We need to face up to hatred of prostitutes – among feminists, too | Hannah Betts | Comment is free | The Guardian 3/12/13 7:23 PM Comments for this discussion are now closed. 790 comments. Showing all conversations, sorted newest first Suppressed 3 06 March 2013 6:34pm Buy some drinks and jump through some hoops for sex, no problem. Trade the price of the drinks and your hourly rate for hours of boring hoop-jumping in cash? Oh, thou horrible criminals! Disgusting! I would LOVE to do a study of all the men in maximum security, with just one question: In the 24 hours prior to committing the offence that got you jailed, had you either had satisfactory sex or been in a position to lawfully get some if you'd wanted? And I'm willing to lay heavy odds that there would be a significant difference between their average degree of frustration and that of a similar group of non- serious offenders. We're all real keen to allow PMS as a defence or mitigation for anything up to and including murder, and yet no-one wants to admit that being on testosterone can make you want to hump any leg in sight, or thump the hells out of the first thing that pushes your buttons. Prostitutes do good, honest work and I won't hear a word against them! Oldfeminist 1 06 March 2013 6:06pm Any women here living with men care to comment on how they feel, or would feel if they know their partner, father brother or son goes to visit prostitutes? How many men are prepared to tell the women in their lives they do so? Do these men care about how their mother partner daughter sister feels about this? I suspect not....so chuck out these shits from your lives, sisters. Just because you feel like doing something or enjoy it is just not good enough....Time to take responsibility for the mess that results from your exploitation of women and just say No. Leon999 2 06 March 2013 5:47pm I will make this point once again - the "Ban All Prostitution and Criminalise the Client" brigade only want to do this for heterosexual males - note that they never talk about a ban on Gay or Lesbian Prostitution,which certainly exists (especially for Gay Men, where there is a rampant thriving commercial sex industry). Same things applies to the banning of pornography - again only targeted at the male http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/05/hatred-prostitutes-feminists-brutality#show-all Page 1 of 218 We need to face up to hatred of prostitutes – among feminists, too | Hannah Betts | Comment is free | The Guardian 3/12/13 7:23 PM heterosexual market, and completey ignoring the gay/lesbian market. And the ban of prostitution in Sweden again follows this pattern - virtually every person prosecuted under this lunatic law has been a male heterosexual, while gay and lesbian clients are left completely alone. What gross sexist discrimination by a totally bigoted bunch !! Delite 06 March 2013 6:01pm This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. fb177 3 06 March 2013 3:49pm I think we need a balance to this article where we recount the ways that Magnanti (and those on the pro side) has outright lied about people like Somaly Mam (re- tweeting an unfounded accusation that she was bribing people, put out by--guess it-- a pro-sex work group), defamed people, skewed facts to fit her agenda, stretching things so far as to try to connect the far Right with feminists, because they share an opinion about prostitution, called people who disagree with her "Man hating feminists" So, if we can get people to stop attacking prostitutes, do you think we can get people like Brooke Magnanti to stop attacking critics of the sex industry? It goes both ways, you know. Extragloves 5 06 March 2013 3:00pm I used think legalising prostitution would be a good way of ensuring the safety and regulation of the prostitutes. However, having seen a documentary about prostitution gangs in Amsterdam and having seen recent news reports about gangs grooming young women and men, I'm not so sure. If more of a legal a demand/sex tourism is created, there'll be more unscrupulous characters trying to make money from it. Legalisation does not mean every prostitute will be interviewed to establish whether he or she hasn't been trafficked, brow beaten or bullied into their profession. pimpmasterkdogg 06 March 2013 3:25pm @Extragloves - It will make achieving justice much easier for victims, surely? And it will substantially reduce / completely destroy demand for http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/05/hatred-prostitutes-feminists-brutality#show-all Page 2 of 218 We need to face up to hatred of prostitutes – among feminists, too | Hannah Betts | Comment is free | The Guardian 3/12/13 7:23 PM street prostitutes? But as Holland has shown, you also need international action to legalise drugs and prostitution. One country doing it is not enough. Extragloves 06 March 2013 4:51pm @pimpmasterkdogg - I think it will increase the demand for prostitution. If it becomes a legal activity, those currently put off through not wanting to break the law may partake. Stag dos, too. For example, you get more strip bars opening all the time - look at Portsmouth Council's decision to increase the number of strip licences. Amsterdam isn't free from gangs of pimps abusing the prostitutes. Not to mention 'lover boy' pimps: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/18/loverboy-child-prostitution- netherlands Delite 06 March 2013 6:00pm This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. fb177 06 March 2013 1:28pm This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. MissIndia 06 March 2013 9:10am Great article daisyboo 3 06 March 2013 9:07am Hi amirite, thanks for your replies, I don't target sex workers but I would try my utmost to stop a young girl going down that road. Come on. Do you really think a young well adjusted young girl from a normal family where she receives unconditional love and support would chose such a seedy http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/05/hatred-prostitutes-feminists-brutality#show-all Page 3 of 218 We need to face up to hatred of prostitutes – among feminists, too | Hannah Betts | Comment is free | The Guardian 3/12/13 7:23 PM existence. Don't tell me its not seedy, it is. What good father would want that for his dear daughter. None. I absolutely do not have a naive view of care, on the contrary I have a very clear view of it. People go in to care as a last resort, when everything else has been tried and failed. Typically they are left with abusers (family) so long they are badly damaged by the time they do go into care. Unfortunately the myth that children are always better off with their natural parents is wrong sometimes, its the worse place they can be. Yes the care system can be abusive that is why I believe care workers should be paid more and carefully selected. The care system I work in is thankfully very good. A young girl I know of 16 is fostered recused from a mother and her very violent boyfriend (who she chose over the safety of her child) seems to be heading in the wrong direction, she self harms, she has no self esteem. Easy prey, easy for her to end up in an undesirable situation. We are doing everything we can to stop her from endangering her self. Care can and does save children. But no, its far from perfect. DouglasDaniel 1 06 March 2013 11:22am @daisyboo - the thing is, like many critics of the sex industry, you only see the worst case scenarios, and naturally this has shaped your views on the industry as a whole. Your focus seems to be on young, vulnerable girls who become prostitutes as a result of abusive family relationships etc. The reality is such women make up a small part of the sex industry. Their plights are unfortunate, but the simple fact is it was not the sex industry that created the circumstances they find themselves in. More to the point, if a young girl is selling her body on the streets as a last resort, it's unlikely the legality of prostitution is one of her main concerns. Do you really think a young well adjusted young girl from a normal family where she receives unconditional love and support would chose such a seedy existence. Don't tell me its not seedy, it is. What good father would want that for his dear daughter. None I'm sure there are a lot of "good fathers" who would hate the idea of his daughter having sex with multiple partners for free, never mind for money. Not to mention those who would disown their daughter if she brought a woman home with her. How many "good fathers" would like the idea of their daughter being involved in a threesome etc? Should we ban promiscuity, homosexuality and multiple-partner sex just because someone's father would find it ikky to find out his daughter indulged in one of them? Oh wait, I forgot - girls coming from loving families would never partake in behaviour that society still frowns upon, for whatever reason, because there is a direct link between our sense of morals and how much love we were given at home.