To what extent should brothels be legalised in the United Kingdom?
Prostitution is often argued to be one of the oldest professions1 - with taxed, legal, and
state-regulated2 brothels dating back to Ancient Greece and China3. Contrastingly, in twenty-first
century society, prostitution, and especially brothels, have a much more negative stigma. In the
United Kingdom, bar Northern Ireland4 where prostitution has been illegal since 2015, an
abolitionist5 legislative model is employed. This means that prostitution (where individuals give
sexual services to another person in exchange for financial gain6) itself is legal, but third-party
involvement is not. However, under the statute laws: Sexual Offences Act 1956 and 2003,
activities such as soliciting in a public place, kerb-crawling, pimping, and brothel owning7 are
criminalised. Other models of legislation are employed worldwide. For example, Russia uses
prohibition where all aspects of prostitution are criminalised; neo-abolition in Sweden means
prostitutes are not criminalised, but clients or third party involvement is; decriminalisation in New
Zealand where criminal penalties for sex work are removed; and legalisation to control and
regulate, such as in the Netherlands.
Brothels are a premises where at least two prostitutes work; this need not be together or even on
the same day. In the UK, the maximum prison sentence for brothel keeping is seven years8. Yet,
police forces have detained at least 408 suspects for running brothels in the UK since 20179. Thus,
this illegal, and in some cases dangerous, service is still provided in the UK - such as through
disguised massage parlours and pop up brothels10 - without regulations for safety. Through
evidence from both my primary research questionnaire (where 96 participants of varying ages,
genders and sexual orientation's answered questions on their views towards brothels) and
secondary research, overall in this essay I will explore the extent legalising and regulating brothels
could benefit society, sex workers, and clients.
Society
According to Parliament, sex workers have an average of 25 clients per week paying £7811 per
visit. Although this is an approximation as there is an absence of data, theoretically it would make
their annual incomes approximately £101,678.62 - which is well above the UK's 2021 median
household disposable income of £31,40012. Therefore, brothels could be a profitable industry,
contributing to the UK's economic growth and increasing GDP. As they are currently illegal in the
UK, no income from brothels or their workers is taxed. Yet if they were legalised, this wouldn't be
the case. In turn, income tax would help fund public services (such as the NHS, pensions, public
transport, education,13 etc.) that benefit society. Countries that do tax brothels have had immense
economic success, such as Germany, who gain roughly $21 billion per annum14 due to it. In fact,
the brothel industry in Nevada charges almost three times more than average (as many clients and
sex workers agree that their safety is worth the amount)15, which benefits sex workers
economically too. Even in the UK where brothels are illegal there is still evidence of economic
1
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZhAPAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA135&redir_esc=y&hl=en
2
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/28/prostitution-in-ancient-athens/
3
https://prostitution.procon.org/historical-timeline/
4
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2019/08/a-new-law-in-northern-ireland-criminalises-sex-work-and-endangers-sex-workers
5
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-prostitution-is-legal
6
https://www.localsolicitors.com/criminal-guides/prostitution-and-kerb-crawling-laws-in-the-uk
7
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7736436.stm
8
https://www.localsolicitors.com/criminal-guides/prostitution-and-kerb-crawling-laws-in-the-uk
9
https://prostitutescollective.net/sky-news-hundreds-arrested-for-running-brothels-as-sex-workers-say-its-the-laws-that-are-criminal/
10
https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/heres-how-you-can-tell-14001534
11
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/26/2603.htm
12
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincome
andinequality/financialyearending2021
13
https://www.statista.com/chart/4520/where-do-uk-taxes-go/
14
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/prostitution-germany-21-billion-year-industry-26520
15
https://reimaginingpeacejustice.com/the-benefits-of-legalizing-brothels-in-the-uk/
, success, like The Libra Club who made around £7 million over five years16 before being shut down,
emphasising just how profitable brothels could be here if legalised.
Yet, there is still the issue of if sex workers would register for tax. For instance, many women from
abroad (such as Eastern Europe, Africa, or South America17) work in brothels illegally and leave
after a short duration of making money, so they do not want to pay tax or be branded as sex
workers18. Comparably, when the Dutch government started to tax prostitution, only 5% of women
registered for tax due to the fear of being "known as a whore" (Bindel19). This reflects societies
negative views towards the prostitution industry, which could be slowly changed if brothels were
legalised, in turn helping the economy.
It is clear that globally brothels are a taboo subject with a negative stigma, including in the UK,
ever since prostitution was branded the 'Great Social Evil'20 back in the 19th century. Research
suggests that the criminalisation of sex work is the central factor in exacerbating this stigma
against sex workers (Krüsi et al.21). 66.3% of those undertaking my primary research consider their
views towards brothels to be either negative or very negative - reflecting this outdated stereotype.
While 20% of my 96 participants rated that they had a good awareness of prostitution, 64.2% of
the 96 believed prostitution is illegal in the UK and 23.4% believed brothels are legal in the UK,
both of which are incorrect answers. Thus, it implies that they do not have as good awareness as
they claimed, so their views on prostitution are likely biased as they may be based on stigma or
the media rather than facts. However, there is evidence in my research of a positive change in
social attitudes too. Comments about ensuring prostitution is done in an "ethical", "monitored or
controlled", "[not] violent", "forced" or "unsafe" way shows how the public wants to protect sex
workers and cares about the conditions of their work, rather than judging or "look[ing] down on
[them]". For example, 42.6% of my 96 participants believed brothels should be legal. The younger
age groups (particularly 16-18 and 25-34) tended to believe this, reflecting how Millennials and
Generation Z tends to be more socially progressive and liberal22 than older generations. Likewise,
the UK government and monarchy have expressed support. MPs from different parties have called
for the decriminalisation of prostitution23, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex helped provide
food parcels to street sex workers, wanting the service to be provided across the country24. This
recent care and support for sex workers demonstrates that change in society is slowly happening,
and can continue to do so further by legalising brothels in the UK.
Prostitution is widely viewed as immoral, so legalising brothels (which encourages prostitution on a
much larger scale) especially raises the issue of morality. Brothels can be seen as a human rights
violation, highlighted by the United Nations' 1949 convention which states prostitution is
“incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person”25 and should not be condoned by
law. Likewise, from a Marxist perspective prostitutes are seen as victims of the capitalist system,
which brothels would exploit - although other Marxists defend it as the selling of a service rather
than the buying and selling of bodies26. Similarly, brothels can be seen as reinforcing
patriarchalism and the systemic oppression of women. This is reflected through my primary
research, where 63.4% of those whose gender identity is female disagreed with brothels being
legalised, in comparison to 66.7% of those who identified as male who agreed with brothels being
legalised. As some feminists, such as radical feminists, believe, sex work is not voluntary27 and
16
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-brothel-made-7-million-11919039
17
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9815356/
18
https://www.businessinsider.com/prostitution-is-legal-in-countries-across-europe-photos-2019-3?r=US&IR=T#because-many-sex-workers-are-fo
reigners-and-only-come-for-a-few-months-they-see-no-benefit-in-registering-they-dont-want-to-pay-taxes-or-be-branded-as-sex-workers-32
19
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-even-amsterdam-doesn-t-want-legal-brothels
20
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/reinvention/archive/volume1issue1/joyce/
21
https://www.academia.edu/34113808/Sex_Work_and_Mental_health_-_Briefing_Paper
22
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-political-issues/
23
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-call-for-prostitution-to-be-legalised-but-demand-tough-new-penalties-on-pimps-9164069.html
24
https://news.sky.com/story/you-are-loved-meghan-pens-supportive-messages-for-street-sex-workers-11625035
25
http://www.cap-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ProstitutionUnderIntlHumanRightsLawEN.pdf
26
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/11/socialist-whores-what-did-karl-marx-think-of-prostitution.html
27
https://voiceofsandiego.org/2018/04/12/theres-virtually-no-such-thing-as-voluntary-sex-work-says-da/
