Molly Smith

With legalistion, only some sex work, in only some contexts, is legal, whereas with decriminalisation, prostitution is, as a starting point, not a crime.

Liberal support for regulationism is linked to the notion that prostitution is something innate, perennial, inevitable – the dirty job that someone has got to do. This has deep roots: Christian theologians, for instance, have argued that commercial sex is an outlet for sexual impulses that would otherwise result in worse sins.

The patriarchal double standard praises men for having multiple sexual partners but shames and condemns women for the same. Mathematically, the only way for men to practice promiscuity while allowing the majority of women to remain ‘respectable’ is for a small number of women to be extremely sexually active.