In the Netherlands, prostitution is legal (since 2000), and prostitutes get regular health check-ups, pay taxes, etc. Several studies seem to show that this has significantly decreased the problem of the trafficking of women.

Although I have no personal experience of London brothels, and have not been to that city for many years, it is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I don't believe that these sensationally low prices for sex in brothels are accurate, especially when you consider that the research was done by an organization that has an anti-prostitution agenda.

However I did a little bit of online research and communicated with a couple of people and they suggested that the $26 was probably the door fee for admission to the sauna/brothel--the actual fee for the "masseuse" being a separately negotiable item-- and that the 10 pounds extra was probably for oral sex without a condom, not for unprotected sexual intercourse, which my contacts did not think was available at all and certainly not for such a trifling sum.

Maybe I am completely wrong, so maybe someone from that side of the pond can fill us in more.

heh still dosn't beat Thailand.

I was there in 02, and our Marines loved to brag about the 3$ hookers.

Isn't Dutch prostitution only legal in Amesterdam?

Germany legalized prostitution a few years ago. The legal protections only apply to German citizens, and the vast majority of German prostitutes are not German citizens.

Legal prostitution in Nevada left prostitutes at the mercy of their pimps. And because it's legal, Nevada has very few resources for prostitutes who want to get out of the field.

The cheap east European labor migrates to the UK and Ireland and puts the hard working locals out of work. It happened with plumbers it will happen with whores.

In the Netherlands, prostitution is legalized everywhere in general. From what I understand (I may be wrong), legal prostitutes need to have citizenship of one EU country; those who don't cannot work legally (and that's where you still have pimps and the like). For the legal ones, even those who advertise themselves on the windows in the red-light district, my understanding is that they can count on legal protection (i.e. they or their pimps must have a legal permit, and must submit themselves to health exams and other kinds of controls). The reports I've seen consider that the situation of prostitutes has improved and trafficking has decreased since legalization. But I'm not a specialist on the matter of Dutch prostitution--if someone else is, I'd like to hear his/her opinion.

You mean I could wear provocative clothing that made me feel sensual and sexy and powerful, that flowed and was sheer and that women swooned at me wearing? Suhweet!

Yes, you can. No law against that. Ain't that sweet? Of course, you have to have the kind of body that'll make women swoon... but then again, ugly chicks also don't make guys drool.

You mean I can sit in a bar, get free drinks from admiring women all night long, have them flirt and talk me up, try to take me home while I do NOT SO MUCH AS A SINGLE GODDAMN THING, and I can blow them off at will, for kicks?

Yes, you can! There's no law against that. All you have to do is find a bar who will want to do that for you. Go talk to them: the owners are usually men. They'll understand and sympathize with you! :-)

Another night, I can choose from several female suitors, who will do all the work while I lay there like a dead fish? They will then call me again wanting to treat me to nice dinners? Where DO I SIGN UP???

You don't even have to sign up--this is already legal! No need to get new laws! All you need to do is impress so many women that they'll be around you like that. You'll have to change your attitude a little, but if you do... Ain't that sweet?

You mean I can sit home all day GRATIFYINGLY taking care of my kids while the wife works. She gladly comes home and I treat her to a nice dinner? She is never resentful that she is away from the kids, in a thankless job, and she is delighted to help support my being a housedaddy? Too AWESOME!

Yep! This is also legal! Awesome isn't it? There is NO LAW against that! All you have to do is find a willing woman. (I have a male acquaintance who has started to live like that right now--he stays home and wifey brings the bread. See? Your dreams do come true!)

You mean I can knock up a chick, then unilaterally decide and then abort her child for her without even telling her about it? Then do the same with another girl? No kidding.

No, unfortunately that's physically impossible: men cannot undergo abortions, because the baby is not in their body. You can't become pregnant, so you can't abort, obviously. But it's not illegal. If you could get pregnant (and maybe science will someday make this possible for you), then you could also abort.

You mean I can just get knocked up some night to a guy I shove off and forget, bear the child myself, deny him or her a father or mother figure, raise her or him on my beliefs, without the input of anyone else? Cool beans!

Well, if you as a man managed to get knocked up, I'll really be surprised: science can't do that yet. You could get a sex change operation though, and then it would be possible to do all of that.

But in case you mean simply being a single father--there's lots of them around. My first lawyer was a single father. You can adopt, for instance, and then raise the kid in accordance to your beliefs. Just like any other single parent.

You mean I can marry a woman, do as I please, then initiate divorce and take MY kids and half the house even if I am at fault in the marriage? Hot DAMN!

Of course you can! You just have to prove that she'll be a worse parent than you. It's hard, because of the presumption that a mother is a better parent (which statiscally I guess is correct), but you can do it. It's just a question of winning the legal battle; your dream is NOT against the law.

See? The world is not such a bad place after all. Your dreams can come true--if you work for it. Yes you can!