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Should prostitution be legalised?
We should revisit our past. In the mid-thirties where Malta was ruled by a Church-State diarchy and politics were less refined, we had music halls and places of pleasure (briedel). During those times any Maltese gentleman could meet a licensed female companion. The whole activity was licensed, so much so that the operating license had to be sported in public. Female companions operated within the law, out or in bed. The state, at that time albeit not being as sophisticated as today, went as far as to inspect female companions to establish their state of health during their time of service.
 Today Malta has undeniably become less religious, and yet we have become much more superficially puritan. Politics seem to have become liberal and leaders appear to be more open-minded, and yet when it comes to giving prostitution a legal framework, we stumble upon a lot of political bigotism. The politicians that count still say “no sex please, we’re Maltese!” notwithstanding that our husbands, boyfriends, wives and girlfriends nourish to do abroad what they cannot do in their homeland.
If there ever was an argument in favour of legalising prostitution, today is the day. We know that this activity is flourishing in many parts of Malta in the light of day. We know that sexually transmitted diseases are a serious threat to any Maltese family. Many women are overtly being exploited by shady organisations with impunity and only the victims are arraigned at court. What is more, an unregulated market is fertile ground for organised crime. All this is unfolding before our eyes, and we keep on imitating the ostrich. We still make a crime out of prostitution.
It is my deep belief that times are more than ripe to seriously consider introducing legislation similar to that introduced in Australia in recent years. A legislation that will be just and foremost in giving protection and bestow rights to those who are vulnerable to exploitation in this field. A legislation that will limit the number of activities that any person may operate under to curb rackets. A legislation that will provide for the proper health inspections of employees and their place of work and which will define consumer nights in this tricky field of human activity. A legislation which will heavily penalise any one person taking advantage of the vulnerability of another.
In other words a legislation which truly reflects the modern state of affairs in this field of unavoidable human interaction.
Toni Abela is a Super One TV host, commentator and lawyer
Prostitution is said to be the world’s oldest profession. So long as the frailty of human nature will have the better of weak, unscrupulous or oversexed individuals, it will remain with us.
Legalised or not, prostitution is harmful physically, psychologically, mentally, socially, as well as morally. This is borne out of many studies which bring to naught the arguments in favour of legalisation. It has been legalised in only a handful of countries. It has been tolerated as an untamed evil in many more.
 However, wherever prostitution has been legalised, the manifold social ills have persisted. When proposals are advanced to legalise prostitution, the main argument revolves around the preservation of public health from sexually transmitted diseases. The real aim is to protect the health of the male buyers. In legalised prostitution, it is the women who are inspected, not the men. The practices in legal brothels expose women to health hazards inconceivable in other occupations. Women are at risk of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Proponents of legalisation argue that brothels would provide safety for prostitutes and would eliminate prostitution from the streets. This has not happened. Problems associated with street prostitution have remained, as evidenced by manifestations of severe violence against women, drug addiction, problems of residents who are solicited for prostitution, and the disposal of used syringes and condoms in streets and gardens, not to mention sexual acts in public view. At Ta’ Xbiex gardens, this repertoire has become commonplace well ahead of legalisation.
Experience has also proved that, legislation and decriminalisation led to growth of the prostitution industry, with more traffic in women to supply legal and illegal brothels.
All the above are ‘secular’ arguments. There is a higher, moral plane which is perhaps more convincing. The human person is ennobled by its dignity and deserves due respect. It is not a chattel to be traded and, much less, to be exploited or abused.
Let no one delude himself or herself: Prostitution is an industry focused on money, not humanity or compassion. It is a business that has no rules and has no respect for persons. It debases the human person as it devalues the concept of genuine love.
In practical terms, who will argue for brothels when prostitution has been having a free run without undue harassment, when rave parties proliferate and the drug trade appears to flourish, when the authorities do not feel constrained to deny access to unaccompanied young people to red light districts, and when free syringes are made available on request to one and all?
It’s high time to clean the Augean stables if we want to give Malta a moral uplift.
Adrian Vassallo MD is a Labour MP
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