OzSpen, my personal experience hasn't brought me close to the industry, but it would seem to make sense that those who require funding for an expensive habit would be drawn to prostitution. I would think the usual addict/prostitute story would have to run along the lines of "I became a prostitute to support my drug habit" rather than "I turned to drugs to make my job bearable". Couldn't she simply have chosen a different line of work if it was that bad? And what of the male drug addicts, do they embark on a lifestyle of petty crime first and then start taking the drugs to deal an associated mental stress? Of course not they steal to support the addiction.

A pity that discussion has been diverted away from the real issue - the harm from prostitution - because of a discussion about one's religious motivation. Yes, one's faith as a Christian (and I am one) affects all areas of life, including one's views on sex and prostitution. However there are many people out there who do not profess a religious view but are extremely concerned about the effects of prostitution. Sheila Jeffreys, a lesbian feminist from Melbourne, writes extensively about the exploitation of women by prostitution. She is involved in CATWA - Coalition against trafficking in women - and has been involved in the legislation in Sweden to curb the prostitution trade.
In Victoria, when brothels were legalised in 1994 the 'reason' given was it would stop illegal brothels. Did it? NO. Prior to legalisation, there were an estimated 50 illegal brothels. There are currently 85-90 legal brothels, numerous escort agencies and a growing number (more than 1500) of registered single operators.
The number of illegal brothels has also risen sharply. In 1999 police estimated there were more than 100 illegal brothels.
Some reports have said there are up to 400 illegal brothels.
Then there are so many ‘street sex’ prostitutes that the State government tried to create ‘tolerance zones’ and ‘safe hotels’ so that the prostitutes could have somewhere to see their clients ‘safely’. Local residents objected to the proposal that their streets would be near these ‘tolerance’ zones and the proposal was dropped.
Since ‘legalisation’, there have been numerous cases of sex slaves brought to Melbourne for prostitution and other cases of ‘underage girls’, even in the legal brothels. Legalisation has not ‘cleaned up’ the industry.
Jenny Stokes, Salt Shakers.

Thank you, Jenny Stokes, for helping to get this discussion back on track on the harm prostitution does to women and men.

Consider former Melbourne prostitute, Sarah Priesley’s story, as documented in her recent book, The Prostitution Trap (Smithfield, NSW: Gary Allen Pty Ltd., 1997). She describes how demeaning it was to present herself in the brothel’s waiting room to potential clients: “It was bizarre, hearing three men talking about my body as if it was a piece of meat” (p. 23). Priesley explains what prostitution did to her:

"Inside myself, I felt I was dying. Doing this was taking my dignity away and I couldn’t believe that I had sunk this low, to let a stranger use my body for his pleasure with only money as recompense. I had reached my lowest ruin; now I was wallowing in it. What would it take to feel worse than this? . . .
At the back of my mind common sense asked how could money be an objective, if you are generally unhappy. Most of the time you feel like dirt, after a bad client, or sometimes even a good one. To me it seemed like a vicious circle, a complicated merry-go-round" (pp. 25, 30).

Sincerely,

I applaud the posts of Jenny Stokes and OzSpen.. Prostitution is a blot on society, and its growth [even to importing "sex slaves" existing under disgusting and soul destroying conditions] demonstrates how sick and cruel some Australians can be. Legalisation was a mistake. There must be no more loopholes for the brothel owners and other pimps to spread this cancer further.

Yup. Let's ban prostitution and return it to the control of organised crime and corrupt police, where it belongs.

That's going to create 'a safe working environment for prostitutes'

er... NOT!!

Please get real, people. Prostitution is extant in every human society - in some places, hard to distinguish from marriage, admittedly.

Legislation to regulate the industry is tantamount to state pimping. Government intrusion into private lives is deeper now then ever before – at best, it achieves a false sense of security, at worst, assists in family and community breakdown.

While business groups are starting to quantify and question the costs of government regulation, its deindividuated citizenry continue to demand more of the same.

Prostitution harms society in ways not easily articulated. Criminalising demand, but not supply, may be confusing at first, until one remembers that both criminalisation, and regulation of supply has failed. Perhaps incarceration of our sisters, daughters, wives … mothers, is after all, more difficult, than other men.

Let’ do what the Swedes eventually did –deem it demeaning and abusive to women and collectively fund their career change.