Should brothels be legalised?

If it was made illegal to pay for sex, it would not stop prostitution, it would just be forced "under ground".
Much more dangerous for these girls and they would probably be forced to work for criminals.
I know for a fact that most Massage Parlors are brothels, the authorities are very aware of them and prefer the girls to be safe and not trading around the streets.
You may be surprised to know that these places and the girls pay Income Tax, the girls are free-lance and work for themselves by hiring a room in the "Massage Parlour", much like a hairdresser hiring a chair in a Salon.
The polar opposite to these girls who are snatched to be sex slaves, which needs to be stopped and the perpetrators given much harsher sentences than they do at present.

I can’t help but feel that’s a very rosy picture Buffy. I wonder how many of the women there have been trafficked, I wonder who is really behind all this and where the money is going? Are you saying the las are complicit with this because it’s best for the girls or is it rather that it’s an excuse to let themselves off the hook?

None of the girls in Massage Parlors are trafficked!
Definately!
You may feel that what I have said paints a Rosy Picture, maryeliza54 although I fail to see what is "Rosy" about it.

Are you saying that the Law are complicit with this because it's best for the girls or is it rather an excuse to let themselves off the hook

The Authorities know that they will never stop prostitution, so I suppose the answer is Both!

How do you know that none of them are trafficked? How many ‘massage parlours’ are there in the UK and you are certain about all of them? Recently there was an issue about women working in nail bars being trafficked - sorry just can’t buy your certainty

maryeliza54 you may have gathered that I have some knowledge of this, the Police do regular random check on these places and speak to the girls but it is not this that stops a girl in there being trafficked, it is the other girls themselves.
It is not in the Massage Parlor owners interest to upset the girls who work on his premises.
It would be impossible for one girl to be a trafficked girl, the other girls would not stand for it and also impossible for all of them to be trafficked, #unworkable.
But if you think you know better, you carry on.

But you are talking about all massage parlours and that simply can’t bectrue - how do the police have tge resourcesto check on all of them? And does this apply in W, S and NI?

This

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40363513

There's probably only one in each town and a few more in Cities and the Police do have the resources for this in Gb.
It's probably one "raid" every month or so, takes about an hour.
Yes, they have the resouces!
Off to watch Bohemian Rhapsody now, so will not be answering any more questions # interrogation ?

Actually, on second thoughts, if the burning of the effigy was a comment on the council and the builders of the Grenfell Tower, I don't think it was so wrong after all.

I very much doubt if it was meant as a comment on the people who lived and died in Grenfell Tower. I think it was a comment on the event, which shouldn't have happened.

And if it was that, then more power to their elbows, I say.

Oh. Whoops! Wrong thread.

Baggs buggers off.

None of the girls in Massage Parlors are trafficked!

Really? www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/human-traffickers-forcing-girls-nail-4865613

..... and this www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/chinatown-and-soho-18-arrested-in-prostitution-and-slavery-raids-as-police-storm-six-massage-a3374971.html

A lot depends on the definition of 'massage parlours'. Mobile phones and the Internet has revolutionised this business. Pop up brothels are easily shifted around. Air B&Bs are apparently being used.
Im sure that buffy is quite accurate in what she says but the formal 'massage parlours' aren't so much of a problem. The trafficked girls are in the ever changing new venues.

The term "Escort Agency" is questionable as well. I thought the idea expressed by one of the police officers that the women were working voluntarily because they held the card saying "Escort" in the photos was shocking. Somehow I think the term gives the trade a sense of respectability.

M0nica This is exactly what I was saying, regarding the China town and Soho raids, obviously criminals try to set these Massage Parlors up with trafficked girls but the Police very soon crack down on them.
Also the Wales online heading was a bit sensationalist, as when you read what was actually going on, the arrested people were flying in Polish prostitutes.
Quite different from trafficking innocent girls and then enslaving them for sex.

Brothels are legal where I live ( Australia). There is one in my area - they are often built in industrial areas and that is where our local one is. It looks just like any other commercial building, but inside it's very ritzy ! I know because they had an "open day" when they first started business there, and they encouraged visitors to walk around and ask questions . The sex workers are employed under good conditions and their health is cared for by the owner.

Obviously no system of prostitution is perfect, but these licenced premises seem to be a good option for men and women who choose to work in this business.

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I'm with maryeliza on this issue, no to legalisation and no to brothels.
You don't need to be a feminist to accept that the majority (if not all) sex workers, male and female, are exploited and damaged by the work they do. Sanitising it by some form of legalisation in brothels makes no difference to that.

Why do so many men buy sex? This is a genuine question. You sometimes read that men buy sexual practices that their wives or partners won't consent to. That isn't a reason to go out and pay someone, is it?

Why the need for these places anyway ??

Indeed M0nica.

Amsterdam's red light district is now being gentrified.

EllanVannin ... the need is there as there are so many vile perverted men on our planet who have no conscience whatsoever. Any decent man would not even entertain these establishments. They know these girls are young, vulnerable, controlled, drugged and threatened ... and they just don’t care as long as they can have sex. My friend worked for a refuge for trafficked girls and it nearly destroyed her, seeing the misery these poor girls have to live thro. Many are kidnapped, beaten, drugged and threatened that if they don’t comply, or if they run away, their families will be slaughtered. This entire scenario makes decent people sick to their stomachs, it’s heartbreaking that another human being would do this to another, without a care or concern for the distress. We struggle to apply logic to it all, but sadly greed and perversion takes over for these monsters ... the people who control these girls plus the men who use them, they all need stringing up !!

I don’t really know whether we should have legalised brothels, I have a foot in both camps. Greyduster, I agree with you that legalised brothels would at least provide the ladies with a safe place to practice their business, but I also agree with Maryeliza that legalised brothels normalise the sexual exploitation of women.

I do think that women should not be prosecuted for prostitution, I think the men should be prosecuted for using them.

It’s a difficult subject.