WASHINGTON POST: ….The ranks of streetwalkers have surged here in the heart of Catholicism, a swell that Rome’s officials are decrying as a stain on the dignity of the city’s citizens. But in a town of sinners as well as saints, outright bans on selling sex have failed before, leaving city authorities to put their faith in a new approach.
Their plan is to corral the growing number of sex workers into an unpopulated set of designated streets — in short, a tucked-away red-light district. Proponents reason the working girls can still serve male clients, but beyond the delicate eyes of wives, grandmothers and children.
The “zones of tolerance,” however, are meeting strong resistance from the Catholic Church, the national government and the prostitutes themselves, raising the curtain on a very Italian opera centered on a plan that critics call a classic attempt to sweep “sin” under the rug… (more)
EDITOR: The ‘streetwalker’ problem has been largely eliminated in the USA by the presence of Escort Services.
The next step should be legalization, taxation and requiring that sex workers be licensed and have routine medical exams.
Just as there is no cogent reason for criminalizing the sale and use of marijuana, there is none for banning prostitution.
And by licensing and providing medical examinations of sex workers, we would strike a blow on the behalf of girls and boys , women and men who are enslaved by drugs and predatory pimps.
With marijuana prohibition soon behind us, legalizing sex workers should be the new frontier.
I was in the Navy and spent some time in Italy. I remember the sailors who were constantly looking for prostitutes in bars and at the time it seemed that most of the prostitutes in Italy weren’t Italian, they all had English accents. Not sure what that says about Italy but it sure had me wondering about England.