La Strada Documentation Center

The Legalization of Prostitution: Myth and Reality. A Comparative Study of Four Countries

Document number
1499
Date
2007
Title
The Legalization of Prostitution: Myth and Reality. A Comparative Study of Four Countries
Author/publisher
Hotline for Migrant Workers, Policy Paper No. 4
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution, Prostitution; Sex work; Clients, Abolitionism; New Abolitionism; Prohibitionism; Regulationism,
Summary
The present study is unique in terms of the diversity of the sources on which it is based. The information collected for the study reflects a broad range of ideological positions on the subject of prostitution, from those who view it as a form of exploitation and humiliation of women to those who see prostitution as just another job. The study encountered difficulties due to the lack of agreement between different countries, legal systems, and even different feminist approaches regarding the definition of basic concepts. The term “victim of trafficking” is an example of this. The range of definitions of “human trafficking” reflects profound divergences in attitudes toward the phenomenon of prostitution. The underlying attitude to prostitution is highly significant, since it determines the approach each country chooses to adopt – whether and how to legalize prostitution; which laws to enact and which laws to enforce strictly. Discourse on prostitution tends to be polarized and intolerant; each approach negates the others without responding in depth to their arguments. The absence of meaningful discussion and the entrenchment of each approach prevents cooperation between radical feminists and sex workers – cooperation that is vital in order to illuminate the many intermediate shades between the poles of trafficking victims and the model of the adult sex worker choosing to work in prostitution.
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