Well I had a look, but since the entire argument on both sides seems to be based on a central fallacy (that prostitution is illegal, which it is not and never has been) I don't really see the point of joining in.

Most of the ladies here are busy, successful women running legitimate businesses who don't have a great deal of time to spend arguing with strangers on the internet, particularly when their arguments are so fundamentally flawed they cannot be debated in any useful or sensible way (as proved by the tediously predictable 'anti' types wringing their hands and spouting emotive, Farley-esque rubbish on your link). I would suggest that those involved ought to maybe show us all a little respect, agree that they in fact do not and cannot know anything about the topic they are discussing apart from random information they have picked up along the way,  and maybe move on to something more suitable.

Everybody has some sort of half-baked opinion on us, our clients and the job we do; we're used to that, but I don't think the majority of us are that interested in what unrelated members of the public with no knowledge of our work or our industry think. If I was, I probably wouldn't be a prostitute.

Why do you suppose this ignorance exists? Could it be that none of you engage in debate with real people who are genuinely interested.

I'm sorry, but it's not really our job to explain our job to other people.

If you want to learn more about what you're trying to talk about, why don't you go with the traditional route of reading what has already been written and is freely available for anyone to search through? And if anyone who is a genuine sex worker finds time in their doubtless busy schedules to chat with you then that's great, but it's not their responsibility to do your work for you. Especially not when you pronounce yourself totally ignorant with the expectation that we'll leap to write long, explanatory tomes for you, when frankly I think most of us are either working, knackered from work, or off doing something completely different, at any given point in the day.

I have actually done one or two informal interviews with interesting writers and bloggers who respected me, my time and my privacy, giving them a bit of my view about the sex industry for a couple of little pieces they were doing. You could easily find this stuff with a Google search. And perhaps if you got a little more delicately involved in the overall conversation - rather than pronouncing, on a sex-worker-only forum, that you require us ladies to stop being so lazy and answer your damn questions - that would help, too.

You would have found, upon even the most cursory skim through any punter/prossie forum, that most of us don't give a damn what label we're given, for example. I think we tend to call ourselves whatever the most amusing word is for the week. That's not really the biggest question or issue that we're dealing with in our daily lives, is it?

If you or anyone else you're having big blog chats with would care to learn more about us mad prossies and our heathen ways, you're absolutely welcome to affix your eyes to this forum, as long as you restrict posts to this thread (or not at all). Also, if you'd all like to look at clear statistical evidence that shows trafficking is far less of an issue than the fact that independent women cannot work safely together in a flat without being raided by the police for breaking a completely stupid law, that would be nice, too.

Hi Amy,

Thanks for responding.

Why do you suppose this ignorance exists? Could it be that none of you engage in debate with real people who are genuinely interested. The religious people on this site have real experience of picking up the pieces from situations where prostitution is a symptom of abuse and so have only that view of it.

Actually many of us do. Emily has made mention of interviews and debates she has been involved in and I have done likewise; I have written newpaper articles, attended various events and am actively involved with both the IUSW and the UKNSWP, which I know you know since you were reading this thread earlier today. That doesn't mean we are going to take up our valuable time answering every ill-informed opinion that appears on the internet, however well meaning. It's called being selective.

Some of these people may be future influential figures in their religions; and some, through their blogs, already have quite a following. They contribute to the general opinion of their churches, which are populated by ordinary people - many of whom are influential themselves in determining how you are received locally - a matter that seemed to carry some weight for Claire Finch, in that she had the support of neighbours.

As to the legality, did anyone tell the police and prosecution in the  Claire Finch case? If they are so misconceived then it's no surprise the rest of us are.

This last is so risible I'm not prepared to waste any more time on responding, but I can assure you that somebody must have told both the police and the prosecution in the Claire Finch case, since she was not prosecuted for prostitution but brothel keeping, which is an offence under the 1956 Sexual Offences Act. The only person who hasn't been told apparently, is you. Prostitution is NOT an offence and never has been; if you are plan to continue with the pompous, condescending diatribes because we won't play with you, you might look a little less foolish if you at least attempted to get your facts right before smugly trying to make people here look like they don't know what they're talking about. In fact, try reading this.

But the argument isn't based on that fallacy. The argument is based on the issue of whether being paid for sex is wrong and damaging to those involved on both sides of the arrangement. All we have to go on are dreadful statistics of the abused.

This too is lazy, ignorant rubbish. You have plenty to go on, you just couldn't be bothered to do any research and are now trying to blame us for that too. Google Teela Sanders, Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Nick Mai for starters.

But by all means let the misconceptions continue. Your choice. This was a genuine request for your opinion. It remains open for anyone who does care to give a more constructive response.

The misconceptions will continue irrespective of anything we do or say on your blog, just as there are still people alive who believe in omnipotent beings, little green men and Simon Cowell. Blithely assuming that you and your fellow Lunchtime Legends are going to change anything much may or may not be valid, but as we have already tried to explain, it isn't up to us to do your work for you.

I have not read most of this because as mentioned in one comment..I am very busy juggling two businesses

One point I would like to make is I am an escort not a prostitute and I see the two things as completely different things. The negative public only see the prostituation side, the image of the scantily clad junkie girl standing on the curb at 1am. 

I work 7 days a week running as i said two businesses, I have an accountant and declare my earnings (the tax man doesnt care what you do as long as he gets his share and yes i do claim for condoms lol). I have to think about my website, advertising, earnings, profit everything any business has to worry about.

People will always frown at our proffesion and to those people I would ask what is so wrong about it? People dont frown at doctors, or dentists or anyone who chooses a job that may require unpleasant intimate moments with people.

End of the day nearly 3 years ago i was left unfit to work from an accident and going on sick benefits didnt even cross my mind, I found a way to earn money from home that allowed me to work around my health problems and now I'm earning enough to plow money into another business. I am so thrilled with what I have achieved and how far i have come the last couple of years. There are lots of ladies out there like me who work there asses off and put up with so much crap doing what we do while plenty of people sit on there backsides getting hand outs.

grrrr.. rant over..

sorry.. got a little carried awa there lol 

no no I know what you're saying..i mean more the images the 2 words create are very different so i see it as a divide, 2 different sides of the industry if you like.

All the antis will see is "Prostitute" and all the possible negatives possibly associatted with the word.

Where we are all proffessional escorts

does that make sense? lol

Hi iluvjem,

Thanks for your story. It's appreciated.

"People will always frown at our profession and to those people I would ask what is so wrong about it?" - I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Those that do object seem to have some deep seated emotive reason that they can't explain to well. They might even accept many variations of sexual freedom, and may even accept relationships where there's obviously a one sided sexual motive. But just as soon as cash is involved their reason goes out the window. They may dress it up in whatever is their own thing - such as religious moral objections, but they're not convincing.

But in starting to ask around, among us outsiders, there's less opposition than I expected.

I was curious about the escort/prostitute label and how it is perceived. 'Escort' always seems either confusing (don't know if it really is just escorting or sex), or it gives the impression that there is something to hide.

Thanks,
Ron

Hi Amy,

Honestly, I was acknowledging the fact that I'm grateful for some actual legitimate links. I'm not questioning their authenticity or your motive for providing them. My whole point of visiting the SAAFE site, as opposed to just finding some blogs on my own was that so many blogs appeared after the Brooke Magnanti episode when the legitimacy of virtually any blog claimed to be written by a sex worker was questioned.

I was hoping for the opions of real sex workers. Wow! I'm certainly getting them. You are so cynical. OK, maybe you've had good reason to develop that cynicism. I had a feeling I was going to get another bollocking for something or other.

Ron