To EMMA B;
Given that the Swedish experiment has a dark side that is not talked about, i.e. that of the "Red Light" industry continuing, but in the grip of criminal gangs and has resulted in increased violence to the women involved, I fell that a "knee jerk" reaction to the Ipswich murders of criminalising the punters would be just as counter productive.
The experience of Edinburgh with the Permissive Areas in the Leith area led to much less violence towards the girls involved in the sex industry and a much lower rate of drug abuse, with fewer pimps being involved.
In addition to this, the girls organised themselves better to support and protact each other, including noting and recording who got into what car. This led to the arrest, within hours, of the perpetrator of the one murder that occurred during this time.
Since the "Permissive Area" scheme was dropped, almost entirely due to pressure of "Yuppie" incommers, violence towards the girls and drug abuse amongst them have both increased tremendously
We will never get rid of this trade. The current situation leaves the girls working in the profession who choose, or are forced, to work on the streets with little protection.
The idea of allowing small brothels where two girls could work legally would take a lot of these women off the streets and into a safer, more secure environment. Unfortunately, that proposal instead of being followed up, has been squashed by No.10.
And before anyone runs away with the idea that only drug addicts or "trafficed" illegal imigrants are forced into prostitution, there was a Radio 4 Women's Hour programme item a couple of years back into the saunas and massage parlours in Glasgow that showed that half to two thirds of the girls working in that town were students using prostitution as a way of paying their way through university. It is probable that comparable figures could be gathered for most of our university towns.