Police call to legalise brothels.

[roger_pearse]

How do you reach that conclusion?

 

A brothel is a safer environment for a pimp. At the moment, anything he does, he can get nicked for. There is so much money involved that people still do it, but basically if the police can physically find him, they can nail him. The transfers of money are enough.

 

But once there can be brothels, legally, then money can come out of them, legally. And believe me, it will!! It becomes merely an exercise in accountancy, just like city slickers engaged in insider dealing. A good accountant, and the pimp is laughing. How can the police touch him? They won't even try; and proving it will involve all sorts of specialisms. Like city fraud trials, these will simply not happen, or if they do, will not convict.

 

A brothel is a less safe environment for a woman than the streets, precisely because it is legal and the police cannot interfere except on technical grounds. Do not believe all the touchy-feely stuff that the proponents seek to push. A brothel is a horrible, nasty place, and horrible nasty stuff goes on there. You don't have to have read much 18th century literature to know that, and getting rid of them was, alongside the Factory Acts, part of the Victorian clean-up of society. Brothels act as collection points, drawing or forcing women into prostitution, and feeders for women trafficking. It is useless to say, as doubtless some will say, "Oh we will legislate to prevent these things." Such legislation will be a dead letter. Everything that currently goes on, on the streets, will go on in the brothels, with the addition of the withdrawing of police protection from the inmates.

 

There is a HUGE amount of money to be made here, remember? We need to stay focused on this, because it, not good intentions, will determine how all this plays in practice.

 

One other thought. This is not the first "liberalisation" that we have seen, over the last 40 years. We have seen many. And each and every one of them led to a huge explosion in what was previously controlled. In each and every case, the opponents predicted various awful consequences -- in each and every case the proponents laughed these off, and in each and every case those consequences came to be. Surely we have had enough special pleading down the years to know this by now? The supposedly unintended consequences will be endless.

 

No decent society sells the young poor women into brothels. I don't want ours to be one of those that do. We must disregard the spin, and look at what the reality is likely to be.

 

The existing situation is the best of a bad job. No society can prevent women selling themselves, and perhaps we should not try. But it can make life difficult for those who exploit them. More projects like the Iceni Project are the right way to help these women, not recreating the stews of past days.

 

I do expect, by the way, the establishment to legalise brothels, and with them, pimping. That is because they will find it convenient to do so. More than a century ago Karl Marx reflected in the Communist Manifesto that the rich choose to turn the female poor into whores for their own convenience. But we should never suppose that they do so, for our benefit.

 

All the best,

 

Roger Pearse

[spindrift]

The cops are at the cutting edge, they know better than anyone how much resources are squandered in a pointless, unwinnable fight.

 

Streetwalkers form a small part of the prostitution problem, most working girls operate from premises or are higher-class escorts operating via the internet websites.

 

Wouldn't it make sense to allow the huge manpower allocated to these women be diverted to managing the problem?

[Alex C.]

It is certainly possible to make it worse, by legalising pimping.

 

After all, unless prostitution is unlike any other trade known to man, legalisation will lead to a vast expansion of these things.

 

I think I may agree with you on the first point, but it's irrelevant. No-one is proposing legalising pimping.

 

Criminalisation of almost heroin certainly helped to expand the market.

[Kaimani]

But, surely, all those reasons will still apply; and even more so, if pimps were legal. After all, just selling a woman wouldn't be an offence. "He was nasty to me officer". Um.

 

 

 

It is certainly possible to make it worse, by legalising pimping.

 

After all, unless prostitution is unlike any other trade known to man, legalisation will lead to a vast expansion of these things.

 

the idea is not to legalize pimping, but prostitution. and even then, not wholesale. some aspect need cleaning up, some getting rid altogether.

the pimps are there for protection. if this came from the law no one would need a pimp, ideally.

[roger_pearse]

the idea is not to legalize pimping, but prostitution.

 

Prostitution is already legal, tho. The restriction is that a woman can only sell herself, not anyone else, nor can anyone else profit from her doing so. That seems eminently sane to me.

[Thunderrrr]

 

I'm not talking about suburban brothels, they could be in business parks, next to Homebase or something.

 

 

Straight away you're not to be taken seriously.

[Kaimani]

Prostitution is already legal, tho. The restriction is that a woman can only sell herself, not anyone else, nor can anyone else profit from her doing so. That seems eminently sane to me.

i know. but that's not the situation on the ground. that law was probably apt when introduced. not anymore.

[Thunderrrr]

 

In Amsterdam the women aren't trafficked, they can earn 3 or 4 thousand euros a week in safe, controlled circumstances.

 

.

 

So Amsterdam still has a grotty element.... but at least its legal and above board. Great.

 

[Snook]

A brothel is a safer environment for a pimp. At the moment, anything he does, he can get nicked for. There is so much money involved that people still do it, but basically if the police can physically find him, they can nail him. The transfers of money are enough.

 

But once there can be brothels, legally, then money can come out of them, legally. And believe me, it will!! It becomes merely an exercise in accountancy, just like city slickers engaged in insider dealing. A good accountant, and the pimp is laughing. How can the police touch him? They won't even try; and proving it will involve all sorts of specialisms. Like city fraud trials, these will simply not happen, or if they do, will not convict.

 

A brothel is a less safe environment for a woman than the streets, precisely because it is legal and the police cannot interfere except on technical grounds. Do not believe all the touchy-feely stuff that the proponents seek to push. A brothel is a horrible, nasty place, and horrible nasty stuff goes on there. You don't have to have read much 18th century literature to know that, and getting rid of them was, alongside the Factory Acts, part of the Victorian clean-up of society. Brothels act as collection points, drawing or forcing women into prostitution, and feeders for women trafficking. It is useless to say, as doubtless some will say, "Oh we will legislate to prevent these things." Such legislation will be a dead letter. Everything that currently goes on, on the streets, will go on in the brothels, with the addition of the withdrawing of police protection from the inmates.

 

There is a HUGE amount of money to be made here, remember? We need to stay focused on this, because it, not good intentions, will determine how all this plays in practice.

 

One other thought. This is not the first "liberalisation" that we have seen, over the last 40 years. We have seen many. And each and every one of them led to a huge explosion in what was previously controlled. In each and every case, the opponents predicted various awful consequences -- in each and every case the proponents laughed these off, and in each and every case those consequences came to be. Surely we have had enough special pleading down the years to know this by now? The supposedly unintended consequences will be endless.

 

No decent society sells the young poor women into brothels. I don't want ours to be one of those that do. We must disregard the spin, and look at what the reality is likely to be.

 

The existing situation is the best of a bad job. No society can prevent women selling themselves, and perhaps we should not try. But it can make life difficult for those who exploit them. More projects like the Iceni Project are the right way to help these women, not recreating the stews of past days.

 

I do expect, by the way, the establishment to legalise brothels, and with them, pimping. That is because they will find it convenient to do so. More than a century ago Karl Marx reflected in the Communist Manifesto that the rich choose to turn the female poor into whores for their own convenience. But we should never suppose that they do so, for our benefit.

 

All the best,

 

Roger Pearse

 

The only problem with all that is that there are a huge amount of brothels in the country. I would be very surprised if there were not at least 20 in Sheffield. That is the way of the world. The police know about them and leave them alone. It is a safer working environment and the girls don't have to put up with the pimps that they face on the street.

 

If brothels were made legal (apart from getting tax I can't see what difference it will make) then there would still be pimps and street girls and I'm sure they would still be used, but the police could concentrate on clamping down on that. In brothels you wouldn't get pimps you would simply get owners and managers who make a profit, like any other business.

[roger_pearse]

The only problem with all that is that there are a huge amount of brothels in the country. I would be very surprised if there were not at least 20 in Sheffield. That is the way of the world. The police know about them and leave them alone.

 

I agree with you. But the situation will not get better from legalising them; rather worse.

 

All the best,

 

Roger Pearse