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According to an article by Sheila Jeffreys, the prostitution industry is changing.  In the Western world, brothels are being replaced by escort services which use the internet and cell phone to connect women with buyers.  This has huge implications for policy-makers who are trying to curb trafficking. Why?  Because traditional strategies are no longer valid.

Some policy-makers promote the legalization or decriminalization of prostitution, arguing that it makes sex workers safer and combats organized crime.  But Jeffreys says that “these assumptions are based upon the idea that prostitution will take place in brothels which can institute health and safety codes, and enable easy identification of the illegal brothel industry which can be closed down.” The escort sector, which operates through cell phones and delivers women to private houses, hotel rooms, and cars by the roadside, is beyond regulation.

In Queensland, Australia, where prostitution was legalized, 75% of prostitution is composed of outcall or escort services.  The Queensland PLA annual reports state clearly that legalization has failed to discourage illegal prostitution, mainly because of the development of the escort sector.  In both Queensland and the Netherlands, the illegal sector is larger than the legal sector.

Escort prostitution used to be seen as fancy, even classy.  But it has grown to include a broad bottom layer that consists of mostly foreign women and girls who are extremely vulnerable.  The so called “safety advantages” of legalization only benefit a small minority of women; it can only apply to brothel prostitution since there is no way of monitoring or preventing risks in the escort and street prostitution sectors.

Therefore, legalization of prostitution is an out-of-date strategy, and policy-makers should focus on other solutions if they are serious about reducing sex trafficking.

To read Sheila Jeffrey’s full article, “Brothels Without Walls: the Escort Sector as a Problem for the Legalization of Prostitution,” it is available for purchase here (students can gain access through their college/university online journal archives).  For more on this topic, check out our last two articles on legalization:

Post #1: Swedish Sex Worker’s Thoughts on the Criminalization of Her Clients

Post #2: Author Victor Malarek Responds to Swedish Sex Worker’s Statements

Michelle Brock