Interesting piece here about growing up with sex workers in the same building:
What it feels like to grow up with prostitutes

I have a similar experience…
My first apartment was in a dodgy part of town. The was a large escort agency around the corner and the city’s first strip club were just up the road. The streetwalkers were a few blocks down and the rent boys had a patch just beyond the shopping centre.

The sex workers themselves were friendly and there was never any hassle with them. When the director of the agency stopped me on the street and said he thought I’d be “perfect” for a job, I didn’t know whether to be insulted or pleased. I was eighteen and very innocent at the time (hard to believe but true…).

However, the johns were a constant source of annoyance. They seemed to think every woman in the area was involved in the sex trade. I got followed on a number of occasions by drunk men offering me money; shouted at; and generally verbally abused. I hate to think how they must have behaved with the women whose time they had ‘bought’ if they were that awful to me.

Recently, an Irish escort service has added a ‘dangerous customers’ section to its website. Read about that here: Prostitution website to identify dangerous punters

I wonder how much of our moral condemnation of sex work gives some people the belief that dehumanising these men and women is their right? I’m not saying that selling sex is a good idea - sex between freely consenting adults is what I promote - but surely we should be doing more to protect those marginalised by society and at risk from danger and abuse every day?

I was reading an article the other day by The Guardian’s Josh Freedman Berthoud which argues that there’s no real difference between sex traffickers, pimps, brothel keepers and rapists. Here’s a quote:

“The separation of good prostitution and bad prostitution; an evil rapist and just a regular guy who’s looking for a good time, must not be allowed to stand.”

IMHO surely likening a rape victim or a trafficked sex slave to someone who choses to sell sex of his or her own violition is downgrading the seriousness of these crimes? Whether or not selling sex is a wise choice is an argument for a different day, but surely the fact that choice is involved is a mitigating factor.

I’m curious to hear what you think… and if anyone here has ever used a prostitute or worked as one, it’d be great to hear from you especially

A more enlightened country than our own, prostitution is legal in Switzerland. Sex workers register with city authorities and get regular health checks, protecting both them and their clients. As with all sports tournaments, a lot of business is expected to take place during Euro 2008 so the Swiss Aids Federation has printed a series of postcards to remind customers that sex workers deserve politeness, respect and cleanliness.

More importantly, contact details are available should a customer suspect a sex worker is in forced prostitution.

It’s easy to be cynical about the postcard idea, but still, it certainly can’t hurt to remind people that those in the sex industry, like anybody providing a service, deserve to be treated in a respectful manner.