I saw this clip today as I was catching up on my favourite news programme, and thought I'd share this bit with you all.
It's a step in the right direction for news coverage; Abby does refer to the folks in the business as 'Sex Workers', shows that the few places where it is legal (such as the Nevada 'Bunny Ranch') have eliminated pimps, and that there has been NO TRAFFICKING involved within the confines of this limited legalised setting. An opinion poll taken from the ladies in the business there even showed that 84% of them said they feel completely save doing the job in the legalised setting.
The most interesting part of the clip is where Abby discusses a National Bureau of Economic Research report which references a 15-year long study on the effects of de-criminalizing INDOOR prostitution (brothels and escort services). 85% of all sew work activity is now believed to happen indoors inside the U.S., which is probably comparable to here as well as most of the Western world. There was an interesting case where in the State of Rhode Island from 2003-2009, indoor sex work was no long seen as a felony. It was later overturned, but the statistics show that during that time, there was a 31% DROP in reported rapes, and a massive reduction of STI's.
The cheery on top of it all from the cited report has a quote that discusses the INCREASED willingness of sex workers to engage with police/law enforcement officials in places and circumstances where Sex Work is decriminalised, saying:
"Decriminalization may also reduce violence by increasing sex worker's willingness to cooperate with police and reducing opportunities for police corruption. Prostitutes commonly report a reluctance to contact the police when they are the victims of theft or violence."
The link for the report is here:
http://rt.com/shows/breaking-set-sum...-prostitution/
The report runs from about 2 minutes and 45 seconds into the show until about 7:30 into the show. Enjoy.