Street prostitution in Scotland: The views of working women

At the present time in Europe a range of countries are considering their prostitution laws and looking at whether these should be updated in a number of ways including the possible provision of prostitute tolerance zones. While this is an issue that is subject to heated political debate, and considerable divergence within Europe, it is not one where there has been much research evidence to date. One reason for this is the concentration in much prostitution research on sexual rather than work-related matters. This paper considers the issue of prostitute tolerance zones within the context of an ethnography of street prostitution in Scotland. In particular, the paper describes street-working women's views of their work, their reasons for working, their views as to the impact of their work on their lives, and whether it would be beneficial to provide tolerance zones to enable them to work without fear of prosecution.