Prostitution: Prohibition, Abolition, or mere Regulation?

Whore. Hooker. Slut. Wait a minute. Do not take the image of sex workers as you may know it for granted.
Unlike the prohibitionist legislation in most western countries, Sweden and the Netherlands have somewhat alternative views on sex work, and neither of the countries criminalize the worker.

Since 1999, Sweden has been attempting the abolitionist approach to prostitution by criminalizing the purchase of sex services. Thus, it is the client, rather than the prostitute who is considered guilty. By subtracting a large number of purchasers, Swedes are hoping to disrupt the sex market to the extent to which it can no longer sustain itself. The general view is that prostitution represents the peak of men's oppression against women and that no prostitution is voluntary. Thus an important purpose of this law was to influence people's attitudes through numerous feminist campaigns, emphasizing that gender equality is impossible if men are still able to sell, consume and exploit women's bodies.

The Dutch, on the other hand, are strong believers in voluntary prostitution. Their view is that prostitution has existed for so long across the world, that the only pragmatic approach is to accept the situation and regulate it so that it excludes involuntary actions. The Netherlands lifted the ban on brothels in 2000. The 6 main objectives of this legislation are:

1. control and regulation of prostitution;
2. better combat against the exploitation of involuntary prostitution;
3. protection of minors;
4. protection of the prostitutes' position;
5. separation of prostitution from criminal activities;
6. reduction of the portion of illegal immigrants in prostitution;

This voluntary vs. involuntary approach makes the Swedish one seem so conservative! A report written by the Norweigan working group for the legal regulation of the purchase of sex services shows that the legislation in Sweden has caused prostitution to go underground, the prices of sex services to drop and the fear of violence to grow among prostitutes while the Netherlands' hunt on street prostitution after the legalization of brothels sent a lot of illegal immigrant workers back to places they may have been trying to escape. Has anyone asked the sex workers before taking a stab at solving their problems?