Purchasing of sex will be criminalised (it appears) in the near future in Ireland

NewHillel

gaffer91 wrote: »

This thread has been done to death now and I'm pleased to see the majority of people have their head screwed on and realise it should be legalised.

Talk about seeing what one want's to see.:rolleyes:

What's needed is much more Gardai activity, targeting the punters. The situation in Limerick has greatly improved, since the Gardai got their act together.

RichardAnd

Crooked Jack wrote: »

I was only making the point that if it was legalised it could be regulated. You could put certain laws in place to ensure people's lives arent put in jeopardy. Security, screening, testing etc...
It would also take it out of the hands of criminals, which would have the twofold effect of removing a revenue stream from organised criminals and benefiting the state in the form or taxation.
Like i said it wouldnt solve the problem completely, but as you said yourself, it's about the impact on the individual, so if it helped even one person it would be worth it.

It would be better than letting it be run as a criminal enterprise that destroys lives but I still wouldn't be comfortable knowing that prostitution is legal. Whether it be legal or not, prostitution has a detrimental effect on both parties. Women that get involved in the sex trade rarely consider it an auspicious experience. Besides, even with screening and testing, it opens up a huge opportunity for sexual diseases to take hold. Syphilis was once rampant in London due to prostitution and I'm not convinced that modern medicine could fully prevent something like that from happening again, even if it were properly applied.

We must also consider the social impact that legal prostitution might have. Certainly, it has not run Amsterdam into the ground but it has managed to paint the city as the sex and drugs capital of Europe. I would not be too keen to see the capital city of this country gain a similar reputation. It might generate tourism but Dublin has alot to offer in that regard anyway and besides, not everything should be about money really.

Lastly, something that's often over looked is the effect that casual sex can have. Sex, in my opinion, is not something to be taken in a free and easy manner. Far too many young people are engaging in an act that they don't fully understand which has serious consequences. If the state legalizes the purchasing of sex, it will further promote the idea that it is something for entertainment which, in turn, postulates the notion that it's "just a bit 'o craic!".

To wrap it up. I don't think that legalized prostitution is the sign of a mature society. What I would rather see would be a sensible and mature approach to the act where people regard it as the serious engagement that it is.

Belfast

mikemac wrote: »

Ruhama are often on the radio lobbying and getting their message out in the public
But they tend to go along the line of criminalize the buyer, not the seller

Making it legal to sell sex but not to buy it is strange.
How could it be legal to offer to sell something that is illegal to buy?

Godge

Belfast wrote: »

"A discussion document on the possibility of such legislation criminalising the purchase of sex will be issued by the end of the month, according to the Department of Justice.

Although it is an offence to solicit prostitution in a public place, it is not an offence to sell or purchase sex, except in the case where someone knowingly solicits a person who has been trafficked for the purpose of prostitution."

"A group including representatives of the Department of Justice and gardaí travelled to Sweden last September to meet officials and experts to examine 1999 Swedish legislation which provides that a person who obtains or attempts to obtain a casual sexual relation, in any place, in return for payment commits an offence.

A report on the visit was published by the department at which time Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said a consultation document would be prepared to inform future legislation in this area."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0123/1224310626760.html

if we are going to ban prostitution why?

Or will it be another "Pious aspiration" law like it is illegal to cycle on footpaths. Once it is banned we can say put in our normal token effort to enforce it.

How many more laws are we going to pass the in Dáil that we are not will or able to enforce.

They will probably write the law so badly that some guy who gets dumped some morning by his girlfriend will be reported and prosecuted because they had consensual sex the previous night after he had bought her flowers and dinner.

gaffer91

irishh_bob wrote: »

i dont think legalising it will reduce the impact on those forced to engage in prostitution , according to gardai , the number of women in the sex business who are the victims of crime is extremley low but that doesnt in anyway negate the other effects

If it is fully criminalised the number of trafficked women will increase as legal use of prostitutes disappears and the industry is driven into the grateful arms of criminal gangs.

How can you credibly argue that criminalising it will decrease the number of trafficked women?

Legalisation will obviously still have flaws but it is 100 times preferable to it being criminalised.

gaffer91

NewHillel wrote: »

Talk about seeing what one want's to see.:rolleyes:

What's needed is much more Gardai activity, targeting the punters. The situation in Limerick has greatly improved, since the Gardai got their act together.

Are you honestly trying to argue that the pro-criminalisation lobby in a majority on this thread?

This point has come up before anyway. Why should the gardai have to criminalise a transaction between 2 consenting adults?

SeanW

gaffer91 wrote: »

Why should the gardai have to criminalise a transaction between 2 consenting adults?

Yes, this is the question I want the pro-criminalisation posters ... poster, to answer!

goose2005

NewHillel wrote: »

Talk about seeing what one want's to see.:rolleyes:

What's needed is much more Gardai activity, targeting the punters. The situation in Limerick has greatly improved, since the Gardai got their act together.

Maybe on that one street; the women who used to work there are probably getting internet clients or on another street. They still want to sell sex and their former clients still want to buy sex; that hasn't changed.

Eileen_Lang

NewHillel wrote: »

Talk about seeing what one want's to see.:rolleyes:

What's needed is much more Gardai activity, targeting the punters. The situation in Limerick has greatly improved, since the Gardai got their act together.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local/prostitutes_return_to_limerick_city_despite_garda_crack_down_1_3458229

You don't say?

Sulmac

Anti-prostitution group to meet TDs
Updated: 07:32, Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Members of a group lobbying for the laws on prostitution to be tightened will continue their campaign today by meeting Independent TDs at Leinster House.

The discussions are taking place ahead of RTÉ's Prime Time programme on the issue, which is to be broadcast tonight.

The 'Turn off the Red Light' campaign is made up of 48 communities, professional organisations, unions and voluntary groups.

It said the law should be tightened to support women trapped in a life of abuse in the sex industry.

Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland Denise Charlton said many people will be surprised that a loophole in Irish law means it is legal to pay for sex.

She said the campaign is calling on the Government to introduce legislation that makes it a criminal offence.

Story from RTÉ News:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0207/prostitution.html

I wonder if the TDs or RTÉ will meet with the 'Turn off the Blue Light' campaign? Hardly.

Eileen_Lang

Sulmac wrote: »

I wonder if the TDs or RTÉ will meet with the 'Turn off the Blue Light' campaign? Hardly.

I should hope not too Sulmac...they only represent organised prostitution (sometimes called "pimping") and are not representative of prostitutes at all. They have a totally different agenda in the sense of wanting to legalise organised prostitution at the expense of criminalising independent prostitution and in a huge conflict of interest.

SWAI speak for the people who actually do sex work.

...and I am happy to meet any group of TDs at any time as an experienced and informed independent.

Still not enough posts to add a signature but here is a lot of what I have to say (no "Adult" material or links, but it is a pg subject and possible unsuitable for reading at work?):
http://www.stop-the-lights.com

edwood

NewHillel wrote: »

Talk about seeing what one want's to see.:rolleyes:

What's needed is much more Gardai activity, targeting the punters. The situation in Limerick has greatly improved, since the Gardai got their act together.

Target the punters? Just more lazy policing. Not on my door step is your opinion eh? One of those guys named and shamed is on suicide watch just so you know. Greatly improved you say? Not for that guy. Good old catholic Ireland... smh.. Welcome to 2012 NewHillel

NewHillel

edwood wrote: »

Target the punters?

Got it in one. Target those committing the crime, rather than the victims.

edwood wrote: »

Just more lazy policing.

No! A serious commitment to protecting some of the most vulnerable in our society.

edwood wrote: »

One of those guys named and shamed is on suicide watch just so you know.

That is deeply regrettable, for him and his family. With greater Gardai activity more punters would realise that 'actions can have serious consequences'.

edwood wrote: »

Greatly improved you say? Not for that guy.

Not for that guy, but fewer human beings being raped and otherwise exploited, in Limerick. A small, but still important, little bit of progress.

edwood wrote: »

Good old catholic Ireland... smh

Your point?
One doesn't have to be religious, to have compassion towards the vulnerable and dispossessed.

edwood wrote: »

Welcome to 2012 NewHillel

Indeed.

"I have to do it because ... I was so scared ... I don't want her to come and kill me ... I had nobody to run to." Prime Time Investigates, Tuesday 7th Feb 2012.

Let's all stop the charade that Prostitution is a victimless activity. It's time to shout STOP.

edwood

Oh you amuse me.:D

NewHillel

No reason at all, once they are truly consenting adults!

SeanW wrote: »

Yes, this is the question I want the pro-criminalisation posters ... poster, to answer!

gaffer91 wrote: »

This point has come up before anyway. Why should the gardai have to criminalise a transaction between 2 consenting adults?

edwood

NewHillel wrote: »

No reason at all, once they are truly consenting adults!

So what happens when prostitution is made completely illegal, and these guys that use them explode and attack/rape women? Becasue thats what could happen. What about those men who are lonely and can't get women normally due to self confidence or being unattractive to females etc? All men have the urge to "be with" a woman. What if they can't get a girl to date them? Would it not just be easier to regulate it?

irishh_bob

edwood wrote: »

So what happens when prostitution is made completely illegal, and these guys that use them explode and attack/rape women? Becasue thats what could happen. What about those men who are lonely and can't get women normally due to self confidence or being unattractive to females etc? All men have the urge to "be with" a woman. What if they can't get a girl to date them? Would it not just be easier to regulate it?

since when is sex a right , leaving prostitution the way it is so as to prevent ugly socially inept men from going mad with lust sounds absurd

NewHillel

edwood wrote: »

Oh you amuse me.:D

No accounting for some people's taste. :eek:
Hope it stays fine for you.

NewHillel

edwood wrote: »

So what happens when prostitution is made completely illegal, and these guys that use them explode and attack/rape women?

There's a very effective device, used by farmers on male calves, that would quickly sort that out. Who knows, we could even start an adult version of the "Vienna Boys Choir". Bet you that that would dampen the ardour a little bit.

DeVore

Ed wood, please tone it down.

Eileen_Lang

NewHillel wrote: »

Let's all stop the charade that Prostitution is a victimless activity. It's time to shout STOP.

If I had been prevented from making money by selling sex when I did there is literally no other way I could have survived...and the same is true, to one degree or another, for many, or even most, people who sell sex.

We are, largely, victims of circumstance, not of prostitution. Society should strive to identify and STOP the various circumstances that victimise us (and will surely only be better for it in a more general way), not take away the only solution realistically available to us.

Pimps and traffickers, where they actually exist, are only a tiny part of the circumstances that victimise us...more common are abusive families (spouse or parents) we need to escape, expensive, ineffectual NGOs that claim to solve our problems, but, in truth, only exploit them towards their own agenda leaving us not only with no solutions or support, but also with nowhere else left to turn because they are perceived to be "taking care of us".

But most of all are the areas in our society where a few people get thrust down between the stools, unnoticed and unacknowledged...there is, often, literally no other way back up.

The very first, isolated, time I ever sold sex was, after leaving everything I knew and owned to protect my child from serious abuse, to feed my child and, just as importantly, because of a medical condition, keep my child warm. There were supposed to be all kinds of resources available to me, I had a legal right to some money, but I was refused all resources on various technicalities, and despite my entitlement, no-one would put the money into my hand...

You cannot argue with a situation like that. I guarantee you that, somewhere in the country, there is at least one person left in a similar situation, right now, just before all offices close, in the middle of the week.

I had two alternatives:

1. Sell sex
2. Beg on the street

I am sure there are plenty of people poised to say that I should have begged for the LULS...and they are not worth my time...but there were also, even then, very genuine traveller woman who understood my situation completely, but were horrified that I would sell sex, rather than beg...and they made a good, persuasive case, but regardless, begging would have been impossible to me, I am just not wired that way, so I sold sex...

We were warm, we ate, my child even had a small, token birthday present, and other solutions emerged before the money ran out...but if I could not have sold sex I would have had no choice but return my child to the abuse I was trying to save him from...

It's not such an uncommon story, now I write it out (I never wrote that part out before)...in fact, you could almost say it is close to being an industry standard...the strangest part of it is that, on that occasion, there *WERE* other options before the money ran out.

I wasn't so lucky again, and others are never so lucky at all.

I am not blaming anyone, life is like that, sh*t happens, and I cannot see why anyone should put themselves out over sh*t that happened to me...people have their own problems...

...but it is nothing short of monsterous for other people to interfere and cut people like me off from the only solution they can find for themselves.

I have talked to Ruhama, many times over the years, including recently, they seem fully aware of all this, and, as far as I can see, they literally DO NOT CARE, any more than the same congregations of nuns cared when they used up women like me in the laundries.

It's all about agenda and control...there is not even the most basic human consideration involved.

RichardAnd

Eileen_Lang wrote: »

If I had been prevented from making money by selling sex when I did there is literally no other way I could have survived...and the same is true, to one degree or another, for many, or even most, people who sell sex.

We are, largely, victims of circumstance, not of prostitution. Society should strive to identify and STOP the various circumstances that victimise us (and will surely only be better for it in a more general way), not take away the only solution realistically available to us.

Pimps and traffickers, where they actually exist, are only a tiny part of the circumstances that victimise us...more common are abusive families (spouse or parents) we need to escape, expensive, ineffectual NGOs that claim to solve our problems, but, in truth, only exploit them towards their own agenda leaving us not only with no solutions or support, but also with nowhere else left to turn because they are perceived to be "taking care of us".

But most of all are the areas in our society where a few people get thrust down between the stools, unnoticed and unacknowledged...there is, often, literally no other way back up.

The very first, isolated, time I ever sold sex was, after leaving everything I knew and owned to protect my child from serious abuse, to feed my child and, just as importantly, because of a medical condition, keep my child warm. There were supposed to be all kinds of resources available to me, I had a legal right to some money, but I was refused all resources on various technicalities, and despite my entitlement, no-one would put the money into my hand...

You cannot argue with a situation like that. I guarantee you that, somewhere in the country, there is at least one person left in a similar situation, right now, just before all offices close, in the middle of the week.

I had two alternatives:

1. Sell sex
2. Beg on the street

I am sure there are plenty of people poised to say that I should have begged for the LULS...and they are not worth my time...but there were also, even then, very genuine traveller woman who understood my situation completely, but were horrified that I would sell sex, rather than beg...and they made a good, persuasive case, but regardless, begging would have been impossible to me, I am just not wired that way, so I sold sex...

We were warm, we ate, my child even had a small, token birthday present, and other solutions emerged before the money ran out...but if I could not have sold sex I would have had no choice but return my child to the abuse I was trying to save him from...

It's not such an uncommon story, now I write it out (I never wrote that part out before)...in fact, you could almost say it is close to being an industry standard...the strangest part of it is that, on that occasion, there *WERE* other options before the money ran out.

I wasn't so lucky again, and others are never so lucky at all.

I am not blaming anyone, life is like that, sh*t happens, and I cannot see why anyone should put themselves out over sh*t that happened to me...people have their own problems...

...but it is nothing short of monsterous for other people to interfere and cut people like me off from the only solution they can find for themselves.

I have talked to Ruhama, many times over the years, including recently, they seem fully aware of all this, and, as far as I can see, they literally DO NOT CARE, any more than the same congregations of nuns cared when they used up women like me in the laundries.

It's all about agenda and control...there is not even the most basic human consideration involved.

May I congratulate you on a poignant and very well well composed post. What you describe is an aspect to the world that many do not seem keen to consider or even, admit to the existence of. I come from a privileged background so I can not and will not claim to know what it was like for you to be in that situation but I have known women who were. It's part of the reason why I get so perturbed by the casual attitude some people display towards prostitution. It's a serious and complex, dark aspect to this odious little world we've created.

I hope life treats you better these days.

Eileen_Lang

RichardAnd wrote: »

May I congratulate you on a poignant and very well well composed post. What you describe is an aspect to the world that many do not seem keen to consider or even, admit to the existence of. I come from a privileged background so I can not and will not claim to know what it was like for you to be in that situation but I have known women who were. It's part of the reason why I get so perturbed by the casual attitude some people display towards prostitution. It's a serious and complex, dark aspect to this odious little world we've created.

I hope life treats you better these days.

Richard, you have just brought tears to my eyes because I always feel that I am living in a world that is blind deaf and stupid when it comes to the desperation of others. I understand why, I know what "core denials" are, and why people need to protect them to be able to function...but it feels like being invisible and mute all the same.

As if you can scream and scream and no-one will ever hear you, or see where you are, or ever come and save you...

I feel that way now...I have literally begged Ruhama and friends to stop this before they do irreversible harm to the very people they claim, and are funded, to support...and I might as well be a fly on the wall for all they heed or care.

The past ten years were not great, they were the best years of my life, and everything is relative, now, because of the recession, that is over, and though I am fine for now my position is very precarious indeed, like a lot of people, I could wake up tomorrow with no hope left.

I can't just sit quietly and watch while this happens, I have to do all I can to stop it or I could not live with myself...

RichardAnd

Eileen_Lang wrote: »

Richard, you have just brought tears to my eyes because I always feel that I am living in a world that is blind deaf and stupid when it comes to the desperation of others. I understand why, I know what "core denials" are, and why people need to protect them to be able to function...but it feels like being invisible and mute all the same.

As if you can scream and scream and no-one will ever hear you, or see where you are, or ever come and save you...

I feel that way now...I have literally begged Ruhama and friends to stop this before they do irreversible harm to the very people they claim, and are funded, to support...and I might as well be a fly on the wall for all they heed or care.

The past ten years were not great, they were the best years of my life, and everything is relative, now, because of the recession, that is over, and though I am fine for now my position is very precarious indeed, like a lot of people, I could wake up tomorrow with no hope left.

I can't just sit quietly and watch while this happens, I have to do all I can to stop it or I could not live with myself...

Alot of people know Eileen, they know what happens in the world. What they may not be aware of, or perhaps, they do not wish to be aware of, is how close to their own door step it can be. Anyone can find themselves in dire straits and it takes alot to pull yourself out of a bad place once you fall in.

As you say, the recession has been a eye opening experience for many people, myself included. Who knows what tomorrow might bring. . .

Keep your chin up though and remember, many people do care

NewHillel

RichardAnd wrote: »

Alot of people know Eileen, they know what happens in the world. What they may not be aware of, or perhaps, they do not wish to be aware of, is how close to their own door step it can be. Anyone can find themselves in dire straits and it takes alot to pull yourself out of a bad place once you fall in.

As you say, the recession has been a eye opening experience for many people, myself included. Who knows what tomorrow might bring. . .

Keep your chin up though and remember, many people do care

It can hit us all, it's not far from my own doorstep. I really hope that I'm not coming accross as a "goody goody". I get really angry when people, regardless of race, creed, or background, are being maltreated. That is why I am so anti-Prostitution. It's taking advantage of people at their very lowest.

Eileen_Lang

NewHillel wrote: »

It can hit us all, it's not far from my own doorstep. I really hope that I'm not coming accross as a "goody goody". I get really angry when people, regardless of race, creed, or background, are being maltreated. That is why I am so anti-Prostitution. It's taking advantage of people at their very lowest.

You aren't coming across as "goody goody" you are just coming across as someone who couldn't care less about reality as long as you can force your alternative narrative on your environment...as if as long as you can keep up your idea of appearances it doesn't matter what really happens to the real people involved.

I am not into the sexual politics, one way or another, It's not something I feel strongly enough about to consider it is my business.

I get what you mean about "taking advantage of people at their very lowest", that is a factor...but if there is nobody to pay them for all they have to sell, what do you think will become of those same "people at their very lowest"?

There is no fairy godmother to swoop down and sort it out, Richard Gere is otherwise engaged, and if the NGOs had anything to offer, trust me, you wouldn't be able to get yourself out there at all, it's just TOO HARD...frightening, but more than that, you have to crush every sexual and emotional reflex you have...believe me...whatever even prostitutes would like you to believe (they tend to be proud people) you can't just do that on a whim...you have to be absolutely, life or death, desperate, in a long term, ongoing way.

If you take away the men who will pay and their only income, you just turn desperate people with one last chance to make it to a better time and place in life into desperate people with no hope at all.

Even the very few girls who are trafficked (which is horrific, but very rare)...if there are no clients, do you seriously think the traffickers will just say:
"Never mind, we'd better find you that job in a hotel, give you your passport back and part as friends".

No...they will just traffic them to a different country instead...you will not save ANYONE from ANYTHING...

There are no good answers as longs as people can become that desperate. That is a terrible thing all by itself...but the *BEST* answer is to decriminalise, then the vast majority of the women will be able to work as real independents again, just as they did pre 1993...and they will, in effect, police the traffickers for you...they have access to information the guards would never get near to...and if the guards are no threat to their own lives and livelihoods they would be happy to co-operate.

No, of course it is not ideal to have women selling sex to keep their lives and families together, but you play the hand you are dealt, and if that is the only card you have, no-one has any right to take it away.

During the boom I would have been the first one jumping up and down saying that if you want to get rid of prostitution all you need to do is stump up the resources to take away the problem that drive women to it in the first place...but the boom is over, there are no resources.

Isolated individuals are already finding themselves cut out of any safety nets...leave them alone use whatever last resort they can...the only person damaged by prostitution is the prostitute, but if an intelligent woman (and I never met a less than intelligent hooker in my life) makes the hard decision that in her particular circumstances, she has more to gain than lose by selling sex, she is probably right, because you don't know enough about her, or her life, to make that decision for her, but she does...

So leave her in peace, don't do anything to make it worse...what purpose does that serve anyway? Making you feel good? Making you feel in control? An illusion of righteousness?

We do not know how deep this recession will go, so we owe it to one another to let people take any harmless chance they can on getting through it in the best shape they can.

Change the prostitution laws, but to make things safer for the women, and to encourage independent prostitution rather than organised prostitution. Also to try and contain any public order concerns.

There is no money, but it doesn't cost a penny to restructure the law to leave these desperate, drowning people in some kind of peace to save themselves and their families, these are usually the people society has let down over and over again anyway.

Please...

SeanW

NewHillel wrote: »

No reason at all, once they are truly consenting adults!

O.K, that sounds reasonable, but how does a biased blanket-ban cover the situation where the participants are indeed consentint adults? I would imagine a fair amount of the business works this way.

NewHillel

SeanW wrote: »

O.K, that sounds reasonable, but how does a biased blanket-ban cover the situation where the participants are indeed consentint adults? I would imagine a fair amount of the business works this way.

My only concern is that it is a demonstrably free choice, in the sense of no coercion for the prostitute. It is the real difficulty in knowing this that informs my position that the punter should be prosecuted. In my view, unless the punter can be sure, he should be prosecuted for rape.

I accept that prostitution will always exist. I would therefore be in favour of limited legalisation, under tightly controlled conditions. My reasoning is straightforward, tight control is the only way of ensuring that the prostitutes are not being pimped, or being controlled by criminals. One of those conditions might well be a level of anonymity for punters who choose to go down what would be the only legal option.

I would expect that such an approach would mean that tax was being paid.
I would like to see any revenue being ring fenced for the benefit of the prostitutes. Ideally, it could be used to help them have a better life elsewhere, if they weren't happy in that trade. (There is a reasonable consensus that many prostitutes are only plying their trade as a very last resort. Were the state to profit from their misery it would be odious.)

rodento

Why don't you answer the issues Eileen-lang raised:rolleyes:

Eileen_Lang

NewHillel wrote: »

My only concern is that it is a demonstrably free choice, in the sense of no coercion for the prostitute. It is the real difficulty in knowing this that informs my position that the punter should be prosecuted. In my view, unless the punter can be sure, he should be prosecuted for rape.

I accept that prostitution will always exist. I would therefore be in favour of limited legalisation, under tightly controlled conditions. My reasoning is straightforward, tight control is the only way of ensuring that the prostitutes are not being pimped, or being controlled by criminals. One of those conditions might well be a level of anonymity for punters who choose to go down what would be the only legal option.

I would expect that such an approach would mean that tax was being paid.
I would like to see any revenue being ring fenced for the benefit of the prostitutes. Ideally, it could be used to help them have a better life elsewhere, if they weren't happy in that trade. (There is a reasonable consensus that many prostitutes are only plying their trade as a very last resort. Were the state to profit from their misery it would be odious.)

Newhillel, let me tell you something from reality, not theory.

When prostitution was decriminalised between 1982 and 1993, WE policed the pimps ourselves and ensured there was no coercion...

You don't seriously think we are mindless lumps of rubber do you? We do have our own opinions on the topic of pimps and coercion.

As a matter of fact the supreme court challenge that lead to decriminalisation was brought by a group of ordinary working mums and prostitutes who were friends of an ex prostitute and women's rights activist called Dolores Lynch, who was burned alive along with her mother and aunt, as punishment for giving evidence against somebody else's pimp.

I was privileged to know most of those ladies, they wanted the full protection of the law so that the pimps could not prey on any of them again...AND IT WORKED...

The women ruled themselves, the pimps and protect racketeers had nothing to offer (they usually get a foothold because, when prostitution is illegal, the women have nowhere to turn for protection from bad clients, theft, or other abuses. ). If anyone tried to prey on the women they could call the guards to deal with it.

After the 1993 act they had to turn to the pimps to protect them from arrest. Organised crime was gearing up to take control of the red light districts and the brothels almost a year before the act was even passed...

They knew that as soon as the law passed the women would be helpless...and would have no choice but go along with them.

If prostitution is decriminalised again coercion will cease to be possible well within 18 months..