ABSTRACT
In this conclusion I shall make some suggestions as to what can be done to end prostitution. I am sure that there are readers who will think that I am unrealistic to consider that this industry can be brought to an end. There is a great deal of fatalism about the inevitability of prostitution even in much of the feminist literature. Many feminist NGOs are fatalistic too and take a ‘harm minimization’ approach (see Oriel, forthcoming) of handing out condoms and providing safety advice, without imagining a future for women beyond prostitution. It is not surprising that there should be so little optimism about achieving such a future considering the way that the global sex industry is powering along at present. Indeed this book could serve to make the reader quite pessimistic. For that reason I think it is useful to look at examples of good practice that give pointers as to how the ending of prostitution may be approached. Considering the very serious harms – not only to the women, girls and boys who are prostituted but to women’s equality and to the social and political fabric of societies – that are integral to the industry of prostitution, it is important to envisage how to end it.
