their business not fearing police checks and interferences. Similarly, clients will know that they are paying for sex in much the same way they’re paying for any other types of legally provided services, such as a haircut or a massage.
Havocscope indicated that prostitution revenue can be estimated at around $186.00 billion per year worldwide. According to a report published in 2012 by Fondation Scelles, prostitution has a global dimension, involving around 40-42 million people worldwide, of which 90% are dependent on a procurer. 75% of them are between 13 and 25 years old. The most conservative official statistics suggest that 1 in 7 prostitutes in Europe are victims of trafficking, while some Member States estimate that between 60% and 90% of those in their respective national prostitution markets have been trafficked. Moreover, the data available confirm that most trafficking in Europe is for the purposes of sexual exploitation, principally of women and girls.
There is no clear picture of the number of prostitutes and their clients, and their revenue and profits (including for the pimps). Therefore, both the debate and political decision-making depend on estimations.
Generally, it can be said that, in international law and in the literature, prostitution is hardly separated from sexual exploitation and trafficking in human beings, while some of the recent literature points to the complexity of the issue with prostitution taking place at the intersection of culture, power, and difference. Historically, the views on prostitution and sexual exploitation have been discussed widely and with different focuses in politics, by civil society organisations, and by academics. Women’s rights groups, feminists, and so-called 'sex feminists' have argued about the right approach, i.e. whether a difference can be made between voluntary and forced prostitution. The voices of women working in the sex industry are equally differing. While many complain about the bad working conditions and report serious violent incidents, others feel that they are not being heard nor taken seriously because of stereotypical thinking about prostitutes, or through fear of being seen as vulnerable victims or as dependent advocates of pimps and brothel owners. The lack of reliable data - the latest data available for Germany and the Netherlands are from 2007 - hinders this debate as it keeps the prostitution market opaque. There is no clear picture of the number of prostitutes and their clients, and their revenue and profits (including for the pimps). Therefore, both the debate and political decision-making depend on estimations.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/493040/IPOL-FEMM_ET(2014)493040_EN.pdf
http://www.lse.ac.uk/geographyAndEnvironment/whosWho/profiles/neumayer/pdf/Article-for-World-Development-_prostitution_-anonymous-REVISED.pdf
http://www.catwinternational.org/Content/Images/Article/41/attachment.pdf
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-call-for-prostitution-to-be-legalised-but-demand-tough-new-penalties-on-pimps-9164069.html