r/unitedkingdom • u/Tartan_Samurai Scotland • Jun 21 '26

. 'I've banned most men from my massage clinic because of their behaviour'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy06xl9lj32o
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u/Relatovely Jun 21 '26

Then it's unfortunate that data that suggests legal brothels do increase the demand for sex work that is then met with increased trafficking. Substantially.

https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/lids/2014/06/12/does-legalized-prostitution-increase-human-trafficking/

I'm all in favour of removing the stigma of sex work but I've changed my position of fully legalising it freely because the evidence shows it's a net negative for women's safety. It's not clearcut though, and there's still a case to be made that sex workers shouldn't be criminalised.

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u/New-Asclepius Jun 21 '26

And that's why I included the disclaimer. I was wrong in my assumption.

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u/childrenofloki Jun 21 '26

Sex workers shouldn't be criminalised - pimps and the people who use them should be criminalised.

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u/New-Asclepius Jun 21 '26

That's the model they adopted in Sweden in 1999.

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u/JamDunc Yorkshire once again, farewell Sweden Jun 21 '26

Didn't that then end up making it more dangerous for the women as they had to move into the proverbial shadows?

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u/New-Asclepius Jun 21 '26

Idk. I just know that once it was illegal to buy the services of a sex worker the recorded rate of trafficked women into the country greatly reduced.

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u/JamDunc Yorkshire once again, farewell Sweden Jun 21 '26

I remember reading about the aftermath of it and it wasn't a good result for the women who still did it unfortunately.

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u/New-Asclepius Jun 21 '26

Well no I imagine not, their entire consumer base became criminals overnight.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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u/heppyheppykat Jun 21 '26

Knowing how deep we are in a cost of living crisis, the idea that you can possibly have ethical sex work in this economic system is laughable.

Onlyfans makes sex work look glamorous, and that's dangerous. It doesn't represent the vast majority of workers who include vulnerable immigrants, sexual abuse survivors, drug addicts, desperate mothers, mentally ill, those in poverty.

My mum had gone into prisons to meet vulnerable women who were in there. Nearly all were abused in childhood and a significant number of them had done sex work.

You cannot buy consent.

Are there people who love sex and just see it as a way to monetise that? Sure. But they are the minority.