I don’t care that libfems believe that sex work is empowering or liberating. Men don’t care about that, they just want to buy access to women’s bodies. Men don’t care if a woman is doing sex work for survival. They don’t care if she’s getting pimped out. Men don’t consider the fact that prostituted women wouldn’t be sleeping with them if they didn’t need the money.

"Prostitution is like masturbating without having to use your hand."

"It's like renting a girlfriend or wife. You get to choose like a catalogue."

"I feel sorry for these girls but this is what I want."

"No big deal, it's just like getting a beer."

"Look, men pay for women because he can have whatever and whoever he wants. Lots of men go to prostitutes so they can do things to them that real women would not put up with.

"If you go to the wrong one, you might as well be in a morgue, there's a slab of flesh there."

"We're living in the age of instant coffee, instant food. This is instant sex."

"Prostitution is a last resort to unfulfilled sexual desires. Rape would be less safe, or if you're forced to hurt someone or if you're so frustrated you jack off all day."

"Prostitution is being able to do what you want without the taxation."

"It should be legalised over here. This is the way God created us. It is being human. If you don't have a partner then you have to go to a prostitute."

"You pay for the convenience, a bit like going to a public loo."

The notion that prostrutes are "un-rape-able" was a common belief among the men in this sample. Twenty-five per cent told us that the very concept of raping a prostitute or call girl was "ridiculous." (...) Twenty-four per cent asserted that the concept of rape simply does not apply to women in prostitution.

Twenty-seven per cent of our interviewees explained that once he pays, the customer is entitled to engage in any act he chooses with the woman he buys. Forty-seven per cent of these London men expressed the view to a greater or lesser degree that women did not always have certain rights during prostitution. Seventeen per cent of the men agreed that half of the time or less frequently prostitutes have certain rights during the prostitution encounter. Another 22% of these interviewees expressed 60-80% agreement with the statement "women have certain rights in prostitution".

"Their mind is twisted, or they're like used," said one man. "They've seen everything already. Their mind is opened up - they have no guards up." Blaming the woman for her prostitution, another man said, "The very fact that they're prepared to do that job where others won't even if skint, there's some capability inside them that permits them to do it, to not be disgusted by this, a normal woman would be if she was asked to do it." Another man concluded, "They must be able to have sex more often because they do it all day. They don't mind foregoing a lover or romance or a married partner... They don't mind going to people's homes for sex. They don't mind having sex with anyone." One interviewee who struggled with the notion that prostitution damages women rationalised it by believing that women in prostitution are, unlike other women, intrinsically indecent and slutty

Fifty per cent of interviewees said that they had used a woman in prostitution who they knew was under the control of a pimp. As one man explained, "It's like he's her owner." As another man put it: "The girl is instructed to do what she needs to do. You can just relax, it's her job."

These findings suggest that the men not only lack emotional involvement with the women they use in prostitution but also that they lack accurate empathy. Coy (2008 185) suggested that a denial of subjectivity occurs when the experiences and feelings of the "object" are not recognised. This denial of women's subjectivity can also be understood as sexual objectification. Both were evident in these men's lack of empathy with the feelings of women in prostitution. They constructed her in their own minds, according to their own masturbatory fantasies, as opposed to recognising the reality of the woman's feelings. It is also telling that often the men switched from understanding the woman's situation and feelings to attributing to her what they wanted her to feel during or after sex. The men's sexual objectification of and lack of accurate empathy with the women they buy are likely preconditions for men's sexual use of women in prostitution.

if sex work was real work, you could be forced to be one, in case you are unemployed, otherwise you could lose the money you get from the state while being unemployed

if sex work was real work, children watching pornography would be the same as them watching firemen work

if sex work was real work, sex buyers would just be customers

if sex work was real work, many young girls could be pressured into doing it to make money and a career out of it

if sex work was real work, old people who lost their pensions in some way could be forced to take it up

if sex work was real work, disabled people could be forced into it, otherwise they would lose their state benefits

if sex work was real work, pimps and johns would be managers

if sex work was real work, child pornography would be considered child labour

if sex work was real work, you could be forced to have sex with whoever came in, your ex, your father's friends, your boss etc.

many try to claim that when we are against sex work being considered a type of work, we are tearing down prostitutes, strippers, escorts etc., which is not true. we are against pornography, against men buying sex from women, we are concerned for the women who are prostituted, forced to be in porn.

we want to abolish sex work, because it oppresses and hurts women and children worldwide.

we want to abolish sex work, because we care about the people affected by it.

we want to abolish sex work, because we want to abolish the notion in society, that men can pay a woman for sex, that men can exploit women, that men have the right to buy sex.

we want to abolish sex work, because it feeds into rape culture, and by it being a legal type of work, the demand will rise, which will mean more women and children will be trafficked and abused.

I care about them all. All of them deserve safety and health care and reproductive care. Violent and criminal women, who have killed someone, raped someone, are in jail, still deserve feminine hygiene products, still deserve protection from rape, still deserve healthcare. Conservative, Christian, you name it, 'bigoted' women still don't deserve abuse and rape from their husbands. Women I don't agree with, women who hurt me, women who I find despicable because of what they've done still deserve safety.

Abortion, protection from abuse and rape, counselling, feminine products, contraceptives, proper healthcare are all things that all women need and deserve, no matter how they are.