Bakewell's argument is that, since time immemorial, men liked to fuck women without actually having to deal with them, and making it into a monetary transaction suits those needs pretty well. She says:

There is, whether we like it or not, a compelling need for many men to have sex without strings, sex with a stranger that is over and done with once the cash has changed hands. Throughout history they have found ways of doing so, whether with sacred temple maidens or in the garrison brothels set up to serve fighting armies. We can chase it up and down the legal ladders, hound it down dark alleys and squalid bedsits, but its persistence tells us that we won't eradicate it. So let's face up to the fact and make paying for sex legal.

Bakewell takes issue with the British government's initiatives to crack down on street prostitution (arguably the least-regulated form with the highest incidence of coercion) and on their efforts to ramp up penalties on men that patronize trafficked women. In her mind, making the whole thing legal and then regulating it is the best (and most feminist) way to go about it, objectification-objections be damned.

Of course, she undermines her argument on two counts. First she argues that regulating brothels will allow residents to keep prostitution out of their neighborhoods — though she points out that a law that deregulated the lap-dancing cafes ended up doubling their number and giving locals little control over having them in their neighborhoods. Second, she says, "I want to see a world where women have enough self-esteem to stand up for themselves against exploitation and abuse." Is sex work not exploitative? Does decriminalization prevent abuse? Does legalizing what some argue is the objectification of women lead to less exploitation and abuse of women in society? Those are difficult arguments to make. Bakewell, having met a handful of regulated Dutch prostitutes and having found them not terribly fucked up, thinks that such is the case. The women at Nevada's brothels might tend to disagree with her description of regulated sex workers:

These particular women - like those I met at a lap-dancing club - weren't the sad dregs of humanity. They had a robust attitude to their lives, a lively street intelligence and an eagerness to better themselves.

Apparently, since Bakewell has found a clatch of well-adjusted strippers and sex workers, we can decriminalize it and stop worrying so much about trafficking and the reasons (or abusers) that drive women into prostitution?

That said, I think there are plenty of good, solid reasons to decriminalize the selling of sex, not the least of which is the ability to then regulate sex work (which Bakewell touches on, albeit briefly). There are also good arguments in favor of the state's interest in criminalizing the buying of sex, and in favor of ramping up punishments on the men that patronize women without giving a thought about whether they are being coerced (since, let's be honest, they're already treating them as objects). But let's not argue that feminists are wrong that sex work is part of the objectification women — because we're not wrong — or that trafficking isn't an important issue that deserves lots of attention, or that there aren't sex workers who are exploited and abused even within legalized systems. That's just willful blindness and unhelpful to the argument — sort of like the men that have sex with trafficked women.

Paying For Sex — What's So Wrong With That? [The Times]

Related: No Federal Prostitution Charges for Spitzer [NY Times]
Election Summary - November 4, 2008 [San Francisco Department Of Elections]

Earlier: To Regulate, Or Not To Regulate: Regarding Prostitution, That's Still The Question
UK Suggests That Men Who Patronize Trafficked Prostitutes Be Prosecuted
Recession And Sex Work

If you are selling your time, undivided attention, and the (unspoken) offer of sexual entertainment, you're an escort. If you're selling a specific sexual activity for a certain amount of money, you're a prostitute. If you won't have sex with the man you're dating unless he buys you an expensive dinner, you're a (relatively cheap) prostitute.

Guides To Call Girl Work Out [The Sun]
Related: The Internet Escort's Handbook

Asian massage artists are not always Asian!
"I don't have time for a relationship right now...I like the Russian girls who barely speak English, and the cute Asian girls who giggle a lot. My job is so demanding and consuming that this is the only thing I do that completely relaxes me," says Princeton graduate Steven, 28.

Massage parlors are the new strip clubs!
Kevin, 29, a single NYSE trader, says that "a lot of traders go to these places. Massage parlors are the new strip clubs. Just last week, a bunch of us from work went to one for a bachelor party — in separate rooms of course. It's an alternative to a trip club, where you go and jut get frustrated. For the same amount of money, you can get some action."

Yes, massage parlor membership has its privileges, and if you keep coming back you can get serviced like a real-life john.
"Once you go a couple of times and become a regular, you can get whatever you want." A one-hour "bodywork" session starts with the guy removing all his clothes and taking a shower. ("This guarantees you're not a cop," Skip says.) This takes up the first 10 minutes. Then you give the girl cash, "usually $100," he says. "They'll also take credit cards but that eats up another five minutes" of the hour the customer is paying for. Then he gets a full body massage for another 20 minutes. While getting a "handy," Skip says, "you are allowed to touch the girl. If you want oral sex, you have to pay her another $50. If you want a "half and half" [oral sex plus intercourse], that's another $50.

Appearance-wise, massage artisans generally rank a "six or a seven."
Although the majority of these places boast "exotic massges by Japanese models," Steven says that "90 percent of them are run by Koreans" and admits that most of the girls are not exactly "model material." (Rather, he would rate the average massage girl as a "six or a seven.")

But don't be fooled; at the end of the ending, masseuses are really money grubbing whores like all women
"The only thing I hate about these places," he adds, "is that when you're done the girls shuffle you out real fast, like, 'Next'?"

Related: I Did It For Science: Happy Ending [Nerve]
I Want A...Happy Ending [Time Out New York]

Anyway, I'm just hoping that now that we've covered this ingenious story angle once, we won't have to do it again, at least more than ten or twenty times. Also, calling all enterprising young female would-be investigative journalists thinking of working a job at a strip club in a convention town this summer with the intention of perhaps landing a wealthy pro-gun/life/abstinence/Bible/family type politician in your lap: only do it for the money. This is a really predictable and dated story idea and requires the ability to actually recognize Christian conservatives other than Mike Huckabee, which is not as easy as it seems, and your talents are hopefully better spent elsewhere; just a little PSA from a someone who loves, kthanxbai.

DNC Boost For Sex Club Biz [Denver Rocky Mountain News]
Related: Hot Girls, Frisky Delegates: RNC Diary Of A Strip Club Waitress [Village Voice]

[Kim] also described a subtler dynamic during facials or massages, when a client is "kind of ... enjoying it. So even though I'm providing the service, I feel kind of weird and awkward." She doesn't want to shame her clients, she says. "Not to intimidate whatever personal feelings they have. I'm trying to be calm and finish my job, because this is the thing I have to do, this is what my license stands for. But in the end, I have a little bit of the bad feeling—the hangover, the leftover feeling."

Older White Women Join Kenya's Sex Tourists [Reuters]
An Inside Look At The Spa Industry [NY Magazine]