There was a hopefuly piece on Britian and the matter of sex trafficking in the Daily Mail, which I only now have read. Click on "Comments (11)" below to be brought to the site's article, reprinted below, with comments.
Sex can be bought for just £15, new survey reveals
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:18 PM on 04th September 2008
Comments (11)
Crackdown: Ministers hope the move will help stop people trafficking
New laws against men who use prostitutes came closer today as a survey revealed sex can be bought for just £15.
Harriet Harman stepped up her campaign to make it illegal to pay for sex by publishing opinion research showing 58 per cent of the public would back the move if it prevented the trafficking of women and children to the UK.
A government inquiry will report at the end of the year on proposals to reform the prostitution laws, which already make kerb-crawling illegal.
Her move came as shocking new research into the scale of London prostitution found huge numbers of foreign women are forced to sell their bodies for almost no reward.
Brothels in the capital also promise risky ‘extras’, such as unprotected full sex which spreads HIV.
Anti-trafficking charity Poppy Project revealed the ‘disturbing prevalence’ of prostitution by posing as punters to survey-more than 900 brothels.
Many of the women involved had come from eastern Europe and south-east Asia — well known hotspots for young women being coerced into prostitution and trafficked to the west.
The average price for full sex was just under £62 but some were as cheap as £15 and one offered a 50 per cent discount for repeat visits.
Such low returns suggest women are being forced into the sex trade. Some brothels promised risky sexual practices for only £10 extra.
A researcher says in the report: ‘I do remember there was a chain of south east London places which promised “the lowest prices in London” and a place in Islington stood out as sounding particularly unpleasant and dodgy.’
Most of the brothels were in ordinary-residential streets.
Report coauthor Helen Atkins said: ‘For most women, the reality is a cycle of violence and coercion, perpetuated by poverty and inequality.’
Ms Harman’s poll found men were more likely to regard prostitution as acceptable.
‘Our survey suggests that there are double standards out there,’ she said.
‘Even among people who thought selling sex was a reasonable choice to make, the overwhelming majority would then find it unacceptable if a family member was working as a prostitute.’
Some brothels offered ‘very young girls’, implying they were under age.
Ms Atkins said: ‘It has been said that we are never more than six feet away from a rat in London.
‘Apparently, something similar applies to brothels, places where thousands of women are regularly exploited by men who buy sex.’
And Ms Harman, the Minister for Women, urged: ‘To protect women, we also need to tackle the demand side.’
At 11:59 on April 9, 2008 Andrew M, from Central London, wrote:
'To protect women, we also need to tackle the demand side.'
Intrigued to see how Ms Harman is going to stop men wanting to have sex...
To Andrew M:
Your understanding of "sex" requires that men rent women in systems of prostitution or sexual trafficking?? How curious. And is it conceivable that "sex" [among women and men] could happen without men demanding anything from women? Without any level of coercion, be it social, religious, legal, or economic? Without any man making assumptions about "what women are on Earth to do"?
END OF POST.
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