The "male sex drive discourse", which holds that men are perpetually interested in sex and that once they are sexually stimulated they need to be satisfied by orgasm (Holloway, 1984, 1989), is often touted in support of prostitution. However, as O’Connell Davidson (2001) observes: “The idea that men have sexual ‘needs’ (as opposed to socially constructed ‘wants’) may be widely accepted, but in practice, there is no biological imperative to orgasm any set number of times a day, week or year.”

“Some prostitution supporters argue that prostitution is an acceptable solution to poverty. What they mean, but do not say, is that prostitution is an acceptable solution for women living in poverty. Seldom do we see proposals that poor men should make their way out of poverty by welcoming the insertion of penises and other objects into them on a regular basis or dance naked on a stage in front of ogling and masturbating males.

“The prostitution industry exploits to its advantage the fact that most women and children who are in prostitution come from the most oppressed and vulnerable groups in society.”

- Gunilla Ekberg, Policy Adviser, Swedish Division for Gender Equality

The vast majority of women and girls engaged in prostitution do so out of little or no economic choice. Most entered prostitution as physical or emotional children, with histories of physical and sexual abuse, neglect or violence. Many entered prostitution under the control of a pimp or ‘minder’. If not at the time of entry, many become substance-dependent. Some are homeless. The cycle of hopelessness, desperation and poverty offers little or no choice to escape a lifestyle where violence, abuse and exploitation are the norm. For many, globally, prostitution is a means of survival. It is not a choice.

The number of women who have freely chosen prostitution from amongst other equal income-generating alternatives is so small it is unrepresentative of the prostitution industry. For those (often vocal) few to claim that their experience is the norm is misleading, if not dishonest. In any event, their choice to engage in prostitution frequently requires them to cognitively distort and minimise the violence, abuse and threats that even they are subjected to (see the New Zealand example in the FAQ “What about women’s ‘agency’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘sex work’”?) This small group of women who sell sex without any economic driver to do so, collude with sex buyers; reinforcing men's belief in an entitlement to be provided with sex on demand, and further entrenching the harms and gender inequality inherent to the industry, to the detriment of the vast majority of women and children in prostitution.

Decriminalisation or legalisation of prostitution does not provide safety to women in prostitution; rather, it merely provides mechanisms to report incidents of violence.

In those countries where prostitution has been made lawful through legalisation or decriminalisation, women in prostitution across both indoor and outdoor sectors continue to be physically assaulted, threatened with violence, held against their will, raped, and verbally abused by the men paying them for sex.

"Civilised" countries denounce behaviours such as physical or sexual assault, threats of violence, being held unwillingly, rape, and verbal abuse by men who have intimate access to women. It is commonly called domestic or partner abuse. Women are urged to leave such harmful situations.

The mere addition of cash in such a situation alters nothing, despite those who seek to accommodate, trivialise and cognitively distort the violence and its ever present threat, and reframe it with rhetoric around “agency” and “empowerment” for women.

No industry that is inherently predicated on gendered violence, inequality and degradation should be elevated to the status of “work”. Neither should it be legitimised by the State.

From a "demand" perspective, no. When addressing "demand" factors, it is meaningless to attempt a distinction between demand for women in prostitution and demand for trafficked women in prostitution.

The fact that buyers seek out a smorgasbord of women of varying ages, ethnicities, characteristics, and "willingness" to perform various sex acts, means intermediaries (pimps/traffickers) constantly need to supply "fresh goods".

"Recruiting was ongoing, not only because of turnover, but also because repeat customers wanted variety and new faces had to be continually supplied. One [pimp] said that every six months he would 'clean house'" (From Victims to Victimisers p.5).