Edit to add my opinion so I’m not just replying “I agree” to 90% of comments. I think it should be legal, properly regulated, taxed and viewed as a profession. I haven’t personally engaged in it but I have no moral objection to it. I do hate the common sentiment that it was the individual’s “only option” though.
I’ll preface this by saying I’m broadly in favour of decriminalising prostitution, it’s interesting to note that in the UK, prostitution itself is not illegal but operating or working out of a brothel (anywhere 2 or more prostitutes work) is illegal. So one of the main ways prostitutes in the UK are made less safe is by preventing them from legally grouping together into a property forcing them onto the street or into the seedier parts of the Internet.
One of the major problems with legalising prostitution in areas where it’s been done (such as Amsterdam, Germany and Australia), is there seems to still be issues around trafficking women and using them as effective slaves to their pimps/handlers and there doesn’t seem to be enough to tackle that issue and the normalisation of sex work does forster an environment where the victim isn’t able to reach out to people like the police as well.
I agree with your first paragraph, but I’ve heard from experts in the field that human trafficking is already illegal, criminalising sex work just scares the victim into silence.
A lot of sex slaves here in Australia are immigrants who agreed to an illegal and unethical deal in order to flee their home countries. So when the cops bust a trafficking ring, what do they do? Send the girls back home to the regime they fled. That’s not helping. The government should give them a visa and let them work here if they want.
I’m just highlighting an issue, I absolutely think it should be legalised and regulated but it’s not some magic bullet that solves all problems.