Welcome to another week.
An article about a BBC documentary looking at what happens to children after they leave care, has suggested that 70% of prostitutes come from the care system.
The debate around prostitution usually focuses on whether or not it should be legalised, from moral, ethical, financial and often legal standpoints. ProCon.Org offers an excellent summary of the perceived advantages and disadvantages to legalisation for what is often referred to as the world’s oldest profession.
Prostitution is legal in England and Wales, as long as the parties involved are consenting adults. Some activities surrounding prostitution, particularly those that could have exploitative qualities like managing a brothel remain illegal, however it is estimated that there are around 60,000-80,000 sex workers in the UK – the majority of them being women. An investigation by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee in 2016* has also called for more evidence with a view to legalising currently criminal activities surrounding prostitution.
Advocates for the legalisation of prostitution, which include a significant portion of sex workers, feel that decriminalising the activity removes the stigma from a career that is not immoral, creates freedom of choice and protects prostitutes from violence.
Those in favour of criminalising sex work believe that the activity will always carry with it an element of unreasonable duress, is a choice made purely for economic reasons usually related to poverty, encourages human trafficking and no matter what legal protections exist, will not prevent violent incidents like rape.
Advocates could also argue that most jobs are sought out for economic reasons, are morally questionable – especially when working for large corporations – and also may involve acts of violence, like sexual harassment in the workplace.
But what about the original statistic we started the post with – that 70% of prostitutes come from the care system? The implication is that most of those offering sex work have been at one time or still are, vulnerable individuals.
Our question this week, then, is this: do you think the statistic creates a compelling argument to criminalise sex work in England and Wales?
If you would like to watch the BBC documentary, you can do so here (you have 14 days left to view the programme before it is removed from the BBC’s page).
Some thought provoking items on prostitution are added below:
- Lib Dem MP: Schools Should Encourage Children To Consider Prostitution As A Career
- Should prostitution be legal? Let’s try listening to the real experts (2013)
- *House of Commons Report, 2016
- Decriminalising sex work is the only way to protect women – and New Zealand has proved that it works
- If you think decriminalisation will make prostitution safe, look at Germany’s mega brothels
Many thanks to Dana for alerting us to the article.
Researching Reform 
Maybe putting children into care should be criminalised, since that’s what causes 70% of prostitution, Natasha?
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You may have hit the nail on the head. Certainly those who sit and pontificate in high places are in no position to feel smug.
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Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
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When babies and young children are taken from loving but sometimes dysfunctional families and put into State care a great many of them are being prepared it seems for a career as prostitutes.Logically therefore the State should not prepare the children for an illegal activity so I suppose prostitution should be legal.
It amazes me how that industry can still flourish since in these promiscuous times when almost anyone can find sex for free without too much effort but flourish it does and always will flourish nourished by a plentiful intake from the care system !
In effect this casts social workers and family court judges in the role as pimps ,a role to which they are remarkably well suited !
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Thank you for your comments. The thought provoking idea that care could cause vulnerable people to enter sex work should be discussed broadly. Whilst there is evidence to show that some children enter care already deeply damaged by their life experiences, and arguably unable to heal or become less vulnerable, there does need to be a national investigation into how foster carers and children’s homes cause more trauma or at the very least, offer little or no opportunity to help children heal and grow into strong, fully functional people. Inviting carers to take on children for cash has to be a big part of this problem.
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stafss ss dumped my 18yrs old on my doorstep on his 18th b/day with a case and a black bag , 26diff foster homes , no help for autism , and hes on drugs been jail twice boys i raised managerial jobs , own places , kids of own no ss involvement also a child in care will automatically be assessed if they get pregnant or get someone pregnant untill they are 21
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Forced adoption should be the last option given the poor outcomes & cost.
http://www.ukfamilylawreform.co.uk/care.htm
27% of the prison population, and half of all prisoners under 25, were in care. 22nd October 2012
https://fullfact.org/crime/were-quarter-prisoners-care-children/
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Trouble is that if parents or the children themselves report abuse in care they are inevitably dismissed as malicious troublemakers as indeed some of them are..
Police should not be able to refuse to take statements from parents or children .If these parents and children are time wasting they should be punished but so many are genuine that ignoring them has already had disastrous conséquences in Rotherham and elsewhere;
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As I understand it in Sweden (?ref) the sale of sex is legal but paying for it is a crime. Puts the legal onus where it belongs. Demand-driven industry.
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“Lib Dem MP: Schools Should Encourage Children To Consider Prostitution As A Career”.
.
Sounds like a Psychopath.
i would expect many people to be calling for the resignation of Dennis Parsons.
this man is an absolute fruitcake to suggest such a thing. Outrage is all this type of brain dead idea could provoke.
Just as well the Lib dems are not in No10.
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Reblogged this on Musings of a Penpusher and commented:
This is harrowing, but recommended reading for all with integrity who claim to have a conscience.
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As a voluntary visitor of some fifteen years, I have recently had the harrowing experience of hearing about the traumatic abuse of a very vulnerable adult now in her sixties. It is the first time she felt she could trust someone with her story.
Her doctor persuaded her that she was a writer and only she could tell her story. I persuaded her that if she was capable of writing it down, it would be a kind of catharsis. When she phone me to tell me that she had used pages from the exercise books I’d bought for her; that she wanted me to collect them at once and “…please get them out of my house…I never want to see them again…”
Her writing is heartbreaking to read. Most of the perpetrators are dead, although some family members are still alive, and for this reason the victim divulges no names. The fact that the main perpetrator was her mother’s brother and that the abuse started in the victim’s cot adds to the horror, but that that violation was never acknowledged by the victim’s family who blamed her; vilified her; and told her that she was ugly; that she smelled foul, and that no one would believe her – adds to the nightmare.
As in the linked BBC film excerpt, children have the right to expect their family to protect them – not be the abusers whose abuse destroys any chance of them ever entering into any kind of adult relationship; especially when that abuse persists – even into the victim’s teens, and precipitates their seeking freedom by opting to go to a college far from the home in the hope that the abuse will end.
This is yet another story of a child abused, traumatised and victimised by those who should have been her champions. There was no one there to help her stand tall, yet she did manage to forge a career as a librarian until ill health forced her early retirement. Now she is the broken victim of the state benefit system, but trying to maintain her independence and dignity as best she can while coping with local authority bureaucracy.
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