Legality of selling sex
Prostitutes working in their vans in Lyon, France. This form of prostitution is often referred to as 'BMC'.
Prostitutes working in their vans in Lyon, France. This form of prostitution is often referred to as 'BMC'.
At one end of the legal spectrum, prostitution carries the death penalty in some Muslim countries; at the other end, prostitutes are tax-paying and unionised professionals in the Netherlands and brothels are legal and advertising businesses there (however, prostitutes must be at least 18 and the age of consent is 16 in other contexts). The legal situation in Germany, Switzerland (where the issue of legal age is a source of avid dispute, some insisting that one can legally be a prostitute as of one's sixteenth birthday, other maintaining it is eighteen), Greece, and New Zealand is similar to that in the Netherlands (see prostitution in the Netherlands, prostitution in Germany and prostitution in New Zealand). In the Australian state of New South Wales, any person over the age of 18 may offer to provide sexual services in return for money. In Victoria, a person who wishes to run a prostitution business must have a licence. Prostitutes working for themselves in their own business, as prostitutes in the business, must be registered. Individual sex workers are not required to be registered or licensed. In some countries the legal status of prostitution may vary depending on the activity; in Japan, for example, vaginal prostitution is against the law while fellatio prostitution is legal, as women who perform fellatio for money are not considered prostitutes in Japan.
In Turkey, street prostitution is illegal. Prostitution through government regulated brothels is legal. All brothels must have a license, and all sex workers working in brothels must be licensed as well. Municipality based "Commissions for the struggle against venereal diseases and prostitution" are in charge of issuing such licenses. Along with the reduction of perversity and sexual crimes in society, the Turkish brothel's main use is in times of invasion. Instead of having soldiers who are faced with dying for their country never having been in the company of a woman, the brothel allows the soldier to become "national" and boldly defend their country in time of need. This is similar to the comfort women used in Japan.
In the United Kingdom, prostitution is not formally illegal, but several activities surrounding it are outlawed. In England and Wales, the legal situation is:
* for a prostitute to loiter or conduct solicitation in a street or public place is illegal, therefore outlawing street prostitution.
* it is also illegal for a potential client to solicit persistently, or solicit from a motor vehicle ("kerb crawling"
.
* owning or running a brothel is illegal.
* child prostitution is specifically illegal for the person paying (where child is defined as younger than 18, although the age of consent is 16)
* controlling prostitution for gain is an offence, banning pimping.
There has been long and widespread debate as to whether the a toleration of prostitution similar to that seen in the Netherlands and Germany should be extended. Local police forces have historically flipped between zero tolerance of prostitution and unofficial red light districts.
The Government announced on January 17, 2006, that in England and Wales it was considering allowing small brothels, whilst continuing the crackdown against kerb-crawling, which is seen as a nuisance. [1] A similar situation exists in Scotland, with prostitution itself not illegal but associated activities are. A Prostitution Tolerance Zones Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament but failed to become law.
In all but two U.S. states, the buying and selling of sexual services is illegal and usually classified as a misdemeanor. Regulated brothels are legal in several counties of Nevada (see prostitution in Nevada). In Rhode Island, the act of sex for money is not illegal, but street solicitation and operating a brothel are.
In Canada, prostitution itself is legal, but most other activities around it are not. It is illegal to live "off the avails" of prostitution (this law is intended to outlaw pimping) and it is illegal (for both parties) to negotiate a sex-for-money deal in a public place (which includes bars). To maintain a veneer of legality, escort agencies arrange a meeting between the escort and the client. A Canadian Supreme Court ruling in 1978 required that to be convicted of soliciting, a prostitute's activities must be "pressing and persistent". Similarly, in Bulgaria prostitution itself is legal, but most activities around it (such as pimping) are outlawed.
Rules vary as to which roles in prostitution are illegal: being a prostitute, being a client, or being a pimp. In Sweden it is legal to sell sex, but it is illegal to be a pimp and since 1999 also to buy sexual services. The reason for this law is to protect prostitutes, as many of them have been forced into prostitution by someone or by economic necessity. Norway has the same laws as Sweden, except that it's not illegal to buy sex. Prostitutes are generally viewed by the government as oppressed, while their clients are viewed as oppressors. In the case of a prostitute under 18 in the Netherlands, being the client or pimp is illegal, but being the prostitute is not, except if the client is also underage (under 16). In most countries with criminalized prostitution, prostitutes are arrested and prosecuted at a far higher rate than their clients.
In Brazil and Costa Rica prostitution per se is legal, but taking advantage or profit from others' prostitution is illegal.
Prostitution is legal for citizens in Denmark, but it is illegal to profit from prostitution. Prostitution is not regulated as in the Netherlands; instead, the government attempts through social services to bring people out of prostitution into other careers, and attempts to lessen the amount of criminal activity and other negative effects of prostitution.
In Thailand, prostitution is illegal as stated in the Prevention and Suppression Act, B.E. 2539 (1996) [2].
Establishments engaged in sexual slavery or owned by organized crime are the highest priority targets of law enforcement actions against prostitution. Police also frequently intervene when prompted by local resident complaints, often directed against street prostitution. In most countries where prostitution is illegal, at least some forms of it are tolerated. This ambiguous status allows the police to extort money or services, particularly information on criminal activities that prostitutes are often well-placed to obtain, from prostitutes in exchange for "looking the other way".
1941 Las Vegas hotel sign
1941 Las Vegas hotel sign
Pimping is a sex crime in almost all jurisdictions. Some other countries retain the ill-defined offence of "living off the proceeds of others' prostitution", one of the prima facie evidences of which is co-habiting with a prostitute.
In 1949, the UN General Assembly adopted a convention stating that forced prostitution is incompatible with human dignity, requiring all signing parties to punish pimps and brothel owners and operators and to abolish all special treatment or registration of prostitutes. The convention was ratified by 89 countries but Germany, the Netherlands and the United States did not participate.
Some municipalities in the Netherlands would like a "zero tolerance policy" for brothels, i.e. not allow any, on moral grounds, but by law this is not possible. However, regulations, including restrictions in number and location are common. Whether a zero policy on urban planning grounds is allowed is still unclear.
