While most of the managers of brothels and procurers of women may also be women, who actually owns the brothels and takes the lions share of the money? I have only come across one brothel owner, he is a sleazy, thuggish illiterate who says openly 'all women are whores', and lives like a lord a long way removed from his 'businesses'. His business partners are all men. If women actually want to be prostitutes all power to them, but how many are driven to it by poverty, homelessness, drug addiction, trafficking and stand-over men/women? How many girls aspire to be prostitutes when they grow up?

The sex police are out in force on this issue, condemning without any evidence in Australia that persons ( blokes as well) who work in the sex industry are being forced to particpate.
One does wonder what sort of sex life and personal relationships these anti sex people have. Queen Victoria died a long time ago, guess what, in those days they where many brothels and even the royals of the day enjoyed the experience, but there where no safe guards for the sex workers, is that what you lot want.

The whole argument put here looks fundamentally paternalistic and sexist. Put into simpler terms, women are incapable of making informed choices for themselves, men are responsible for their involvementand should assume that the women involved are not capable of making their own choices.

I accept the proposition that some women are forced into "sex work" by circumstances which they may have had little control over and I'd also accept that some of those men who pay for sexual services have other ways of gaining some form of sexual intimacy in their lives.

I doubt very much that in any modern western nation the difference in control of their lives between prostitute and customer is as clearly differentiated as seems to be implied in the article.

Glad to see that the Australian left are apparently a lot more progressive than some of their peers and are closer to treating women as equal to men rather than the inferior status implied by the laws described in the article.

R0bert

what about our asexual sparring partners here on OLO, the lefties ?

Why is the ALP so out of line with its international counterparts when it comes to protecting the rights of women in this regard? Being a prostitute should not be the problem - paying for sex and therefore encouraging others with more access to choices (brothel owners and pimps) to profit from exploited women should be illegal. The 'Swedish Model' is good for exploited women, good for society, and bad for those trafficking in and profiting from this aspect of human misery. Wake up Australia!

Wake up Australia!
Captain Kuhle,
That's a huge call !