ABSTRACT
It is clear that the treatment of prostitute women in English criminal law is damaging, ineffective and hypocritical. Significant public resources are expended in prosecuting women who are not deterred from their activity, but who are rendered virtually unemployable elsewhere due to their criminal records.114 Their supportive partners and friends may be prosecuted, while abusive pimps often go unpunished. The quasi-criminal status of the prostitute is implicated in her vilification and abuse which, in turn, are connected with a general antipathy to any sort of unconventional female sexual behaviour. Keeping prostitution itself legal protects punters from the tarnish of participation in crime, while surrounding the trade with associated offences supports the second class status of the prostitute woman in other areas of law. Feminists may disagree about the nature of the problem and the optimal approach to sex work generally, but they must acknowledge that criminal law currently does little to protect women and much to disadvantage them.
