Kirkby Times has spoken out on the issue of prostitution and this article takes a look at the issues surrounding what now seems to be an agreement with the Kirkby Times proposals in 2002. On Thursday June 17 2004, the news that a red light area was to be set in Liverpool seemed to give the original Kirkby Times argument some credibility, but like many viewpoints represented on Kirkby Times, they generally wait for the politicians to catch up with what is basically common sense. More recently, actual sites for the Red Light areas were proposed. It's going to happen, but are we really doing the right thing?

Mike Creer, the manager of the council's criminal justice intervention programme and a former police officer, told the Liverpool Echo on July 30th 2004 that "Ninety nine per cent of the prostitutes in Liverpool are addicted to crack cocaine and heroin." Kirkby Times would like to thank him for being honest about the situation and hopefully he will comment further on this vital issue of addiction and prostitution. Being a former policeman he will know more of the connections between addiction and prostitution than most, but most Scousers are 'clued up' nowadays and can spot an crack addicted prostitute from one who favours the heroin.

The worse of two evils?

Many women who are involved in prostitution in Liverpool and indeed Kirkby, as recognised by Mike Creer, are addicted to drugs. Therefore, the setting up of a red light zone, could possibly end up the worse of two evils if we consider that the other alternative 'evil' may be to give the prostitutes who are drug addicts, a prescription for pure heroin, under proper medical supervision. Morally speaking, which, I ask, is the worse scenario…… a young local girl being allowed to have sex with a multitude of stranger's or 'punters' for money to fund Liverpools drug trade? Or the same girl being given a prescription for heroin and perhaps being able to go on to bigger and better things? Obviously, Mike Creer has a limited amount of power in this matter, but he will monitor the red light zone carefully, as will Kirkby Times, and we will perhaps conclude later that addicted prostitutes will simply carry on funding the drug trade. For now though, the question has to be 'will the girls be safer?' - The answer is obvious. In a controlled environment such as a red light zone, it is safer for both customers and the sex workers. Despite the reservations expressed here, we owe it to the memory of the girls viciously murdered here to make sure that the chances of this happening again are limited.

A legal way to pay for illegal drugs

We may well see women who simply see prostitution as a legitimate career they can pursue without being addicted to drugs. But I would guess those numbers of women who use prostitution as a mere 'wage earner' will be relatively low, though the number of 'escort agencies' advertised seem to indicate that local girls not necessarily addicted to drugs are becoming more involved. Even the media seems to publish 'kind' articles which feature generally well paid prostitutes or sex workers as if it's trying to make it more socially acceptable. Liverpool has also seen a number of massage parlours operating over the years. Recently we saw the Wayne Rooney scandal highlight a working brothel in Liverpool, frequented by football players, soap stars and other 'famous people'. Meanwhile, ordinary punters are nicked and named and shamed in local papers after operations to nab 'street crawlers'.(Operation 'Angel' in 2001 saw over 100 kerbcrawling men named in the echo!) Are the police top brass really unaware that the good and great of Liverpool are visiting established seemingly well known brothels? Escort agencies don't get mentioned but they are fast becoming the actual point of contact for a lot of visiting businessmen who simply type 'Liverpool escort agency' into a search engine on there company laptap. If women are having sex merely to feed the kids and pay off the mortgage, then it seems that women are still very much living in a male dominated society. After all, how many male prostitutes are there servicing women? 99% plus of the sex industry is seemingly geared towards men's needs; a walk around the Red Light areas of Amsterdam will confirm this. I've never heard of a woman paying for sex, though admittedly, it's not generally a question I have asked too often. In a way, by allowing legalisation of prostitution we are simply saying to many women 'here's a way to pay for the heroin and crack'. At best were saying 'here's a way to pay the mortgage off'.

Working Class Sex Slaves

There is a danger that the working class addicts here will simply become sex workers or slaves in a City where middle class tourism and the inevitable businessmen and other men with money prey on the fact that the girls are addicted to drugs or suffering from poverty. Liverpools 'capital of culture' could mean that thousands of sex tourists will be able to act out there fantasies with young women who should be enjoying life, not having sex with strangers to pay the bills. I am presuming that most women do not enjoy the work they actually do in this 'trade'. There is a danger also that Liverpools 'European outlook' will turn Liverpool into a depraved sexual playground for the rich, surrounded by a sea of poverty in the outlying areas were the working class have to live. The working class daughters of Liverpool could become mere sexual toys in some sick return to the days of old. It won't be the middle class who see there daughters in this trade will it?

All in all, Kirkby Times welcomes the move as at least the girls will have a safe place and the odds of them being murdered or attacked is reduced significantly. Kirkby Times would also call now for Knowsley Council to take onboard the problem of Kirkbys women involved in the trade instead of passing the buck to Liverpool City Council. A lot of the girls involved will be from poverty stricken and drug decimated areas of Knowsley.

Throwing Stones

The statistics for men who have visited a prostitute are quite high. Some women may complain that there hubby or boyfriend could be 'led astray' by the setting up of a red light zone. In the real world, men who cheat on wives or girlfriends would cheat whether they had to pay for it or not. Kirkby Times has researched this issue and the reasons that men visit prostitutes are not always that bad, most of it is simply taking advantage of what is there on offer, as do the women selling there bodies take advantage of mans most basic need. In Holland there is a scheme for disabled people, both physical and mentally disabled, to have a home visit off what they call 'professional sex workers', this is perhaps a positive social aspect of sex workers. On a worrying note, some feel that prostitutes provide a 'safety net' of some sorts, although there is a worrying aspect to this argument which states that prostitution prevents rape. To follow that logic you could maybe conclude that these men are still potential rapists if they would claim the pressure of not getting laid can lead them to rape. As regards to prostitutes or sex workers, many of us will maybe dislike the sin but have sympathy and understanding for the sinner. This is a fairly common sense bit of philosophy from Jesus Christ, who had a way with words and would surely have landed a column here on Kirkby Times if He ever came back to put the World to Rights. We may also consider that Jesus, the person to whom this Country pretends to bow to, once shielded a prostitute from the crowd who were about to stone her to death. What was it he said to them? Ah yes ......

"Let they who have not sinned cast the first stone."

Kirkby Times would like to thank the Police for there role now in accepting that the problem is a social one, basically related, like a lot of crime, to social poverty and inequality. People are surprised that Norman Bettison has allowed this to go through, but he will have perhaps seen for himself that it's a choice that is the lesser of a few evils. Sad, but inevitable given the current political and social climate here on Merseyside. At least this move lessens the odds of one of the local cops having to sift through some poor girls remains dumped in an alleyway or field. And it lessens the odds of some family seeing the little girl they loved end up victim to the slime who infest our planet. Men who do this sort of thing are hated by the rest of us. When we catch these people, we should hand out sentences which measure time in decades. Like the bad apple in the barrel, they need taking out and throwing away. Men who hurt women are truly the dregs of society. Local band Space once sang 'The Female of the Species is more deadly than the male', but sadly, the statistics here in Knowsley and Liverpool for abuse of women seem to indicate that men are stronger and thereby potentially more deadly.

To any of the girls who have worked in the trade, you can use Kirkby Times as a platform to articulate what YOU want to see happen. Most of us would sooner you never worked in the trade, because we'd sooner see you have a better life and not have to do this job because of financial hardship or drug addiction. Take away financial hardship, a lack of education and drug addiction, and the reasons for most women or young girls entering the Worlds oldest profession are all but taken away.

Kirkby Times would also like to congratulate the people of Liverpool who took part in the survey to decide whether the proposal would go forward. 83% of people agree there should be a managed zone in Liverpool. If the same people were asked about some scheme to prescribe heroin to the addicted girls on the game, maybe the Liverpool working class communities would vote for that proposal.

Sexual Equality

John Lennon once sang 'Women is the nigger of the World', this was to simply draw attention to the fact that no matter what colour you are, or religion, there was and still is more men influencing the way of things than women. Thatcher was just a woman with too much testosterone, her loyalty to women was limited to middle class women and she destroyed Liverpool and helped create to some extent these young working class women, who may end up on there backs as one of our fine upstanding politicians perhaps pays a visit. It is ironic is it not - that in an age were women are said to be equal to men, that Liverpool is set to bring back a Victorian Tradition whereby the lower classes can earn some pocket money giving sexual favours to those with the coinage to spare. If there was sexual equality in this trade, then 50% of the windows in the red light area would be full of scantily clad men clutching there crotches and winking suggestively at the passing women. It will be 100% women in the windows under the red lights - and the customers will be 100% men.

Whatever you do with your life - as long as no-one is harmed or coerced, your sexual behaviour is entirely your affair [no pun intended] - Kirkby Times has never regarded the reporting of local news to one which should be made up of gossiping about peoples private lives and 'who's sleeping with who' type editorials. We are not some Tabloid website. But realistically, unless we have economic equality then prostitution will be always rooted in a society that sees money as everything and therefore sees sex as just another commercial product for sale. I personally won't be celebrating the fact we've been forced to this situation whereby local women can legally sell there bodies, but logic and common sense dictates that we have done the right thing as it stands right now. The police can at least patrol the area and it perhaps makes sense to include some women officers to be pivotal in the overall operation. I hope that women who are going into the 'game' to simply feed drug habits are given prescriptions and counselling and REAL help.

What is sick about this is that Liverpool women will be basically forced by poverty, social hardship or financial pressure, or a combination of all the above, to have sex for money. We've just celebrated the end of slavery, but for working class women the world over, this may a little premature.