Decriminalisation of prostitution in UK is on the table

DECRIMINALISING prostitution in Britain could reduce levels of rape and sexual assaults on women, a think tank said yesterday, which described attempts to control the sex trade as ineffective and a waste of public money.

Britain’s sex industry – reportedly worth £4 billion (R79.52bn) – will continue to flourish as men have a far greater desire for sex than women, and male demand for sexual entertainment is “growing, and ineradicable”, according to a report published by the Insti- tute of Economic Affairs.

“Men would like to have sex twice as often as women. This gap in sexual desire between men and women is growing over time and cannot be dismissed as an outdated patriarchal myth as argued by some feminists,” report author and sociologist Catherine Hakim said. She dismissed claims that prostitution, pornography and lapdancing are damaging to society and promote rape and violence.

But campaigners against violence against women called the report “alarmingly one-sided” and said arguments about men’s greater interest in sex than women were “laughable”.

Laws legalising or decriminalising the sex trade have been introduced in the Netherlands, Germany and New Zealand.

Other countries, such as Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Canada and Northern Ireland, have adopted the so-called “Nordic model” which aims to punish clients without criminalising those driven into prostitution. – Reuters