Anything worth doing...

One of the women, however, is happy to open up about all aspects of her work, and be pictured. Louise is British, has a diploma in marine biology and £20,000 of student debt. She says she would rather work three or four days a week selling sex, with the earning potential of up to £900 a week, than "12-hour days in a petrol station on the minimum wage".

She is also keen to challenge the stigma around sex work. For her it is a choice, she says, and she is not being exploited. 'I'm stubbornly defiant about my right to do this kind of work without people inflicting their moral judgements on me," she says. "I don't want people to think I'm on drugs or that I've been forced or coerced or trafficked. "I'm just here as a normal person who wants to make money, secure a future for myself and do this kind of work because I choose to."

As the Ferengi say, anything worth doing is worth doing for money.

The conversation is punctuated every 10 minutes by the phone or front door bell ringing - a man making a booking or arriving for his "appointment".

What's with the quotes ? Is this something other than an appointment ?

One of the maids - or receptionists - who has been in the industry for more than two decades, says the profile of customers has changed during that time. "There are a lot of younger gentlemen coming in, handsome gentlemen - people that you wouldn't think would need to pay for sex, but it's easier for them than dating," she says. "Sometimes friends will come together before a night out. It's become a lot more normalised."

Astonishingly, the 45-year-old brothel owner, Karl, is a former police officer. Despite it being illegal to operate a brothel in England and Wales - although not illegal to buy and sell sex - Karl says he has no moral qualms about breaking the law because he does not agree with it, and he says he is not exploiting the women who work for him. "We don't allow drugs, no under-age girls. We check everyone's passports," he says. "If we've got any doubts that they're not there under their own free will, we will call the police."

While Karl and Louise argue for legalisation, feminist Julie Bindel who has written a book on the trade, said legalised brothels were actually worse. She interviewed 100 women who worked in prostitution during her research. "It's a fantasy that legalisation would help anyone except the pimps," she said. "Even the women who choose to, they exist, they are doing it to make ends meet. And we can't keep accepting and condoning it, the buying and selling of the inside of women's bodies."

But they're their own bodies. You can't really tell them what to do with them if they're making a free and informed choice. Literally no-one would have a problem if men were doing this - women must always be seen as victims even when they stand up and say, "no we're not". I hardly think people should be encouraged to be prostitutes, but heck, if that's really what they want out of life, telling them that they can't would be extremely anti-feminist.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43784251