COMING soon to a street near you: brothels. With the Government disconcertingly making pronouncements about a prostitution plan this week, the headline writers have made predictable hay with its proposal to permit prostitutes to work together in “mini-brothels”.
It’s the beginning of the end, according to some moralists, who also quote recent academic research indicating that one man in ten pays for sex, double the number a decade ago.
But what about the health implications of this increasing commericalisation of sex? Historically, sex for money has been condemned because of its associations with dirt and disease. Surely a more lenient attitude on brothels will have a disastrous effect on the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? Interestingly, no. Evidence suggests that when it comes to STIs, it’s not prostitutes but their clients — the one in ten — that are the problem. Detailed research in London indicates that female sex workers are generally at lower risk of such infections than other women who attend genito-urinary clinics, and only slightly higher than the population in general. It’s because they consistently use condoms, unlike the rest of the population.
It’s different for men. Studies have indicated that those who visit prostitutes have a much higher number of sexual partners overall. They tend not to wear condoms. It’s spreading it around, not selling it, that is the problem.
If, as a nation, we’re really worried about the health consequences of sex being more easily and commercially available, we shouldn’t be looking to blame prostitutes.
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Look instead at the view of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, an organisation composed of doctors and health professionals.
It believes that any recent occurrences of syphilis and hepatitis among sex workers can be put down to poor access to treatment services because of the “current crisis in sexual health service provision”.
Look, too, at the British Medical Association’s comments last week that despite government pledges of more money, sexual health services are actually getting worse because, to balance their books, local health trusts are diverting funds allocated for sexual health to other areas. Some people are waiting six weeks for a check-up; the government target is two days.
Given that this affects the health not only of sex workers but also promiscuous men and their unfortunate partners, that really is a problem. Unlike mini-brothels.