I supported decriminalising prostitution - this is why I changed my mind |
A new bill put forward by the independent MSP Ash Regan which would make buying sex a criminal offence is to be discussed in Scottish Parliament this month.
The Prostitution (Offences and Support) Bill would bring in the model followed by Nordic countries, which criminalises the buying of sex rather than the individual selling it. Writers Terri White and Kate Lister give their perspective on the effect of this approach.
In the Noughties, you’d have heard me chirp: “Women have the right to do whatever they choose with their bodies!”. In the 2010s, I’d be declaring: “Sex work is work!”.
Just another liberal, left-leaning, progressive young feminist riding the third wave like Zorro and calling for prostitution to be decriminalised. The exchange of sex for money in England and Wales was then and is now legal, but not so keeping a brothel, or soliciting or selling sex in public.
And in the 2020s? I’ve shed the sex-trade teachings of Pretty Woman’s perky prostitute Kit De Luca (“We say who, we say when, we say how much!”). Just in time to go 12 rounds on the recurring debate, kick-started in the dying days of 2025 when UK charities sent up a flare. They warned the country’s continuing hardship was driving more women into prostitution.
Some in the sex trade are repeating calls for decriminalisation for both “buyers” and “sellers”, arguing this would prevent the “industry” from being driven underground. Others have demanded legalisation, meaning regulation and state oversight, just like any other industry and job. (Taxes! Unions!)
The gist of their argument: it’s the world’s oldest profession – women will always sell sex, men will always buy it (and to be clear, it’s still predominantly those groups doing the buying and selling) but this way, women are safer, and their........