How hese things are presented shapes the debate enormously. In that article, “Sophie” is a bright, pleasant woman with no social problems other than a shortage of money. She is having sex with people for money, it’s legal, it’s all lovely.
I have no doubt that there are plenty of women who are like her, but presumably it remains true that there are plenty who are not, and who are doing what they do because they are desperately vulnerable and have a full gamut of social problems starting with having been in care as children and working up through abusive relationships and drug addiction.
Now, I’d go to a legalised brothel without worrying about it too much morally if that was the done thing. But I suspect that might be a moderately expensive business, and I’d not want to be paying a desperate drug addict with bad breath and needle marks. Assuming the desperate drug addict is still pretty much otherwise unemployable and stands no chance of getting a job in a nice clean legalised brothel she is still going to be selling herself, and she’s going to be much cheaper than the clean girls with the VD certificates and the sexy undies making a safe and empowered career choice inside.
Result, in this scenario, is a lot more “nice” girls taking up prostitution as a career choice, and a whole load of ther same helpless people who do it now not having the chance to do it legally and carrying on doing it illegally. The only way those people are put out of business is if virtually all of the potential punters prefer a nice classy experience in a legalised brothel regardless of the additional cost.
I’m in favour of legalisation, but I’m not sure it removes all the real problems of the present situation.