What Is Sex Work?
Sex work is one of the oldest professions in existence. Technically it is not illegal to work in the sex industry in the United Kingdom, however, pimping, soliciting and the existence of brothels are illegal. This topic has been strongly debated over the years, especially as there are many countries such as New Zealand, Germany and Belgium where this type of work, or the association with, it is completely legal.
The legal standing of sex workers means that they are often forced to work alone which can put them in a lot of danger doing this. Wherever sex workers choose to limit the personal risk to themselves and work together they could be accused of running a brothel and arrested for it.
Decriminaliation and the Sex Industry
With decimalisation, sex workers could work wherever and however they want to without the fear of being attacked or their services not being paid for. They would have the same rights as people in any other profession. This would give them a lot of protection which is sadly lacking in the industry at the moment.
There is an argument that suggests that sex work should be illegal because sex workers are exploited by the people that pay for their services. This may be true in some cases, but a lot of sex workers earn a great living by selling their bodies and a lot of them choose to do just that. They are not conned or coerced into providing sexual services. However, the illegal nature and blurred boundaries of this type of work means that women are open to exploitation by pimps or brothel owners. This is often easy to hide in a world of shadows and going against the grain. However, this would be easier for police and other authorities to control and regulate if this industry was forced out in the open through making these services legal.
The government currently spend a lot of money policing and trying to control these activities. If sex work was decriminalized there would be no need for them to spend this money. Legal methods of earning money are taxable. Therefore, making all these activities legal would greatly increase taxable revenue for the government. This money could be invested elsewhere such as giving sex workers access to greater information, support and medical attention regarding sexually transmitted diseases. This would benefit both the people who work in this industry and the people that hire their services. In turn, this could save our National Health Service money which is desperately needed elsewhere.
The Underground of Sex Work
Many of the countries where sex work is completely legal have systems in place that greatly benefit those who work in it. For example, Belgium is trying to reduce the stigma of sex work by running state of the art brothels and using fingerprint technology and key cards in order to keep both workers and patrons safe. There are a lot of countries where sex workers are treated much like any other worker in that country and are offered things such as pensions and health insurance. These things can’t be enjoyed by workers in countries such as the U.K that force our sex workers underground.
It can be argued that criminalizing sex work is a form of exploiting those who work in it as they don’t have the same legal protection and human rights as those who work in legal industries. When sex work is recognised and treated as legitimate work it can begin to benefit those who work in it and makes it a much safer industry to be involved with.