So I’ve got a few questions for sex-positive feminists..

Lets get a few things straight. I don’t label as a feminist for reasons I wont get in to here but I fully support many of the sex-positive goals including sex-workers rights. To quote George Carlin “I don’t understand why prostitution is illegal. Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. Why isn’t selling fucking legal?”

It’s only something I take a passing interest in but as I understand it most sex-positives who take an interest in sex-workers rights generally advocate for  de-criminalisation as opposed to legalisation.

Whenever I’ve heard the difference explained it’s always been pretty vague but from what I can gather de-crim is effectively saying the police or the state simply have  no right to interfere whereas legalisation would entail a set of regulations.

The justification I’ve heard for this is that many of the regulation’s in areas where it is legal are very much against the best interest of the prostitute to the extent that many would rather work illegally. Such as:

limits on when and where they can work.

Unfair license fees with limits on the number of licenses obtainable.

Brothels charging their workers unfair fees.

Brothels dictating how much their workers can charge.

Personally I think if somebody sells a sexual service on an occasional basis the government should have absolutely no right to arrest or fine them. If for example if a woman told me that she really wanted someone to have sex with her and offered me £200 we should be able to do it without threat of legal action.

If somebody makes a living from it however that’s a different matter and I think their should be SOME level of regulation just as their is for absolutely any other type of trade. I’m certainly against many of the regulations which sex-worker’s rights advocates claim are unfair but their must be a decent legalisation frame work which you could agree on especially if you want prostitution to be viewed as a legitimate profession.

A criticism I have with feminism as a whole is that it nearly always tackles gender equality issues from only 1 side, for example we’re never going to see equal representation in the work force by encouraging women to work without ALSO making is socially expectable for a man to stay at home and look after the children etc. This leads me on to another point.

All I ever hear is how de-crim is the best option for sex-workers (which is fine) but not once have I ever heard the rights, well-being or safety of the Johns taken in to consideration. Even 90% of the feminist objection to the Swedish model is based around how it doesn’t benefit the sex-workers. Are Johns not also people who deserve protection from STDs, violence, false allegations and overcharging etc?

So two questions….

1. How does your position factor the well-being of the Johns?

2. Is there any foreseeable legalisation framework which you would prefer to de-crim?