Using prostitutes overseas should be socially unacceptable
People on stag trips have a right to some fun – but they must realise that buying sex off desperate women isn’t
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.One of the less expected by-products of the quantum rise in the number of Britons taking short “city break” holidays in Europe is a rise in the number of young men going there not to tour the sights but to use the brothels.
One survey has revealed that an astonishing two-thirds of men who admitted to having used prostitutes had done so abroad. What that suggests is that many young men who would not dream of paying to use a prostitute in their own country think this behaviour is perfectly acceptable following a short flight.
End Demand, a group campaigning against the sex trade, says the only way to stop the exploitation of women at home and abroad is through the adoption of a Nordic-style Sex Buyer Law. This would criminalise the buyers rather than the sellers of sex – and at the same time make it possible to prosecute men in Britain who had paid for sex overseas.
Putting men in court for an offence that is not a crime in the country where the act occurred sounds like a recipe for endless legal wrangling – great news for lawyers, perhaps. Buying and selling sex remains legal in, among other countries, Germany, the Netherlands and Latvia – coincidentally three of the most popular destinations for stag parties.
However, even if the campaign to criminalise the sex trade has flaws, the current permissive, almost complicit, attitude towards young men going to Amsterdam or Frankfurt for paid sex is simply unacceptable. We do not necessarily need new laws to change this mindset. We need only extend the same stigma to men who buy sex off women abroad that those who use prostitutes in Britain face already.
People on stag trips have a right to some fun – but it is time they were made to realise that buying sex off desperate women isn’t.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments