The Royal College of Nursing is calling for 'managed zones' for prostitutes as part of a decriminalisation of the industry.
It's a controversial suggestion because it signifies the acceptance that prostitution is in our society to stay.
Martha Kearney speaks to Dawn Annandale, a middle class woman who, when faced with mountainous debts, went into prostitution to pay her children's school fees.
She is also joined by Fiona Broadfoot, an ex-prostitute who thinks that this tolerance is born from ignorance about the severe dangers of prostitution and that it is never anything other than violent degradation of women.
Dr Teela Sanders from Leeds University thinks that it is much more complicated than this.
Call Me Elizabeth By Dawn Annandale Published by Time Warner Books ISBN: 0316729760
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