Why has prostitution become an issue?

The focus of attention has been mainly directed at the women involved in prostitution and at street prostitution rather than the off-street trade. In many countries, including the UK there has until recently been very little interest in male clients. However, in England and Wales legislation was introduced in the 1980s to address what was seen as the increasing problem of kerb crawling, while in the same decade the sanction of imprisonment was removed for soliciting related offences (see Benson and Matthews 1996; Self 2003). A limited number of Private Members Bills were tabled between the 1960s and the mid 1980s, but the issue of prostitution remained relatively muted, except when it involved high-profile celebrities and politicians (Denning 1993).